Nationalist Socialist Network shocking message at Geelong council building
A white supremacist group has allegedly spread a shocking hate message on a mobile messenger app after posing in front of the Geelong council building.
Geelong
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A white supremacist group has allegedly spread a shocking hate message on a mobile messenger app after posing in front of the City of Greater Geelong council building.
The image shows eight men dressed in black allegedly in front of the Gheringhap St town hall, with half gesturing the Nazi salute with a sign displaying “Stop immigration. Keep Geelong White”.
The photo was circulated on Telegram accompanied by a message reading “Geelong is being invaded by hordes of blacks and islanders.”
“White men must organise a collective defence against the non-Whites the Liberal and Labor parties are bringing here to replace us (sic),” it stated.
The men are believed to be from the National Socialist Network, a neo-Nazi political group which is understood to be active across Australia.
Earlier this year, about 30 members of the group marched down Spring St in Melbourne and repeatedly performed a Nazi salute.
Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dr Dvir Abramovich, who led a national campaign to ban the swastika and criminalise the Nazi salute, said the group has declared “open season” on immigrants and are trying to insert themselves into the conversation by provoking fear.
“These agents of evil ... see immigration as a “fear” issue through which they believe they can mainstream and normalise their abhorrent beliefs and attract recruits to their warped cause,” he “Such hate-filled rhetoric ... can have deadly consequences and can act as justification for individuals committing heinous acts of violence.
“Imagine the grief a Holocaust survivor in Geelong would have felt confronted with the Nazi salute, which they probably thought they would never see in their lifetime,” he said.
Recently, Tasmania introduced tough new legislation outlawing the public display of the swastika and related symbols as well as banning the Nazi salute.
Dr Abramovich said he is looking forward to the day the Victoria parliament bans the Nazi salute.
“This is a timely wake-up call that we as a society need to keep a close watch on the resurgence of this dangerous movement,” he said.
“This is a fight we have to win.”
The incident is just one of a number of disturbing recent examples of hate speech and propaganda in Geelong.
A retailer on multicultural Pakington Street was left sickened last month after the strip was plastered with propaganda from neo-Nazi terrorist organisation Combat 18.
It also follows the emergence of a Nazi swastika symbol painted on a North Geelong warehouse in April, an act that drew the ire of Jewish leaders and the broader community.
Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner Ro Allen said last month, in response to the recent Geelong incidents, the community “should be able to live their life free from hate.”
“However, we know that Victoria’s Jewish communities continue to face anti-Semitism and that the public display of Nazi symbols causes serious harm,” she said.
Jewish Community Council of Victoria president Daniel Aghion said the recent appearance of the swastika on Thompson Road was “criminal”.
Geelong council has been contacted for comment.
Originally published as Nationalist Socialist Network shocking message at Geelong council building
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