PEGIDA Goes to Canberra
Above : Neo-Nazi Blair Cottrell (UPF/Fortitude) and Christian fundamentalist Rosalie Crestani (Rise Up Australia Party).
On Saturday February 6 a number of nationalist, patriotic and religious groups held a rally in Canberra outside Parliament House in order to ‘Save Australia’ from Islam and refugees. The February 6 rally was the local manifestation of a global ‘day of action’ organised under the auspices of PEGIDA. Among those who attended were Reclaim Australia (or what remains of it), Rise Up Australia Party (RUAP), United Patriots Front (UPF)/Fortitude and an array of smaller, principally Facebook projects (‘Aussie Brotherhood’ etc.). Supporters were bused in from Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Newcastle, Sydney and various regional centres. Estimates of attendance vary from 200 (ABC) to 250 (Canberra Times) to 4-500. A very small group of 30-40 held a counter-rally. See : Reclaim Australia Rally drowns out counter protesters, Georgina Connery, The Canberra Times, February 6, 2016.
PEGIDA rallies were held in around a dozen European cities on February 6, including Amsterdam, Birmingham, Dublin and Prague. In Amsterdam, antifa successfully managed to sabotage the demonstration and the fascists were put on city buses and driven out of town after 40 minutes. There were multiple clashes with police and multiple smaller clashes in the area between fascists and anti-fascists. Antifa F-side AFC Ajax football hools were present, as were NVU members (The Dutch Peoples-Union (Dutch: Nederlandse Volks-Uniewere), Blood and Honour and neo-Nazis from Belgium, Germany (Dresden) and Poland. See : Tegen Pegida, voor, F-side, politie, February 6, 2016. In Birmingham, a very small crowd assembled to hear former English Defence League leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (‘Tommy Robinson’) talk shit, while in Dublin the crazy baldheads (Polish neo-Nazis) got chased out of town. In Prague, neo-Nazis attacked the Klinika social centre following the rally. See : Klinika Collective’s Statement After Saturday’s Neo-Nazi Attack in Prague, René Schuijlenburg, Revolution News, February 8, 2016.
See also : Anti-Islam movement PEGIDA stages protests across Europe, Reuters, February 7, 2016.
United Patriots Front
Over the course of the last two days two former members of the UPF/Fortitude — Shermon Burgess and Neil Erikson — have published several videos on Facebook denouncing the UPF for being a neo-Nazi group.
Prior to their denunciation of the group, the boys were described as follows:
They are now described in far less flattering terms.
In essence, what happened was the following:
Yesterday, Burgess (‘The Great Aussie Patriot’) published a video (which since appears to have been deleted) in which he denounced the neo-Nazi blog ‘Whitelaw Towers’ (whose principal author is the Sydney-based neo-Nazi Peter Campbell, and which promotes the Australia First Party), Dr Jim Saleam’s ‘Australia First Party’ (AFP), another blog (and Facebook page) titled ‘Anti-Antifa Australia’ (the responsibility of Brisbane-based neo-Nazi skinhead and Volkfront leader Chris Smith) and finally Mark Hootsen‘s Melbourne-based neo-Nazi groupuscule ‘Nationalist Alternative’ (NAlt). Because the UPF has encouraged and facilitated the participation of neo-Nazis and White supremacists in the UPF and the ‘patriotic’ movement more generally, Burgess also denounced the UPF.
Soon after Burgess published his denunciation, he was joined by Erikson. In several subsequent videos, Erikson has stated that when he joined the Reclaim Australia protest in Melbourne in April last year, he identified as a neo-Nazi and joined Reclaim on that basis. He further states that Blair Cottrell is a neo-Nazi (as is Cottrell’s sidekick, Thomas Sewell), that he facilitated Cottrell’s entrance into the Reclaim movement, and that both did so ‘undercover’, ie, by lying about their neo-Nazi political convictions. (See : Neo-Nazis @ #ReclaimAustralia in Melbourne, April 5, 2015.) In ‘coming out’, then, Erikson has abandoned his cover, while Cottrell — now the undisputed heavyweight champion of the UPF and of Fortitude — continues to run around with his pants on fire.
