We have extremely different perspectives
Rupert Murdoch’s Skynews:
The protesters rallying for migration control on Sunday aren’t knuckle-dragging racists, but normal people who think open borders is a bad thing – that’s something that will shake the progressive activists to their core
In much of the media, the impulse has been to give less emphasis to the mass of people and try to shape the narrative around the rowdier reactionaries in the crowd and speakers with dubious ties and divisive platforms. While such elements deserve scrutiny, this doesn’t take into account, and even wilfully ignores several realities.
The Guardian:
Neo-Nazis used the shield of ‘ordinary mums and dads’ anti-immigration rallies to sell white supremacy
From online grievances about migration to men dressed in black in a sea of Australian flags, far-right groups clearly intended to capitalise on events
Politicians:
“There’s always good people who turn up to demonstrate their views on particular issues, but what we have seen here is Neo-Nazis being given a platform,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
“[These events were] attended by people of goodwill but hijacked by violent Neo-Nazis spouting hate and racism,” said Opposition Leader Sussan Ley.
None of them except the first paragraph are false, and even that one could be true if it were qualified instead of generalised.
They have biases, they might suggest and emphasise parts inappropriately, but the fact is this event, or rather these events were more complex than most articles or comment sections said.
Even some of my earlier comments were affected by missing information, generalisation and a bit of shock. For example, after having talked to a few different (socialist) people who were present visiting the racist rallies in Sydney, they pointed out that:
Now, this does not change that it was well-known and well-publicised in advance that neo-Nazi organisations would be present, that they were involved in the organisation of many of the events and the main website.
It does not change that the protests themselves were based upon racist deflectionary arguments, including ones made by Labor members. This doesn’t mean all marchers are inherently racist, or that they were aware of the racism, but they’re repeating and supporting racist claims that immigration is to blame for various crises, or that some cultures (read: non-white cultures) are a major problem while others aren’t.
It does not change that a large amount of attendees were openly white nationalists, and that a large amount of attendees were knowingly tolerant of neo-Nazis. It does not change that the attendees who didn’t contest the Nazis accepted and emboldened them.
But we should try to avoid being careless and suggesting that everyone there is irredeemable and was there to be racist. It was foolish, ignorant and harmful for them to attend. But in my opinion, this was a way for many people to voice legitimate grievances which they believed were unvoiced, like housing. And so long as Liberals and Labor deflect that crisis onto immigrants, and as long as those to the left can’t get their voices heard in the mainstream, fascists will be there to collect their rage. If you want to stop neo-Nazis from being validated, we have to let citizens know we’re fighting for them.