The size of the racist March for Australia rallies on 31 August was truly shocking. The fact that Nazis played a significant role in orchestrating the rallies and were welcomed as speakers on the platforms, at least in Sydney and Melbourne, has set off alarm in migrant communities and across the left.
The attack by National Socialist Network members on the Indigenous protest Camp Sovereignty was a stark reminder of their readiness to use racist violence to promote themselves.
Anti-racist protests that outnumber the racist rallies can demoralise them and make the racists less confident to come back.
The March for Australia rallies were the largest racist protests in decades, much larger than any counter-protests held to date.
In response to the attack on Camp Sovereignty, Indigenous people took the lead organising anti-racist “Sovereignty never ceded” marches in a number of cities and towns on 13 September. These were well supported at short notice.
But a “freedom march” of anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists on the same day had larger numbers in most cities, with 3000 in Sydney. In Melbourne the anti-racist rally, also billed as a counter-protest to the “freedom march”, had slightly more.
Organising larger demonstrations requires pulling in the widest forces on the left possible—through working with Greens, unions and Labor Party members to try to mobilise their supporters. Too often the far left fails to approach union leaders and left-wing Labor figures even to speak at anti-racist and Palestine demonstrations.
In Melbourne, Refugee Action Collective has called a broadly supported anti-racist rally on 26 September to start doing this.
March for Australia has now called a second round of protests on Sunday 19 October. Organising for counter-demonstrations on the day is already underway.
In Sydney there will be a united anti-racist rally this time, following a broad organising meeting initiated by Refugee Action Coalition.
Holding anti-racist protests on the same day as the racist rallies means there will be a strong challenge calling out their racism and tolerance for fascism—both in the lead up and in media coverage of the day.
We should also aim to challenge the racist marchers themselves, through getting as close as possible to their protests and making it clear that thousands see their racism as unacceptable.
But doing this requires building confidence amongst the broader social forces that anti-racist and anti-fascist organisers are not trying to orchestrate street battles against racists or the police.
Many Palestine supporters, for instance, despite marching in their tens of thousands repeatedly over the last two years, have been unwilling to attend the counter-demonstrations out of concerns the protests will be about confrontation with the racists.
But some on the left, in particular Socialist Alternative, seem to believe that focusing on elitist confrontation against racist rallies takes priority over constructively working to build a united movement to oppose the Nazis and the racist rallies.
This will only narrow those attending anti-racist protests to a small core of the far left.
In Melbourne, Socialist Alternative split the united anti-racist rally in Melbourne on 31 August in an effort to lead at least a section of the rally into a confrontation with thousands of March for Australia supporters.
Writing in Red Flag, long term Socialist Alternative member Tom Bramble describes people attending the racist rallies as “dogs” and “pigs” that have to be “crushed”. But bluster and abuse are no strategy for fighting the growth of racist and anti-migrant sentiments, let alone stopping the Nazis.
Fighting racism
Racism is widespread because blaming migrants is the “common sense” that people are fed by mainstream politicians and the media.
Anthony Albanese’s response to the protests was to say that those simply concerned about immigration were “good people” raising legitimate issues, and that the government was already “getting the numbers down” by cutting immigration.
This simply legitimises the racist lies that immigration is responsible for house prices, rising rents and the cost of living. The left needs to counter the racism through class arguments that point to those really responsible—wealthy housing investors, governments and the rich.
Countering the racist attack on migrants needs to be at the centre of the counter-demonstrations. But the left also needs to do whatever it can to take these arguments into workplaces and local communities.
The point of this is not to win over the racists who take to the streets, but to demoralise them by building active opposition, making their arguments and their protests unacceptable.
Bramble and Socialist Alternative reject this as accepting that racists have “legitimate concerns”. But failing to recognise that the far right feeds off real concerns about housing and the cost of living results in abstaining from taking on their racist arguments.
The rallies today are large for the same reason that Pauline Hanson attracted thousands to One Nation public meetings in the 1990s. Then a Labor government had generated misery and disillusionment with its neo-liberal economic policies and widespread privatisation. Hanson’s anti-migrant and anti-Indigenous racism found a ready audience and was given legitimacy by John Howard’s Liberal government.
Today, a Labor government has no answers to the cost of living crisis, higher rents and falling living standards. And the disillusionment and far right organisation is building on top of the conspiracy and anti-government attitudes built up during the repressive government lockdowns during COVID.
Isolating the Nazis
We can also undermine the racist protests through working to break the softer racist support away from the hard core Nazi organisers.
Although Bramble rejects the idea there is any point trying to do this, it has been at the centre of socialists’ efforts to fight fascism and the far right for decades. Summing up the success of the Anti Nazi League (ANL) in Britain, for instance, socialist Paul Holborow argues that the “central strand of the ANL’s strategy was to try and separate hardline Nazis from the softer racists”.
Counter-demonstrations, as well as exposing the involvement of open Nazis in the racist protests alongside broader anti-racist campaigning are all necessary to achieve this.
Bramble’s characterisation of the March for Australia rally as “fascistic” is a self-serving description to try and justify Socialist Alternative’s preferred ultra-confrontational tactics.
There are numerous reports now to show that the crowds were a mish-mash of racists with participants covering the spectrum from Nazis to One Nation voters and even union members.
The follow up protests calling themselves “Australia unites” on 13 September show there are already tensions among the racist protesters. While the organisers included anti-immigration demands alongside anti-vax and other issues, they declared “zero tolerance for racism” and made it clear the National Socialist Network was not welcome.
Making it clear that anyone who joins March for Australia protests will be marching alongside and helping fascists will help to undercut their support.
The danger that March for Australia and the fascists inside it pose is serious.
Far right breakthroughs on a much larger scale in Europe show that racist and fascist groups are capable of big mobilisations and of dragging mainstream politics in a much more racist direction.
In London fascist Tommy Robinson succeeded in mobilising over 100,000 racists in Britain’s largest ever far right protest on 13 September.
Nigel Farage’s racist Reform UK party is now leading every other party in opinion polls, sitting on around 30 per cent of the vote. Labor Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s response has been to echo its racist lies and promise renewed crackdowns against refugees and migrants.
All across Europe far right and fascist parties are becoming a serious force. Donald Trump’s anti-migrant hate helped him take back the Presidency.
When racism becomes normalised it results in a rise in violent racist attacks against migrant communities and Indigenous people.
We need to begin organising the kind of anti-racist movement that can break the racists and fascists and send them packing.
