Extreme far-right movement targeting more recruits in Geelong
It’s believed a growing number of Geelong men are falling prey to a “dangerous” far-right extremist movement, with sources claiming a small chapter may have sprouted in the city.
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It’s believed a growing number of Geelong men are falling prey to a “dangerous” far-right extremist movement, with sources claiming a small chapter may have sprouted in the city.
It comes following a rise in public demonstrations by the National Socialist Network (NSN), whose members paraded near Federation Square and Flinders Street Station in Melbourne last Saturday with a “mass deportation now” banner.
The same group, dressed in all black, took to the streets of Geelong last year and posed with offensive messaging at a number of the city’s landmarks, including the City of Greater Geelong council building.
One source, who did not want to be identified due to fear of reprisal, said she was aware of a small number of neo-Nazis meeting in the city amid fears their numbers are growing.
“We are aware of a lot more people aligning themselves with this ideology, not just travelling down here from Melbourne,” she said.
“They are here in Geelong.”
Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, Dr Dvir Abramovich, said NSN was placing more focus on the growing regional city, which has a population of almost 300,000 and is an easy drive from Melbourne.
Anti-immigration posters were plastered down Pakington St almost a year ago, with many businesses warning then that more people were being recruited to far-right groups.
“No one wants Geelong to become a hotbed for neo-Nazis brazenly sowing fear and intimidation on our streets,” he said.
“The increase in white-supremacist activity should set the alarm bells off as these unapologetic homegrown bigots, who dream of an Australian Hitler, are on a recruitment drive of disaffected young people to their warped Aryan cause.”
A spokesman from the White Rose Society said they had become aware of a number of “distraught families” of members of the NSN and other neo-Nazi groups “who have no one to turn to as they lose their sons to extremism.”
Executive Council of Australian Jewry’s co-CEO, Alex Ryvchin, said more needed to be done to debunk conspiracy theories.
“We have been warning of the rise of neo-Nazism in our country for some time and this is another disturbing example of their increasingly public and brazen methods of attracting attention, intimidating the public and appealing to lost youth looking for identity and purpose,” he said.
There has been rising levels of anti-Semitism not just in Victoria, but across the globe since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israeli civilians, with tensions at fever pitch between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel groups.
Mr Ryvchin said some of it has been driven by “radical anti-Israel groups” and their “enablers” who have shown the far-right that this is the right time to escalate their own public displays of hatred.
Dr Abramovich had “no doubt” that the “people of Geelong are disturbed by the eruption of this kind of hatred on their doorstep”.
“Perhaps it is time for the state and federal governments to consider outlawing the promotion and glorification of Nazism altogether,” he said.
A 24-year-old man was arrested after performing a Hitler salute in public at the Flinders St demonstration last weekend.
Men could be seen doing the same salute in front of the CFMEU Geelong headquarters in July last year, with a banner that read “Stop immigration. Keep Geelong White”.
Several images were widely circulated on an encrypted messaging app.
The rising number of disturbing stunts sparked a counter pro-Immigration rally on the steps of City Hall, attracting more than 100 people.
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Originally published as Extreme far-right movement targeting more recruits in Geelong
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