Tagged with #7SummerOfNazis

The (neo-Nazi) Lads Society : Blair Cottrell’s pro-tip : Wear Your Swastikas On The Inside

A problem for the Australian antifa, and indeed for anti-fascist groups in Europe and the US, is that few people and organisations they oppose here have much to do with Nazism. ~ Chip Le Grand, Antifa Australia goes for the jugular, The Australian, December 9, 2017

For those of you coming in late, ‘The Lads Society’ is a relatively new grouping on the radical right which evolved out of the now-defunct ‘United Patriots Front’ (UPF). Spearheaded by ex-UPF fuehrer Blair Cottrell and his sidekick Tom Sewell, ‘The Lads’ opened a social centre in the Melbourne suburb of Cheltenham last year, have another in Sydney, and would appear to be keen to expand the franchise to Brisbane and other major cities.

Most recently, ‘The Lads’ — membership of which overlaps with ‘Antipodean Resistance’ — were hired by Axiomatic Events to provide security for Stefan Molyneux and Lauren Southern during their speaking tour. This fact went completely unmentioned in media reportage of the tour, as did the fact that when the Lads and members of the racist gang called the ‘True Blue Crew’ (TBC) organised a meeting in January to discuss the formation of vigilante squads to hunt African youth, they did so at the Lads’ clubhouse in Cheltenham.

Sadly, this is about par for the course for Australian jernalisms on the extreme-right, with the only article on the group appearing in June (Far right nationalists open private men-only clubs in Melbourne and Sydney, Rebecca Puddy, ABC, June 7, 2018) but with scattered references to the Lads’ participation in Sydney Watson’s ‘March for Men’ last month, an invitation the crackpot ‘Australian Jewish Association’ extended to Southern and the Lads to tour Bondi and Caulfield and, prior to this, members of The Lads Society in Sydney addressing a nationalist rally by the TBC in NSW. Note that: a) the TBC has been one of the most outspoken defenders of the neo-Nazi Lads and; b) its primary Facebook page has recently closed.

In any case, last week a new page appeared on Facebook: LadsLeaks LadsLeaks. The small amount of material thus far uploaded to the page revolves around two Lads — ‘Kingsley James Taylor’ and ‘Beau Maverick’ — being kicked out of a bar in Brisbane after making Nazi salutes, and then later one of them being detained (for unknown reasons, but presumably related to their Nazi behaviour at the bar) by police. The video appears to date from December 2017.

In and of itself, a pair of neo-Nazis acting like arseholes is not especially noteworthy; however, it’s the angry reaction of Der Fuehrer, Blair Cottrell, to this open display of neo-Nazi beliefs that’s most telling. Thus, after informing the Lads that his recent absence from the group’s activities is because he’s been fucking a lot of women, Cottrell makes it plain that such imagery is Bad.

Very Bad.

Why? Well, according to Cottrell …

    … from what I’m seeing, everyone’s doing nothing but praise them for it. Oh, good on them. Oh, the problem is society, the problem’s not us: we know the truth. Society are the ones who are bad. We’re good, so we’re gonna run around Roman-saluting people. Tell me, what was your goal? When you’re sitting in a fucking pub or you’re going into a public place, what’s your goal when you Roman-salute people and say Sieg Heil? What’s your fucking point? What are you trying to achieve? Come on, give it to me, give it to me in the comments. Tell me how that’s practical and what the fucking purpose is. Give it to me. Oh you’re raising awareness for the cause? What the fuck does that mean?

