A day after Pauline Hanson’s One Nation claimed victory in the Secret Harbour by-election in the outer suburbs of Boorloo/Perth, far-right “March for Australia” (MFA) protests were held across the country on August 30.
The anti-immigration protests, which were organised by an alliance of ultra-conservatives, far-right influencers and neo-Nazi groups, were met with counter protests condemning racism, misogyny, transphobia and fascism.
The counter protest in Gadigal Country/Sydney was organised by the Campaign Against Racism and Fascism and drew several hundred people and outnumbered the far-right protest.
Speakers included NSW Greens MLC Sue Higginson, Yehuda Aharon from Jews Against the Occupation ’48, Jasmine Al-Rawi from NSW Socialists and National Tertiary Education Union activist Nick Reimer.
Reimer said the rise of the far right is a threat to “everything our union stands for”. He said workplace organising is an “essential pillar” in the struggle against the far right.
“March for Australia have billed their event today as a “March for Free Speech” … for them, free speech means free rein for Islamophobes and antisemites, open season on LGBTIQ people, the environment and Palestine movements…
“Society is facing the most severe repression of political freedom we have witnessed in our lifetime [and] we will obviously not hear a peep out of MFA to oppose the systemic silencing of the Palestine solidarity movement.”
Reimer said that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and other Labor leaders would rather “fold, buckle, concede, accommodate” than oppose the far right. “They are more hostile to the left than they are to Hanson and Bec Freedom.”
After hearing speeches at Hyde Park, the counter protest marched to Belmore park, past a Vietnamese cafe where the far-right protesters had gone for lunch.
The MFA protest had finished in less than an hour and did not march. Only about 200–250 people joined the racist rally.
About 100 people joined the counter protest in Kaurna Yerta/Adelaide to say “Yes to free speech, no to racism”, reports Markela Panegyres.
The rally began with a Welcome to Country from Ngarrindjerri and Kaurna Elder Uncle Moogy before speeches from Narungga and Arabunna traditional owner Janette Millera, a young activist called Jordan representing the student-led anti-Hanson movement, Shai Wittles from Trans Justice Adelaide, retired Construction Forestry Maritime Employees’ Union and Builders Labourers Federation member Allen Harris and Habibah Jabhoori who had been arrested for publishing pro-Palestine material, with the charges later dropped. It was MC’d by Samantha Skinner from the Anti-Poverty Network SA.
The rally in Naarm/Melbourne was targeted by police violence, with many protesters hit with pepper spray and foam or pushed around and beaten by armed Victoria Police officers.
A small but spirited counter protest marched in Magan-djin/Brisbane.