None of this is news to anyone who pays attention to such matters (see : Quotations From Chairman Blair Cottrell, July 27, 2015), but it’s always interesting to listen to patriotik Volk when they decide to be honest for once. Thus Erikson also claims that money raised via an UPF gofundme campaign (administered by a former flunky named ‘Indie Rose Oliver’) was what paid for the UPF’s plane trip to Perth in November; that when he was a member of NAlt, he attended meetings of the group in Toorak (at which Cottrell was also present); that the flags which the UPF waved at the May 31 ‘anti-Communist’ rally in Richmond were paid for by NALt; that NAlt were present at both UPF rallies (August 29 and October 10) in Bendigo; and that at the second Bendigo rally there were several scuffles between NAlt and its supporters and those who objected to their presence.
It’s unclear exactly what triggered the outbursts by Burgess and Erikson (though Erikson maintains it was because the UPF wrongly accused Burgess of stealing money from them), but both claim that the involvement of neo-Nazis such as the UPF in the ‘patriot’ movement is bound to be its undoing. I’m not so sure: ie, that would be the case if the UPF was honest and declared itself to be a neo-Nazi group, but of course it isn’t honest and for precisely that reason: even the thickest of patriots are unlikely to follow a neo-Nazi into battle. In which case, the UPF will simply continue to engage in denial. On the other hand, the facts do place the ostensibly non-nazi members in a bit of a pickle.
Currently, the UPF/Fortitude is structured as a tiny micro-sect, with Cottrell as fuehrer and the handful of other members — Scott Moerland in Brisbane, Dennis Huts and Elijah Jacobson in Perth, and Kriso Richardson, Thomas Sewell and Christopher Shortis in Melbourne — performing as his faithful lapdogs. Huts and Jacobson are part of a tiny neo-Nazi and White supremacist milieu in Perth (see below), while Moerland (a former RUAP candidate) and Shortis are Christian fundamentalists (Richardson appears to be a garden-variety racist meathead, happy to tag along, take orders, and occasionally — falsely — claim to be a member of the CFMEU). Its following is small but generally quite fanatical, and happy to believe whatever it’s told.
In summary then, what seems to be happening is a further entrenchment of a split in the patriotik movement between AFP, NAlt, UPF and RUAP (ie, neo-Nazis, White nationalists and fundamentalist Christians) on the one hand and the Australian Defence League (ie, Ralph Cerminara), the Party For Freedom (Nick Folkes & Co in Sydney) and assorted other fascist dregs on the other hand, united by a shared hatred of Muslims, refugees and Teh Left. Each party being driven by political opportunism, it remains possible that there will be a rapprochement of some kind, but the cracks do appear to be beginning to widen.
As for the UPF, it’s holding a Little Nuremberg rally in Toowoomba on Saturday at the Toowoomba Indoor Bowls Hall at 10 Annand Street. (The UPF claim that the owner of the business is a UPF supporter.) Otherwise, local UPF supporter Liz Carlsen is arranging their visit to the town, ie, when she’s not busy working for local Catholics as a relief teacher(!). The rally on Saturday is the first of three the UPF is conducting, with another in Orange, NSW on February 20 and a third in Bendigo on February 27.
Pauline Hanson in Bendigo
Pauline Hanson is bringing her batshit roadshow to Bendigo on Saturday and has won the support of The Shamrock Hotel in doing so. While the Hotel is rolling out the red carpet for her and her running mate (and Bendigo councilor) Elise Chapman, a welcoming committee has formed in order to ensure that their vile message does not go unopposed. See : Bendigo: Stop One Nation Senate Launch.