    I’ll tell you what you wanted, I’ll tell you what your purpose was. You wanted to stir people up. You wanted to go out and stir some fucking peasants up. And you did stir ’em up. And then when they got stirred up, they called the police. And then you cry victim. Oh, we didn’t do anything wrong. Whoop-di-fucking-do. What did that achieve? And then you’ve got somebody else on the page saying Oh, I’m a fucking skinhead, I have been for fifteen years. Now full respect to you, I don’t care what you do with your life. But trying to tell everyone else that they’re basically a … or to subordinate themselves to you, because you’re more experienced and you — quote unquote — earned your laces: what the fuck does that even mean? And you have done time for the cause? You’ve done time because you beat up some Pakis, probably. And is that what you want for us, for us to beat up some people who aren’t white, to earn our laces? You know, is that your plan? To bash some people who aren’t white, to do some jail time and then finally we can be considered highborn skinhead neo-Nazis? Really? Is that your plan to win the hearts and minds of the people? That’s a good fucking plan, well done. Cocksuckery! And why is everyone sticking up for it? Why am I the only one speaking sense? Jesus Christ! You start a new organisation, you get guys putting their balls on the line, putting a lot of money into this fucking club, into this new group, putting a lot of their labour into it, dedicating themselves to it, believing in it, and then someone sticks their big fucking red-lace skinhead boot in and says fuck you all, let’s go do some jail time, let’s earn our laces, let’s go Sieg Heil people in the street, that’ll get us some new members! Fucking clue on to it dickheads, Jesus Christ, is anyone gonna say anything … ?

    Fucking LARPers? Fucking oath they’re LARPers! We had one at the club last night. Now I don’t know if he’s in this group, I don’t know if he’s watching me now, but I don’t give a fuck, I can’t remember his name. But he was respectful of me, said Oh I love what you’re doing, I love the approach that you’re taking. But then later on, he was having a conversation — this guy who either was a skinhead or still is, I don’t fucking know — he was having a conversation with one of our newest members, who’s just a Christian; that’s it. He doesn’t know that much — I don’t think he does anyway — but he’s a good guy, and he’s open to sensible conversation. And this former or current skinhead guy, whatever he is, wants to start a fight with him, because he doesn’t know about the Jews, so let’s beat him up! Great fucking solution! Wow, how’d you think of that, fuckhead! Jesus fucking Christ! He ended up having to fuck off. I’m surprised that Christian kid stuck around, but he was good enough to.

    Seriously, just to wrap it up, too, just to wrap it up, the last fucking thing I’ll say is, do you really think that, if Adolf Hitler rose from the grave, if his spirit descended and stood beside you, put his hand on your shoulder, and he surveyed your jackboots with your red laces, and your fucking swastika tattoos, and your abrasive, fuck-the-world attitude, your little syndicate-separatist cult, do you really think he’d be proud of you? Do you really think he would say you’re a true national-socialist, well done? Do you think the man who said all great movements are popular movements and one must adjust himself to the times would be proud of you, would believe in you? Get a fucking clue! Anyway, suppose I’m just venting a little bit but, I reckon some of you needed to hear this. And don’t reply to this video with oh fuck you, you don’t know what you’re talking about, you’re the new guy on the block, we’re the real deal, you’re a poser, whatever the fuck you people say, don’t reply to me with that shit, take on some constructive criticism, yeah? Take it on board. Be a fucking man, take some criticism, on the fucking chin, and think, fuck maybe he’s right, maybe this guy’s got a plan, maybe he can sorta see what’s gonna happen in the future and maybe he’s trying to do the best that he can for this group, you know?

    So yeah — here’s my two cents.

Another video features imagery of the Cheltenham bunker, taken at its opening in October 2017, overlaid with a Nazi marching song, ‘Erika’, by the Nazi composer Herms Niel. Funnily enough, James Buckle, one-time President of ‘Firearm Owners United’, confirms his membership of the group in a comment on the video:

Bonus!

The Lads — Tom Sewell and Stuart Von Moger — celebrate the opening of the Cheltenham clubhouse with some fitting Nazi muzak:

Added Bonus!

Mister Cottrell discusses a proposal by Matt Doran of Channel 7’s Sunday Night to work together to create a segment on The Lads and their important work fighting African street crime. Mister Cottrell states that he was paid several hundred dollars by Channel 7 for the inconvenience. Sadly, the segment appears not to have been completed.

From Cronulla to St Kilda? Australia/Invasion/Survival Day 2018

This Friday, the racist methgoblins of the True Blue Crew, in conjunction with the neo-Nazi remnants of the United Patriots Front now known as ‘The Lads Society’, are holding a rally and BBQ at St Kilda Beach. This is both a patriotik event and, perhaps, a response to recent news that #AfricanGangs have been running amok. The fact that Romper Stomper also featured a similar party at the beach is no doubt a coincidence. In any event, joining the boys will be Neil Erikson and ‘Patriot Blue’ (see Romper Stomper); or at least, that’s what The Australian reckons:

Neil Erikson and far-right group want to ‘welcome’ new Australians
Richard Ferguson
The Australian
January 22, 2018

A Victorian far-right activist has defended his plans to disrupt a citizenship ceremony at an anti-Australia Day local council.

