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It was absolutely necessary to organise counter protests to the racists’ March for Australia on August 31. These racist anti-migrant marches involved, in a large way, neo-Nazis — and this needed to be protested.

The organisers of the anti-racist marches around the country, which in Naarm/Melbourne and Gadigal Country/Sydney included pro-Palestine groups are trying to build a mass anti-racist movement.

The National Socialist Network (NSN), on the other hand, is trying to grow the neo-Nazi element among racists who joined the rallies.

While some may have been taken in by the right-wing’s fake figures on immigration, which it is using to frighten people, the racist organisers have said publicly that they were organising anti-migrant protests on the basis of “protecting our heritage”. What they mean is white heritage — a fact they made more explicit in some cities.

The neo-Nazis led the protest in Naarm. NSN leader Thomas Sewell was invited by the organisers to address the anti-migrant rally. Members of his neo-Nazi group have terrorised many people, including a Black security guard.

These neo-Nazis then mounted a raid on Camp Sovereignty, in scenes which have all the hallmarks of the New Guard in the 1930s in Australia. Camp Sovereignty is a sacred place maintained by First Peoples. 

Nazi movements have, in the past, smashed up workers’ and left-wing meetings, as well as attacking First Nations and migrant groups.

Some NSN members were armed on the day, but the police did nothing to disarm them. We know һƷ̽�� of the Victorian Police support the far right.

Not all those who took part are street-fighting Nazis; some have genuinely been sucked in by the false claim that immigrants are to blame for the housing crisis. However, the explicitly racist rallying cry of March for Australia, supported by many people there, can only be a breeding ground for violent far-right groups.

The Nazis are not the only violent and dangerous ones. Extreme racism can also kill.

Australia’s colonial history is built on racist violence against First Peoples, which continues to this day as Black children are still forcibly removed from their families and Black people are still dying in custody, with no charges brought against authorities.

Neither should we forget the violent Lambing Flat race riots against Chinese miners in New South Wales in the 1850s, and against migrants in Kalgoorlie in 1934.

March for Australia’s racist messaging means that those who went were attracted to it. It means that many people have been duped by the far-right's fake statistics on migration. But it also reflects that decades of racist policies promulgated by the establishment parties have shaped people’s consciousness.

that many “good people” would have been duped into attending these protests is a pathetic attempt to dodge responsibility.

Labor’s rush to create new laws, removing natural justice, to get around the High Court’s view that the permanent detention of refugees is illegal, is a recent case in point. Bipartisan support for the White Australia Policy allowed racism to become normalised among big һƷ̽�� of the working class.   

There is some debate, however, about who is to blame for the housing affordability crisis and the lack of services. The racists will, of course, blame migrants but we know the capitalist class and its political representatives are responsible.

Mainstream politicians pretend their hands are tied, urging us to support investors and developers who stand to profiteer from the housing crisis they have caused.

If migrants were to blame, Australia’s housing crisis would have been most acute during the post-war migration waves, and would have become dirt cheap during the COVID-19 pandemic, when no one was allowed into the country.

We must stand up to the far-right, which seems to be finding fertile ground among those who are finding it hard to make ends meet. Counter-protests are needed to explain who and what is driving hardships, including the cost of living pressures, in this rich country.

First Nations groups and anti-racists are organising protests for September 13 to present a different message to those being organised by the far right on the same day.

Get along to to join those saying sovereignty was never ceded, and racism and fascism is not welcome.  

[Sue Bolton is a Socialist Alliance Merri-bek Councillor and member of the  National Executive.]