Aryan Nations
WA Today published a story on February 9 about a newly-established neo-Nazi group in Perth called ‘Aryan Nations’. See : Aryan Nations: Perth white supremacist group on letterbox recruitment drive, Brendan Foster, February 9, 2016. AN’s main propagandist is a jung fella by the name of Robert Edhouse (aka Matthew Collins). Over the course of the last year or two Robert has been periodically bugging me to write about him and his group. Most recently he messaged me to state the following:
A brief perusal of his Facebook profiles reveals that Robert is well-acquainted with the UPF in Perth, being friends with both Huts and Jacobson and even Neil Erikson. Seemingly consisting of no more than a handful of boneheads, the AN in Perth is an outgrowth of AN in the US, which Edhouse has visited, and to an OMC in the US and Aotearoa/New Zealand called Sadistic Souls. See also : Squabbling Aryan Nations Factions Descend Into Vicious Name-Calling, Bill Morlin, SPLC, January 27, 2014.
Bonus Galea!
Local neo-Nazi and Reclaim Australia and UPF supporter Phil Galea was in court again today. His batshit rant about Muslims outside court was captured by Channel Ten. Stay staunch, brother! Note that UPF supporter John Wilkinson (‘Farma John’ on Facebook) purchased 20-something tasers a few months ago, presumably for use upon anti-fascist counter-protesters. Wilkinson was in Canberra on February 6, but who knows where the tasers have ended up …
So you’re saying Andy that 10 times the number of people concerned about Islamification turned out in Canberra than so called ‘Anti-Racists’? Seems quite clear what most see as the real issue in this instance. In fact it seems to be a bit of a trend lately in Australia.
Then you go on to describe how Antifa backed by organisations with well known connections to acts of extreme violence including arson and murder once again used violence and assaults on protesters and police with a sole aim to intimidate peaceful protests in another proud display of might is right? You forgot to mention the 20 arrests at the event, all of whom were representative of one side. No prizes for guessing which side that was.
As far as the rest of this post, it never fails to amaze me your interest in the day to day political tedium of these fringe groups while ignoring extreme violence, rape and murder in groups you choose to represent as allies.
Shermon Burgess published a video you say? And then deleted it!
Funny you don’t mention any of these, which in my eye would seem to be a lot more significant and worthy of action:
• IS attacked Jakarta killing 15 people
• Multiple rapes and murders of Christians by Muslim groups in Pakistan including a 7 year old boy who was kidnapped, gang raped and strangled to death in a field
• Muslim gang sentenced to 143 years in the UK for the gang rape of a 14 year girl. There were 11 of them
• Europe and Scandinavia are undergoing a rape crisis while Muslim scholars advocate the moral right to rape what your right hand possesses or in some cases anyone who isn’t Muslim is fair game
• Minority Muslim groups are using violence and terrorism in the Philippines to form an autonomous Islamic state within the country
• Women, Christians, Gays and Lesbians have been needed to be removed from refugee populations awaiting processing in Europe for their own safety after numerous incidents of slavery, rape and violence from their fellow migrants
The list goes on and on, I fail to see anything in your own post to be truly relevant to anything other than your political agenda of attempting to make the other side look worse than your own. And for all accounts and evidence you’re falling well short of that mark.
Maybe it’s time you started standing up for humanity and not just your own political affiliations…
I would surely welcome the change.
As should be obvious, my blog is not a news service and it concentrates upon a small range of topics with occasional forays into others, if and when I please (eg, see my post on reviewing my blogging efforts in 2015). Beyond this:
Re Canberra: this was a national mobilisation by the fringes of the religious and secular (far) right. Unlike previous such mobilisations — say, the various Reclaim Australia rallies that were held in 2015 — there was no competition from other events in other localities; further, it was held after a long series of similar events, and may have been expected — if the ‘patriotic’ movement was to have built significant political momentum — to have been quite a large affair. As it happened, anywhere from 2 to 4 or even 500 attended. Which was about the number I expected. On the other hand, there was no national mobilisation to counter-protest the event, and seemingly very little activity in Canberra to do so. As someone who witnessed the event told me, what it basically amounted to was a platform from which the various micro-parties — Fortitude, Rise Up Australia, et. al. — could pitch to the converted. *shrugs*
“Then you go on to describe how Antifa backed by organisations with well known connections to acts of extreme violence including arson and murder once again used violence and assaults on protesters and police with a sole aim to intimidate peaceful protests in another proud display of might is right? You forgot to mention the 20 arrests at the event, all of whom were representative of one side. No prizes for guessing which side that was.”
