The first large display of anti-racist opposition to One Nation since the party’s rise in the polls occurred in the Perth suburb of Midland on Wednesday night. A protest drew hundreds outside a fundraising event for the far-right party, at which Pauline Hanson was the guest of honour.
Socialists, migrants, students, Palestine solidarity activists, families and other anti-racists all chanted, “Pauline Hanson go to Hell, take your racists there as well!” and “Migrants are welcome, racists are not!”
On the other side of the street, a small number of Hanson supporters stood outside the cafe where the fundraiser was being held. Disparate chants of “Ban the burqa!” and the inspired “Pauline, Pauline, Pauline!” were drowned out by speeches from Bundjalung and Kamilaroi socialist Oskar Martin, Dr Mohammed Mustafa (a Palestinian doctor who has volunteered in Gaza throughout the genocide) and Greens state MLC Sophie McNeill.
Rally chair and organiser Alevine Magila told Red Flag:
“WA Socialists organised this protest to say that migrants are welcome and racism is not. Pauline Hanson is a Trump-style politician; she’s a far-right racist Islamophobe, and she has nothing to offer working-class people. We need to build a socialist movement to stop the far right.”
The demonstration was the initiative of WA Socialists, who have been out on the campaign trail—not for an election, but to build an anti-One Nation movement. WA Socialists members have spent weeks postering, leafleting and doorknocking working-class suburbs like Maylands, Victoria Park and Cannington.
One of the doors was answered by Maria. She came to Australia as a refugee from El Salvador in 1991 and now works four jobs well past her retirement age just to make ends meet. She is one of the most affected by the cost-of-living crisis, and also the target of One Nation’s scapegoating. She arrived for the protest an hour early, ready to stand against racism and not at all intimidated.
Maria told Red Flag she attended “because I see the parallels from Pauline Hanson to Donald Trump wanting to stop migrants”. When asked how the protest made her feel, the answer was simple: “It’s empowering”. As for her thoughts on Hanson, Maria invoked a classic anti-fascist slogan: “No pasaran. It means she won’t go further”.
Giving people like Maria the confidence to defy the racist crap flung at her is one of the reasons it’s so important to loudly oppose One Nation at every turn. The common refrain that protesting against Hanson “gives her oxygen” and that we should ignore the threat of the far right to make it go away is like suggesting burying your head in the sand during an earthquake.
It rings even more hollow now that One Nation is consistently polling a higher primary vote than the major parties, while capitalist media empires give Hanson daily airtime and Gina Rinehart funds her campaign.
The fact is that One Nation is being taken seriously by Australia’s ruling class. The main occasion for Hanson’s visit to the west was not just one fundraiser but a meeting with the Swan Chamber of Commerce, a networking body for business owners in Perth’s outer east. She’ll be back in July at the invitation of the West Australian newspaper for a corporate breakfast, with tickets priced at $185 per seat.
One Nation is becoming part of the political mainstream. We can’t just sit back and do nothing as this far-right menace entrenches itself. So demonstrations against Hanson are essential. If WA Socialists had not called the protest in Midland, her visit to Perth would have gone unchallenged. Instead, the fact that she was opposed by hundreds was the headline story in just about every news outlet that reported it.
But protesting alone will not be enough. We have to build a political alternative that can challenge Hanson and the rest of the pro-capitalist status quo in every arena. You only have to look at the international surge of the far right—Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, Donald Trump’s US administration, the wave of fascist politics gaining popularity across Europe—to see the potential paths Australia could go down and the urgency of the situation.
After Perth, Hanson’s next stop is Melbourne on Friday. The Campaign Against Racism and Fascism has called a protest for 5:45pm at Moonee Ponds Junction, near where she is holding another fundraiser and networking event. After that is Canberra on Wednesday 17 June, where Hanson will be addressing the National Press Club—Canberra Socialists are organising a protest there at 11am.