Neil Erikson says he and other members of his group Patriot Blue would be counter-protesting Moreland City Council, which voted last year to scrap Australia Day.

“We’re not here to scare anyone, we’re peaceful … we want to welcome the new citizens at Moreland City Council to know it’s not just January 26, it’s Australia Day,” he told The Australian.

“And to know that the councillors are a bunch of undemocratic, treasonous communists.”

Mr Erikson, a former neo-Nazi, also said he will attend an Invasion Day rally in Melbourne’s CBD on Friday where he and Patriot Blue members will counter-protest with Australian flags.

“If the violent left want to attack us, that’s on them … we expect the police to protect us and protect Australia Day.”

Thousands of people, including children, are expected at Friday’s rally where they will demand [sic] Australia Day’s date is changed from January 26, which they consider offensive to Aboriginal people as it is the anniversary of the First Fleet and the start of colonialism.

Mr Erikson came to national prominence for ambushing former Labor senator Sam Dastyari in a Melbourne bar last year.

It was revealed last week in the Federal Circuit Court Mr Erikson had recently been charged with assault, affray and riotous behaviour in regards to a riot outside far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos’s Melbourne speaking gig last month.

Moreland City Council was targeted by a group including Mr Erikson last October for its decision to support a change to Australia Day’s date, when far-right protesters crashed a council meeting and brandished a fake coffin with the national flag painted on it.

But the council has only received a formal warning from the federal government over their anti-Australia Day stance unlike Yarra and Darebin Councils which had their citizenship ceremonies cancelled.

Sources close to the council said they had expected to fly under the radar of far right activists on Friday as their citizenship event clashed directly with the Invasion Day rally.

Mayor John Kavanagh said Moreland City has updated its security arrangements and had been working with Victoria Police in the run up to their Friday citizenship ceremony.

“It would be incredibly disappointing if such a joyous occasion was tarnished by individuals or groups protesting something unrelated to the ceremony,” he said.

Invasion Day rally organiser Tarneen Onus-Williams told The Australian she did not fear for the safety of her fellow protesters due to the large police presence she expects to be in the CBD on Friday.

“We also have legal observers and human rights observers coming who will be keeping watch over the rally,” she said.

Ms Onus-Williams said any violence would be a result of the “far right protesting against us.”

“This is a family event and people often bring children, our nieces and nephews and little cousins are there. This is not a violent protest,” she said.

Victoria Police told The Australian protesters and other Melburnians would note an “increased police presence” on Australia Day this year.

“Extensive planning has been undertaken with all relevant stakeholders including local councils … As always, police will not tolerate any anti-social or criminal behaviour,” a police spokesman said.

Note that Neil was angwy and upset at the popularity of last year’s Invasion Day rally in Melbourne, wishing that alleged killer James Gargasoulas — ‘accused of driving a car through the busy Bourke Street mall and along the footpath for several blocks on January 20, hitting and killing six people and injuring many others’ — had driven his car into the crowd:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Note:

• Along with Neil, Garry Hume, Ricky/Rikki Turner and Richard Whelan of ‘Patriot Blue’ are also facing charges in connection to the MILO stoopid of December last year;
• Both Garry (in blue jumpsuit) and Ricky/Rikki joined Neil in disrupting the Moreland Council meeting in October last year.

Never Mind The (White) Nationalist Bollocks, Here’s The Invasion Day Protests

2018 marks the 80th anniversary of the ‘Day of Mourning’: ‘a protest held by Aboriginal Australians on 26 January 1938, the sesquicentenary of British colonisation of Australia’.