Er, no. I wrote what I wrote. Which is not the above.
” … ignoring extreme violence, rape and murder in groups you choose to represent as allies.”
Neither IS nor Aceh seperatists are my ‘allies’, and I’ve never referred to them as such. On the contrary, I have denounced IS and barely written a word about Aceh — when I did, it was in support of punx in Aceh and against local authorities.
You argue in bad faith — it’s very tedious.
Sossle: “Maybe it’s time you started standing up for humanity and not just your own political affiliations…”
Slackbastard does stand up for humanity. It’s because of that that he has the political affiliations he has. Unlike the Fash, who want to set up genocidal dictatorships* and plan to get there by murdering their opponents.
A Fascist group is not a debating society, but a conspiracy to murder. It attempts to build itself through the control of public space and the infliction of violence upon its designated scapegoats and those who would contest it. Antifa who turn up to fight the Fash are therefore exercising their right to use reasonable force in self defence. And the fact that the coppers arrest people on our side rather than Fascists proves not that we are evil, but that the coppers are.
Finally, Sossle’s string of dot points is irrelevant. Supporting the right of people to be Muslim doesn’t mean supporting the political movements that some Muslims (or even, hypothetically, all Muslims) form. In addition, responsibility for crimes belongs to the individual criminals who commit them, not to their co-religionists.
* Oh, and these genocidal dictatorships will promptly fall out amongst themselves along national lines. Their victory would only be the beginning of the trouble, not the end.
Nationalist Alternative meet in Toorak; the epicenter of the ruling class in Melbourne. So much for the nazis claiming to be the voice of the proletariat. They are the street thugs of capital.
@ ablokeimet
“Antifa who turn up to fight the Fash [Fascism?] are therefore exercising their right to use reasonable force in self defence.”
Reasonable force. If you believe that you are truly out of step with reality. Antifa systematically use intimidation and actual violence to move their own totalitarian political agendas.
Attacking police horses, throwing darts, wearing masks, flammable propaganda with baseball bat wielding thugs, group attacks on lone individuals, bringing weapons to peaceful protests … This is your definition of self defence?
So in the same vein thought “In addition, responsibility for crimes belongs to the individual criminals who commit them, not to their co-religionists.” So you hold this same belief for Fascists or Nazism? Not all KKK members are bad just the ones burning people alive for simply being a different race? It’s wrong to broadly paint any of these groups each person should be treated as an individual. Or again one rule for some is it?
There is no ultimate victory for any side in reality for the long term, there is only teetering balance which is what maintains a peaceful modern society in most instances. As any person has the right to choose to be Muslim, or flying teapot worshipper, if they choose. And in turn every person has a right to raise issue or concern with any religion, cult or creed’s basic fundamentals or impacts on other’s rights to live life in a society of their making. Any that use violence to intimidate either right is a coward and in truth seem to be more of a threat to a free society then the actual somewhat impotent fascists that the left use as a poster boy to grow their own militant aspirations of control on others rights and freedoms.
@ @ndy
As is obvious your blog is not a news service, but a bias political vehicle that cherry picks information to push an agenda while ignoring infinitely more serious issues that threaten our societies and in some cases advocating their direct support or declaring notation of them as irrelevant. It’s good to see you admit that. And in being a political platform opposing views and challenges to its statements should be welcome and taken as the challenge they are. If a point is set and goes on to disallow the right to challenge it or question it would generally be seen to be a totalitarian viewpoint right? Rarely is the truth or equality discovered in such a one sided fashion.
