On the 31^st of August I attended the counterprotest to the ‘March for Australia’ held in Brisbane with a few other members of the Eureka Initiative and some supporters.

The ‘March for Australia’ was an anti-immigration rally, although what this actually meant differed greatly for the many people who attended. Most were the one-nation supporter types that you’d expect from such an event but there was a substantial portion of clueless centrists who were under the impression that this was an event about unity and common-sense patriotism (comically including some people who were immigrants themselves). Not many people were who I’d describe as fascists or neo-nazis, but they weren’t absent. You could get a glimpse of the occasional obvious NSN thug and there was a few placards about the white genocide theory and some delegations from other openly fascist groups. The counterprotest treated every single attendee like they were flag waving NSN members and were screaming jeers towards just about everyone (including one terrible incident where a mother with a toddler was accused of wanting Nazi pedophiles to rape her child), which did not help their cause at all.

While most of the people actually attending were not fascists and many had legitimate concerns that immigrants were scapegoated for, the march always was reactionary from the beginning and the non-fascist attendees did nothing to rid their ranks of the NSN. It didn’t have any progressive core that was later subverted by the right – NSN affliates played a key role in the organisation and this will no doubt be a huge victory for them. Their new ‘White Australia Party’ will gain many members from this, which has already raised a hundred thousand dollars in donations. No one wants to admit this, but the NSN is larger, better organised and more competent than any party left of the Greens in this country. Without a competent left-wing opposition, they will continue to grow and could pose a serious threat if Australia were to enter a period of crisis.

The counterprotest was poorly organised and dismal. We were outnumbered ten to one, harassed constantly and most of the people showing up were disorganised anarchists. There were a handful of good speeches at the end that brought up the historical legacy of Australia in fighting Mussolini & Hitler and playing a role in putting down fascism, but mostly the sentiment was just pure national nihilism.

Petty anglophile nationalism is reactionary – the current flag of Australia is a symbol of subjugation and domination by a colonial master – but rejecting any attempt to reclaim a progressive, democratic Australian tradition is pure moralism and leads to nothing but aimless, antisocial rage. It was unfortunate to see a large number of Eureka flags being waved by the opposition – an ahistorical, ignorant usage given many of the men at the stockade were Irish immigrants. We hope that the left reclaims democratic and republican Australian symbolism and history.

The presentation of many of the counterprotestors was also poor. Anyone who thinks it’s a good idea to show up to an event where you will be representing the cause of anti-fascism wearing BDSM latex fetish gear covered in spikes and satanic pentagrams (this was unfortunately something that actually happened) is a narcissist who puts their own petty individual complexes above the cause they claim to be serving. Much of the left considers discipline and self-control to be evil, but unless these are recognised as virtues and encouraged then defeating fascism is impossible.

Overall, this was a sobering and disappointing experience that I hope teaches some people important lessons. We encourage people attending anti-fascist rallies in the future to take things more seriously and show that these vile ideologies are not welcome in Australia.

Note that this does only represent my experiences in Brisbane and isn’t representative of what might have happened in the rest of the country.