Welcome To Country details a range of activities on January 26 in Melbourne, Meanjin (Brisbane), Sydney, Perth, Canberra, Adelaide, Darwin, Townsville, Hobart, Lismore and Bermagui; you can also celebrate Survival Day in Belgrave. The Melbourne (Naarm) event kicks off with a rally at 11am at Parliament; supporters are asked to bring flowers to lay on the steps if they’re so inclined. The Balit Narrun Festival commences at 1pm in Treasury Gardens. According to organisers, the ‘artistic direction for 2018 is about ‘strength in culture’ with the Songlines changing the name of the festival to Balit Narrun (Strong Spirit). Balit Narrun will feature cultural art, music, dance. It is family friendly, and will have food and children’s activities available’. See also : Survival Day events around Australia – What, When and Where?, NITV, January 23, 2018.

Indigenous X has published/is publishing a series of articles and reflections on Australia/Invasion/Survival Day, by Claire G Coleman, Tony Birch, Karen Wyld, Matt Hefferan and Eugenia Fylnn.

Finally, a note on history by way of Robert Hughes (The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia’s Founding, 1986):

• The proposal to colonize Botany Bay with convicts was formally drawn up in an unsigned document titled “Heads of a Plan for effectually disposing of convicts” and was presented to the British cabinet in August 1786. Its emphasis was clear: The proposed colony would serve as “a remedy for the evils likely to result from the late alarming and numerous increase of felons in this country, and more particularly in the metropolis.” The secondary benefit of the region’s raw materials was presented at the end of the document: “It may also be proper to attend to the possibility of procuring… masts and ships’ timber for the use of our fleets in India, as the distance between the two countries is not greater than between Great Britain and America…”

• By 1837, hanging was mainly restricted to cases of murder, while crime after crime — forgery, cattle-theft, housebreaking — was relegated to the less terrible and magical status of a “transportable” offense. Slowly, the English authorities acknowledged the mistakes and fantasies that had led their predecessors to fetishize the death penalty. But the real rise of transportation began, not with the law itself, but with its new enforcers: the “peelers,” the English police, established by Sir Robert Peel in 1827 [see also : Origins of the police, David Whitehouse, worxintheory, December 7, 2014]. A police force meant a huge rise, not in gross crime, but in successful arrests and convictions. Likewise, the abandonment of transportation was not caused by any fall in crime, but by three other factors: the growing moral and political opposition to the System of transportation among English reformers in the 1830s, the growth of an alternative English penitentiary system and the Australians’ own opposition to a continuous dumping of fresh criminals on what, after 50 years of settlement, they had come to view as their own soil.

• In their most sanguine moments, the authorities hoped that Australia would eventually swallow a whole class — the “criminal class,” whose existence was one of the prime sociological beliefs of late Georgian and early Victorian England. Australia was settled to defend English property not from the frog-eating invader across the Channel but from the marauder within. English lawmakers wished not only to get rid of the “criminal class” but if possible to forget about it. Australia was a cloaca, invisible, its contents filthy and unnameable. Jeremy Bentham, inveighing against the “thief-colony” in 1812, argued that transportation: “…was indeed a measure of experiment… but the subject-matter of experiment was, in this case, a peculiarly commodious one; a set of animae viles, a sort of excrementitious mass, that could be projected, and accordingly was projected — projected, and as it should seem purposely — as far out of sight as possible.”

#7SummerOfNazis : The True Blue Crew & Co. Go Hunting Blacks While Channel 7 Cheers

img via The Simpsons against the Liberals

[UPDATE (January 17, 2018) : See also : How do you solve a problem like the ‘African Gang Crisis?’, Cam Smith, Overland, January 17, 2018.]

For those of you coming in late, on Sunday in Cheltenham the ‘True Blue Crew’ (TBC) — a racist street-gang based in Melton and Bendigo — organised a meeting in order to discuss the establishment of a vigilante group, one tasked with tackling #AfricanGangs. According to reports, the meeting attracted several dozen people: members of the TBC, the ‘United Patriots Front’ (UPF), and several members of other tiny, radical right-wing satellites.

Announced some weeks ago, the TBC declared that the meeting would be held at a secret location, the details of which would be released on late Sunday morning to those who’d expressed an interest in attending and passed their stringent vetting procedures. This was arranged so that the meeting would not be subject to disruption. Within the space of a few hours of this information being distributed, however, it was also made public: the TBC would be meeting at 4pm at Eddie’s bar in Cheltenham. Not long after this, and seemingly as the result of inquiries from journalists and concerned members of the public, the bar’s management decided to cancel the group’s booking, forcing them to hold the event elsewhere.