Re: Canberra
Generally a visible lack of opposition equates to broader general consensus for the affirmative in most cases. More and more of these “right-wing” movements are increasing in support, locales and number globally at a rate not seen for decades. Why is that do you think? One thing contributing is that groups like Antifa are making even the most right leaning right wingers seem to be moderate and appear as more sincere and upfront in their motivations and the general public is taking notice. Might does not equal right in the majority of cases and Antifa are at base a contradiction and in no way stand for peace and freedom or even Anti-fascism, to any but the most gullible or clandestine of motivation.
Re: Affiliation with known groups that believe violence is a viable means for reaching a political or social change
Sorry you answer was a little vague in this regard. Are you saying you do not support the use of violence including arson, terrorism, assaulting police, intimidation of protesters to reach your own political outcomes? And none of the groups that use these tactics would you endorse publicly or support? Or you do find all of these as acceptable, depending on circumstance? You have never written a word of support for the groups you have named, nor have you written a word of condemnation either … Saying nothing sometimes speaks as loud as screaming from the rooftops.
I argue in bad faith? As in duplicity, fraud, or deception? Now that’s a good call. What would you call labeling a violent socialist backed anti anything protest as simply an “Anti-Racist” protest? The issue is not the basis of faith of my arguments, maybe it’s just that you would only prefer to hear from a single point of view even if it takes violent intimidation to silence any opposing views to your own declared or undeclared affiliations.
It’s much easier to violently silence that rationally justify or debate… But I guess that is the Anarchist way right?
Sossle: “Attacking police horses, throwing darts, wearing masks, flammable propaganda with baseball bat wielding thugs, group attacks on lone individuals, bringing weapons to peaceful protests … This is your definition of self defence?”
1. A Fascist group is a conspiracy to murder. Driving Fascists off the streets is an act of self defence. “Reasonable force” is whatever force is reasonably necessary in the circumstances.
2. I don’t give blanket endorsement to everything that every Antifa activist does (I’ve seen some acts that were quite ill-chosen), but I endorse the general strategy that they use at rallies.
3. There is nothing violent about wearing a mask.
Sossle again: “So in the same vein [of] thought ‘In addition, responsibility for crimes belongs to the individual criminals who commit them, not to their co-religionists.’ So you hold this same belief for Fascists or Nazism? Not all KKK members are bad just the ones burning people alive for simply being a different race?”
Sossle is mixing up two phenomena, probably because she/he hasn’t got my first point.
1. Individuals who commit crimes of violence are responsible for their actions. I oppose doctrines of collective guilt, whether on the part of Muslims, Fascists, Antifa, or whoever.
2. Committing a crime of violence is not the only ground on which it is possible to criticise somebody. If someone’s opinions are wrong, they deserve criticism. If their opinions are greatly repugnant, it may reflect on their moral character. In the case of Fascists, this is certainly the case. The ethical baseness and hypocrisy necessary for someone with even a modicum of intelligence to adopt that ideology is deserving of repeated and public denunciation. In my view, to get an ethical pass, a Fascist would probably need an intellectual disability sufficient to make them eligible for the Disability Support Pension.
3. As I said before, a Fascist group is a conspiracy to murder and driving Fascists off the streets is an act of self defence. If we can do that before they actually succeed in murdering someone, it counts as a job well done.
Please remove your comment revealing my name and alleged workplace immediately. I am not an official or a member of the organisations you represent here and you have no evidence whatsoever that I am a racist or a neo-Nazi. It is clearly cyberbullying and harassment. For someone who is too gutless to reveal their identity and workplace, you sure have a hell of a lot to say publicly about other people and their personal business at no personal risk to yourself.
Here is a link which you might find helpful from the Australian Human Rights Commission in relation to the behaviour that you exhibit within your blog.
https://humanrights.gov.au/cyberbullying-what-it-and-how-get-help-violence-harassment-and-bullying-fact-sheet
Perhaps you would read it and will immediately discover that you are indeed a cyberbully lurking about in hiding while you take cheap shots and make derogatory claims at people with no regard for their rights.
