March for Australia held its second round of racist anti-immigration rallies on 19 October.
This time the Nazi National Socialist Network (NSN) weren’t as visible. But the racism on display was still vile.
Sydney rally chair Jesse Stewart (partner of organiser and NSN collaborator Bec Freedom) took aim at the Palestine rallies held in Hyde Park by declaring that it “has been occupied for the past two years by foreign protesters” and that the racists were taking it back for “the patriotic people of this nation”.
This showed again that the rallies are a threat not just to migrants, refugees and Indigenous people but the Palestine movement, too.
Their overall turnout was mostly lower than the first rallies in August.
But they still drew large crowds, with 3000 in Sydney, 2000 in Adelaide, 1000 in Melbourne and at least 5000 in Brisbane.
Again there were anti-racist counter-protests across the country. In Sydney a united anti-racist protest mobilised 500 people, co-organised by a broad cross-section of the left including Refugee Action Coalition, Palestine Action Group, the Young Greens, Young Labor Left, Pride in Protest and others.
This was a step forward and has laid a basis for ongoing anti-racist organising. But almost everywhere the racists still outnumbered counter-demonstrators.
Only in Melbourne and Hobart were the racists outnumbered, with about 1000 racists opposed by up to 2000 anti-racists in Melbourne.
Many people still do not see the need to counter March for Australia. The Indigenous-led marches on 13 September, for instance, drew larger crowds. Only a small portion of the tens of thousands who have marched for Palestine have joined the counter-rallies.
But unless we build a movement to consistently campaign against March for Australia, there is no other political force that will challenge their racism.
Anthony Albanese’s Labor government has only legitimised the scapegoating of migrants for the housing crisis and run-down services.
On the same day as the anti-migration marches Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told ABC’s Insiders that immigration “needed to come down” to ease strain on housing and services.
Pauline Hanson’s racist One Nation party has already jumped from 6 per cent support at May’s Federal election to 12 per cent in October, according to Resolve polling.
If we allow the racist rallies to go unchallenged racists will gain confidence and we will see a growth in organising by far-right and Nazi groups. This will produce more violent racist attacks, like the assault of two Palestinians on their way home from the Sydney Palestine rally on 31 August.
These are the lessons from the rise of the far right overseas.
In the UK fascist Tommy Robinson mobilised more than 100,000 people in September, targeting refugees. Far-right anti-immigration party Reform UK is leading the polls, ahead of Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.
As a result violent attacks against hotels housing asylum-seekers have become common, with Nazi-led riots seeing bricks thrown through windows and attempts to set the hotels on fire.
The NSN’s racist attack on Camp Sovereignty in Melbourne at the end of the first MFA rally in August is an indication of the violence fascists are willing to use against Indigenous people, migrants and others.
Building the fight
We need much larger numbers of people to join the counter-protests to successfully outnumber the racists and keep them off the streets. Even in Melbourne, where the largest number of anti-racists gathered, a focus on direct physical confrontation with the racists backfired.
All this achieved on 19 October was splitting the anti-racist rally into several fragments in an effort to get past police lines to the racist protest. In the confusion police disgracefully attacked anti-racists, using capsicum spray and flash bang grenades.
The MFA have announced that their next major rally will be on Invasion Day, 26 January. Another group is organising their own anti-immigration rallies nationwide on 30 November, with UK fascist Tommy Robinson speaking via video link. Both events need to be countered.
The racists’ attempt to celebrate White Australia through marching in opposition to the Indigenous-led protests on Invasion Day should create shock. It means the Invasion Day protests need to be as big as possible with a clear anti-racist and pro-migrant message. They need to be widely built and supported.
The Sydney anti-racist demonstration was a positive example of the kind of organising needed to do this.
This should include countering any racist organising locally. When the NSN letterboxed Newtown in Sydney in early October, anti-racists organised leaflets countering their anti-migrant lies, held a speakout at the local train station and encouraged people to join the 19 October anti-racist rally.
More of this will be needed in the months ahead if we’re to grow the forces needed to drive the racists and Nazis off the streets.
By Luke Ottavi