That elsewhere was Unit 9, 158 Chesterville Road, Cheltenham, the site of something called the ‘Lads Society’.

The ‘Lads Society’ announced its existence in October last year. The property was leased by UPF líder máximo Blair Cottrell’s sidekick, Thomas Sewell, who is joined by, among others, James Buckle — the President of gun lobby group ‘Firearm Owners United’. In promotional material for the new project, Tom indicated that among the reading materials the ‘Lads’ could enjoy perusing at the Society was Mein Kampf, the text Blair Cottrell notoriously declared that he wants issued to all Australian school children.

Annually.

See also : White nationalists True Blue Crew vow vigilante action in Melbourne, Rachel Eddie, The New Daily, January 14, 2018.

While some media did attend the event, and police lurked, only one media organisation was granted ‘exclusive access’ to the meeting: Channel 7.

    First tonight, 7 News has been granted exclusive access inside a secret meeting organised by right-wing activists in response to Melbourne’s African youth crime crisis. Reporter Jodi Lee was invited into the True Blue Crew’s gathering and joins us live now. Good evening Jodi, what went on behind closed doors?

    Jodi Lee: Well good evening Jackie as we go to air tonight that meeting is still very much under way. 7 News was the only media organisation invited inside the meeting where more than 50 people, mostly men, gathered from all across the state. They came from as far as Cobram and Shepparton, Melton in the city’s west and Mornington along the peninsula. Now, they gathered at a meeting spot that belongs to the United Patriots Front but the men there hail from several different groups. They don’t say that they are right-wing activists, they call themselves patriots, and say they have come together to help average Australians deal with what they are calling an immigrant crime crisis. Now, they say they’ve been disappointed by the Andrews government and by Victoria Police who this group believes have been rendered unable to cope with rising crime. Take a listen to what their leaders tonight had to say.

    Blair Cottrell : Well nothing is being done. The government could be doing a lot more to combat this crime but police aren’t being given the powers they need to combat this problem we have in this country.

    Kane Miller : We have a few ideas we hope to put in place, it’s about time the community get involved because it’s clear to see that police can’t save us all.

    Daniel Andrews : People are free to meet and discuss whatever matters they want to. What I would say though is Victoria Police are best capable, best able and best equipped to fight crime and keep the community safe.

    Jodi Lee : Now this group hopes to harness the power of social media to protect both them and their families. They’re hoping to create a kind of ‘Neighbourhood Watch’ that will be able to quickly let people know when an incident, a robbery or an attack in fact, is occurring and hopefully help send locals there to help protect residents, Jackie.

Not unexpectedly, Channel 7’s promotion of the TBC African-hunting project, as well as its decision to put to air the views of a leading Melbourne neo-Nazi and his mate, has come in for some criticism. See : Oh Look, 7 News Gave The Spotlight To An Actual Neo-Nazi, James Hennessy, Pedestrian, January 15, 2018 /// Congratulations Australia, We’ve Successfully Normalised Neo-Nazis, Osman Faruqi, Junkee, January 15, 2018 /// Channel Seven ‘crossed a line’ with neo-Nazi interview, Broede Carmody, The Age, January 15, 2018 /// Channel Seven under fire over interview with far-right activist, Melissa Davey, The Guardian, January 15, 2018 /// No Channel Seven, Cottrell is no ‘right wing activist’. He’s dangerous, John Birmingham, Brisbane Times, January 16, 2018.

Who are the True Blue Crew?

As noted above, the TBC are a Melton and Bendigo-based street gang that emerged in late 2015 and early 2016. It’s one of numerous flag-waving groups that have appeared during the course of the last decade, from the ‘Southern Cross Soldiers’ to the ‘Australian Defence League’. Since its inception, the Crew, under the leadership of Kane Miller, has organised a number of events. Its first rally took place in May 2016 in Coburg. Titled ‘Stop the Far Left!’, the rally intended to disrupt an anti-racist rally organised by the Socialist Alliance, to express opposition to the ‘Islamisation’ of Coburg and support for the concentration camps on Manus and Nauru (see : Coburg 1 /// Fascists 0; Or: The neo-Nazi rally that brought anti-fascists to the streets of Coburg, May 31, 2016 /// More reflections on ‘solidarity’ after the Coburg protest, January 7, 2017). As on future occasions, the TBC were joined on this occasion by (the remnants of) the UPF and a small clutch of (other) neo-Nazis wearing Wolk’s Hook regalia (note that members of this grouping later went on to form ‘Antipodean Resistance’).