Naming and shaming a private individual on a public forum is a clear indicator that you are no less a fascist than those you blither on about constantly in your tedious rants on these pages. Boo hiss!
Hello LC/Liz Carlsen,
Your name appears twice on my blog, in this post and in another dated August 2:
“In the days immediately following July 18, Burgess posted a video in which he confessed to assault and named fellow ‘patriot’ Liz Carlsen as also having committed assault. To date, I don’t believe the alleged incident has received any media attention.”
February 11:
“As for the UPF, it’s holding a Little Nuremberg rally in Toowoomba on Saturday at the Toowoomba Indoor Bowls Hall at 10 Annand Street. (The UPF claim that the owner of the business is a UPF supporter.) Otherwise, local UPF supporter Liz Carlsen is arranging their visit to the town, ie, when she’s not busy working for local Catholics as a relief teacher(!). The rally on Saturday is the first of three the UPF is conducting, with another in Orange, NSW on February 20 and a third in Bendigo on February 27.”
That’s it.
I haven’t published your workplace address; your name appears, obviously, in connection to the work you’ve done on behalf of the ‘United Patriots Front’ (UPF). I’ve not written that you’re a member of the UPF, but equally obviously, you’re sympathetic to the UPF and that’s why you’ve attended its events and helped to organise the event in Toowoomba. Also helping the UPF on that occasion was Jim Perren, a neo-Nazi. Perren recruited other neo-Nazis to assist him. His role as UPF organiser in QLD was exposed at the same time as the UPF’s inner circle discussions were made public (ie, his involvement in the UPF was not disclosed to the public).
The leadership of the UPF as it’s currently constituted consists of neo-Nazis — Blair Cottrell, Nic Genovese, ‘Elijah Jacobson’ (sic) and Thomas Sewell — and Christian fundamantalists — Chris Shortis and Scott Moerland (Dennis Huts and Kris0 Richardson having recently announced their departures from the UPF).
Re cyberbullying, the site you link to states the following:
“What does cyberbullying look like?
Being sent mean or hurtful text messages from someone you know or even someone you don’t know
Getting nasty, threatening or hurtful messages through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, or through sites where people can ask / answer questions like Formspring or Internet forums
People sending photos and videos of you to others to try and embarrass or hurt you
People spreading rumours about you via emails or social networking sites or text messages
People trying to stop you from communicating with others
People stealing your passwords or getting into your accounts and changing the information there
People setting up fake profiles pretending to be you, or posting messages or status updates from your accounts”
I’ve done none of these things.
Cheers,
Andy.
Agony Aunt Andy,
You have no evidence whatsoever. Hearsay and invented theories are not evidence. Therefore, you are spreading rumours on a public page on the internet to harass and bully an individual. This is NOT word games for 50 points. This is reality. For the second and final time, I request you to remove all references to me from your blog.
LC
LC,
No ‘evidence whatsoever’ for what, precisely? What ‘hearsay’? What ‘invented theories’? You’ve not disputed any of the facts contained above. If there’s some claim you wish to dispute, you’ve not done so. Nor have you made a case as to why I should remove your name from the above post. Until such time as you do, it remains.
~ Andy
Bahahaha Canberra DID NOT have approval or any association with PEGIDA, for Canberra rally. LMAO.
And you apparently, tell TRUTH? What a joke. I’m a proper patriot & have been outing the scum patriots, but I don’t have to fabricate or lie.
They give us the goods so to speak.
PEGIDA would be absolutely FURIOUS about how Canberra was displayed.
I’ve meant to of contacted PEGIDA all this time, but bloody hell keep getting distracted.
You may point out a lot of shitty stuff going on slackbastard, but your name says it all about you!
Pingback: antifa notes (april 29, 2016) : From Angry Anderson to Neil Erikson | slackbastard
Pingback: Robert Edhouse & Aryan Nations & United Patriots Front | slackbastard
It’s bit weird, the neo nazi stand up together with the jewish.