Earlier this year, the anti-Muslim group the ‘Australian Defence League’ (ADL) splintered in two. The new ADL is organising an anti-Muslim rally in Sydney on Saturday, July 30.
Background
Inspired by the ‘English Defence League’ (EDL), the first ADL group, formed in 2009, established a website, a Facebook page (attracting the support of over 1,000 Facebook users), and eventually, in April 2010, attempted to organise a rally ‘against immigration and Islam’ at Flinders Street Station in central Melbourne. Attracting a strong counter-demo, the April ‘rally’ flopped, and was followed by an abortive attempt to organise a rally in Sydney in October of that year.
In summary, the attempt to import the EDL into Australia–and to mobilise Australians in opposition to Islam under its umbrella–failed; the ADL’s street presence apparently existing in inverse proportion to the volume of hot air its supporters generated on sites like Facebook.
Yaxley-Lennon & Martin Brennan
At the beginning of 2011, however, former BNP member, convicted criminal, tanning salon owner and leader of the ‘English Defence League’, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, appointed fellow Englishman Martin Brennan to lead a reinvigorated ADL. It was this 2011 version of the ADL that organised a small rally at Federation Square in Melbourne last month, and is organising an anti-Muslim rally to take place in Sydney on July 30.
In an interview with Martin King on Melbourne radio station MTR following the rally Brennan, inter alia, identified the Sydney Islamist group ‘Shariah4Australia’ as a target, claimed that 70% of Australian meat is halal, that sales of this meat funds terrorism, complained about Clayton pool being made available for use by Muslim women, stated that the keffiyeh is a symbol of Hamas and that England is now an ‘Islamist hellhole’ (which presumably explains his migration Down Under). Also, that the ADL is not racist. (Note that Brennan’s ADL has also won the approval of the leader of the EDL’s ‘Jewish Division’, Roberta Moore.)
…and the Australian Protectionist Party
While their foreign leader has proven slightly more adept at generating support among the convicts than the (other) “Official”, “2009” ADL, it still putters along. Last month, the group/network organised meetings in Brisbane and Sydney. In Sydney, just eight people attended the meeting, most of them members of the White nationalist ‘Australian Protectionist Party’ (APP).
The APP, established as a 2007 splinter from the ‘Australia First Party’ (to be confused with The Mad Katter’s latest party-political incarnation; Katter being “the greatest federal minister for Aboriginal affairs Australia never had” according to Noel Pearson) has won some small degree of support online, but failed to attract more than a tiny handful of supporters to its numerous public protests. Joining in support of the ADL will therefore help to boost its public profile (and perhaps even vice versa).
In general, marginal groups such as the ADL and the APP serve to reinforce but are also in competition with the more mainstream anti-Muslim sentiment expressed by Tory politicians such as Cory Bernardi and members of the Christian right. Revulsion at the Muslim presence in Australia is also often combined with skepticism at anthropogenic global warming.
Finally, in ‘Where Have All The Progressive Atheists Gone?’ (New Matilda, June 8, 2011), Jeff Sparrow argues that It’s getting hard to tell a New Atheist from a neo-fascist; Adam Brereton replies in ‘Atheists Who Scramble The God Egg’ (New Matilda, June 9, 2011), noting that The neo-conservative politics of individual atheists aren’t necessarily the product of their non-belief.
Interesting times.
See also : Miranda Devine’s Quest for Sharia (w/- BONUS! Fear) (May 19, 2011) | Flogging dead refugees / live Muslims = smart politics? (February 17, 2011).
I have spent a great deal of time studying the history of my ancestors. I’ve actually been obsessed with it and have done most of my research on “the ground”. I have lived in Scotland (for that purpose) and have spent a great deal of time traveling throughout Europe exploring our collective heritage. I don’t identify myself as being an “Australian” (despite my family having been here for all of her existence), I consider myself a Celt and a Pict (if I want to go back that far). But despite all of my studies and explorations into the past, I still focus on the people of today and the children of tomorrow.
We DEFINITELY need to know where we came from and we should always dig deeper into our origins (always something to learn and I have gained strength I would have otherwise not known had I not explored deeply into my heritage), but I believe that we generally ARE who we ARE and IF we had our freedom, the rest would take care of itself. Our kind and empathetic ways will serve us as well as they have served our enemies.
Gaining our freedom and preserving our existence is job number one. We will be able to sort everything out once we free ourselves from this grasp. That being said, we certainly need to know who we are and where we came from in order to press on, no argument from me on that point.
Like you pointed out though, MOST of what we accept as being “reality” is anything but accurate. I will spend the rest of my life UNLEARNING the lies and reshaping my own reality (as we all must do). But most of all, I intend to focus primarily on removing these parasites. Until that happens we will never be free to know our true identity/past or to realize our true potential in the future.
EVERYTHING we have done has been accomplished DESPITE them, not because of them. So just imagine how far we could get if we ever broke free… That’s a prospect that inspires me as much as anything I have learned about my heritage.
BTW – until we establish our own language again, that is no longer tainted by them, I will continue to use commonly accepted terms in order to make my point. I have to pick and choose my battles and there’s too much to say as it is, without having to break down the origin of every spoken word. lol Good point though and I am always interested in learning, so feel free to correct any ignorance I might display.