Having successfully cleansed Coburg of Muslims and leftists, the TBC’s next big event was a flag parade in the CBD in June. On this occasion, as well as the UPF and others, the TBC were joined by a large number of Christian fun-da-mentalists from Pastor Danny Nalliah’s ‘Rise Up Australia Party’ (RUAP); the event was given an even more bizarre tenor by their performance of the traditional Australian haka. Also present at the event was alleged terrorist Phill Galea, who thrilled to the corporal punishment handed out to Coburg locals by the TBC at their coming-out party in May:

Having successfully waved flags in the city, the next TBC event was a ‘Rally Against the Rise of Islam in Melton’ in August 2016. This was another bizarre set-piece, this time pitting the TBC methgoblins up against the ‘Soldiers of Odin’ and its leader, Jason Moore (formerly a member of the ‘Patriots Defence League of Australia’). Undeterred by such shenanigans, the criminal prosecution of several of its members for assault (both upon anti-racists and their own — female — partners), common sense or basic decency, as well as appearing at several other events, the TBC returned in 2017 with another flag parade (June 2017) and have now embarked upon the formation — along with their neo-Nazi comrades in the UPF — of a lynch-mob to target African yoof. Or, as Jodi Lee put it, ‘a kind of Neighbourhood Watch’.

vid via ‘The Socialist’

So much for the TBC. As for the UPF and Blair Cottrell, I documented his views — as expressed on Facebook and YouTube — back in July 2015 (see : Quotations From Chairman Blair Cottrell, July 27, 2015), while his violent criminal record is detailed (in his own words) in a documentary film (see : Blair Cottrell : ” … and I started getting arrested after I did that.” #Fortitude /// #UnitedPatriotsFront, February 23, 2016) and by Geir O’Rourke and Angus Thompson for the Herald Sun (June 11, 2016). Of his offending, they write:

Cottrell, 26, was sentenced to four months in prison in May 2012 after being convicted of 13 charges, including seven counts of intentionally damaging property. County Court Judge Michael Tinney convicted the then-22-year-old of throwing a missile, stalking, failing to comply with a community-based order, and two counts of recklessly causing serious injury. In December 2013 he was fined $1000 and sentenced to seven days in jail by a County Court judge for aggravated burglary, property damage, arson, trafficking testosterone, possessing a controlled weapon and breaching court orders.

Last September, Cottrell — along with former UPF comrades Neil Erikson and Chris Shortis — was also convicted of serious religious vilification and received a small fine (and is appealing his conviction).

Thus, while it should be obvious where the UPF, Cottrell and his sidekick Sewell are coming from, their reaction to the murder of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville last year is telling:


As for Herr Cottrell’s attitude towards the (((media))):

Finally, Neil Erikson — who definitely did not attend the meeting on Sunday, as that would mean he was in violation of court orders not to associate with fascists — was in court again on Monday, facing a charge of contempt-of-court. See : A Dumbass Convicted Racist Almost Accidentally Swore On The Koran In Court, Cam Tyeson, Pedestrian, January 16, 2018 /// Anti-Islam activist Neil Erikson admits he breached court orders, The Guardian (AAP), January 15, 2018 /// Anti-Islam activist mistakes Koran for Bible in court appearance, Adam Cooper, The Age, January 15, 2018.

Note that Erikson was accompanied to court by several other ostensible members of ‘Patriot Blue’: Lachlan/Logan Spalding (also present when PB racially-abused Labor MP Sam Dastyari), Julian de Ross (who also attended the TBC meeting on Sunday) and George Jameson and Penny Louise, recently expelled from Nick Folkes’ micro-Party For Freedom in Sydney. Joining Julian was also Daniel Jones, previously employed as a bodyguard to Avi Yemini, but otherwise — like a number of the budding vigilantes — working in the security industry.