The day the left marched on Melbourne’s neo-Nazi gym
Three hundred anti-fascist protesters marched on a neo-Nazi recruitment event run out of a gym in Melbourne on Saturday. We marched down the streets of Sunshine West, spreading a message to residents who emerged from nearby shops in the multicultural suburb: “Right here, in your neighbourhood, there’s a recruiting centre for white supremacists and neo-Nazis. They want to make Australia a white-only country. We think that everyone should be welcome here: migrants, refugees, people of every race and gender”.
The Nazis huddled inside the gym, refusing to come out and face us. We chanted “Black, Indigenous, Arab, Asian and white, unite to fight the right”, urging them to show themselves. A journalist laughed as he told us that the news helicopter had footage to prove they were in there and could hear us.
Standing on the barricades set up by police, speakers talked about anti-fascist history: the fight against Pauline Hanson, the battle for Lewisham against the British National Front, the partisans of Italy and the rebels of Germany. They also spoke about the international context; while the far right is small in Australia right now, far-right political parties have risen to prominence and power across Europe and in India.
The Nazi gym has been operating for over a year, run by the National Socialist Network (NSN). Our protest was directed at a “white power lifting meet”, advertised to include speeches and seminars. The NSN is small. Its events usually have between eight and thirty people. But they’re organised, and they regularly mobilise.
When transphobe Posie Parker came to Melbourne earlier this year, black-clad Nazis lined the street next to her with a huge banner reading “destroy paedo freaks”. Since then, they’ve held two anti-migrant protests, picking up on Peter Dutton’s racist remarks that pin the blame for the housing crisis on migrants. Standing out the front of parliament house in Melbourne and Geelong’s town hall, they performed Hitler salutes and called for “living space for whites”.
Yesterday’s protest showed that the left in Melbourne is prepared to confidently take a stand against these fascists on their own turf. Ultimately, what we’re fighting for is a world where no one lives in fear of fascism, racism or oppression. Every time we unite to fight the right, that world feels a little bit closer.