The Secular Party, minor registered Australian party, focused on separation of church and state, has recently split and a new Atheist Party is being formed that takes on a more right wing, anti-Islamist approach. Interesting in light of the Matilda article. The Secular Party approach reflects the European secular approach generally to the dismay of many of its members who see Islam as a potent political Trojan horse for these debates.
Pingback: Australian Defence League : Martin Brennan gets the arse? | slackbastard
Just to point out to non-Muslims who might mistaken[ly believe] these rallies are a result of racism. Please understand it is not racism…
[‘It is hostility to Islam. Islam is not a religion but an evil, totalitarian ideology. Muslims are cunning liars (cf. taqiyya) deeply committed to the overthrow of democracy and to the imposition of Islamic rule. The Australian Government is allowing Muslims to live in Australia and Australians must organise to eject Muslims from the country in order to preserve Australian democracy.’
Or so Troll reckons. Troll also provided some links. None of what Troll wrote had much to do with Brennan or the ADL.]
Veil request has already been covered
Nazeem Hussain
Herald Sun
July 7, 2011
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/veil-request-is-already-well-covered/story-e6frfhqf-1226089272178
@ndy – either you confuscate [?] the terms ‘muslim’, ‘islam’ and ‘sharia’ because you know no better, or you seek to deliberately stir up racism where there is none.
Try to get it in your head: Islam, islamism or sharia is not a race, muslims are not not members of a particular ethnicity. Most muslims seek refuge here from islamism and sharia.
Opposition to this mysogynist, homophobic, theocratic and barbaric ideology fresh from the 7th century is just as racist or whatever-o-phobic as it would be to oppose fascism, nazism, stalinism or a movement seeking the revival of the medieval state church.
Next you call me a racist because I oppose fascism and communism? If you smear anyone you dislike or don’t understand a racist, what do [you] call a real racist when you meet one?
G’day Raoul,
I’m not sure what you’re referring to, but I assume that you made the comment above I’ve credited to ‘Troll’? If so, it’s an accurate summary of your argument. In any case, I suggest you re-read the post above. It contains no reference to either race or racism, and I’ve not termed you a “racist”, for any reason, anywhere, ever. If you can find an instance of this to the contrary on my blog, feel free to alert me. I’ve absolutely no idea who you are or why you think this.
im sick of us white people being known as the “convicts” so the first white australian people may have been convicts but that does not mean we are these muslims need to piss the hell off & stop trying to tell us how we’re to kill animals they even run businesses are racist to the australian workers that work for them this i know of personally if you cant abide by our laws GET OUT!!! we dont want you here in our country anyway.
Finally, someone is getting organised to fight back against the bleeding heart liberals that want to throw the flood gates open and let radical Islamic law and behaviour take over this country. We can’t let Australia go the way England and France have. W[h]ere do I sign up? Where is this rally on the 30th?
Youse can stop the bleeding hearts from letting the Muslamics take over starting @ Martin Place.
Pingback: Anders Behring Breivik ♥s the English Defence League? | slackbastard
Pingback: Anders Breivik’s / Andrew Berwick’s Knights Templar Video Blah | slackbastard
Australian Defence League (ADL) Anti-Sharia Law Rally in Sydney 30 July 2011.
I believe Aussies should stick together on this topic of the Islam invasion in Australia. One question to everyone reading, what happens if you go to the Middle East and build a church? They would burn it to the ground like what’s happening in Egypt. In Australia they are erecting mosques everywhere. It must be stopped. Stay together and united and we shall keep this beautiful country we call home.
I am not a member of the EDL, ADL or APP, nor am I a Liberal or right-wing voter. I am a centrist supporter of independent candidates.
However it is interesting that the left of politics, such as the author of this page, seeks to continually label groups who oppose i-slamic immigration and supremacist ideals as “far right neo-nazi”.
It displays a great deal of ignorance of history.
The German Nazi party was the NSDAP, or Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, in English: The National Socialist German Workers’ Party.
Got that? SOCIALIST!
I know this to be true from stories my father-in-law told me of his childhood in Austria.
He is the only son of a widowed mother, and they found it very difficult to survive in pre-WW2 Austria. Interestingly he told me that when Hitler came to power, all of a sudden there was plenty to eat, and nobody went without.
Pretty clearly socialist policies.
Now the socialists in Oz and the USA are trying to turn these historical facts upside down by labeling those who simply want to protect the safety and security of ordinary Australians, including indigenous and immigrant Australians, as ‘neo-nazis’.
Look at the history and policies of the nazis.
Then look at the policies of both socialism and i-slam.
Both, but especially i-slam, are exceedingly fascist in nature.
They are introverted and protectionist.
They do not tolerate views other than their own.
They persecute all who do not believe as they do.
They seek to overthrow, by many methods, including violence (especially i-slam), all those who seek to curb their influence, or who simply pose a threat to their supremacist goals.
Paradoxically, socialists in Oz seek to support women’s rights, homosexual rights and the separation of Church and state, while i-slam, who are currently blindly supported by the left of politics, oppress, brutalise, rape and murder women at will, support rampant paedophilia, seek to kill all homosexuals and want the complete imposition of totalitarian sharia (religious) law.
Can nobody on the left see how utterly insane this situation is?