{"id":67461,"date":"2021-09-24T12:46:34","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T02:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=67461"},"modified":"2021-09-24T12:46:34","modified_gmt":"2021-09-24T02:46:34","slug":"whats-wrong-with-calling-the-melbourne-protests-far-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/whats-wrong-with-calling-the-melbourne-protests-far-right\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s wrong with calling the Melbourne protests \u2018far right\u2019?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Over the past week there has been a great deal of debate about who exactly has been storming through Melbourne\u2019s streets. It\u2019s been repeatedly claimed, including by union leaders, that the protests, which started over mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations and restrictions on the construction industry, have been \u2018infiltrated\u2019, \u2018orchestrated\u2019 or otherwise organised by far-right actors.<\/p>\n

So far, the allegations of far-right manipulation have been vague and unspecific. No one has yet identified any actual far-right figures involved in organising the protests (although some have attended them), given any evidence of what they\u2019ve done or even been clear about what exactly they mean by \u2018far right\u2019.<\/p>\n

Thus far, there is little indication of meaningful involvement by known far-right groups or actors in organising the protests. Indeed, as anyone who has been watching them would know, the protests have barely been \u2018organised\u2019 at all. Meeting points are sent out over Telegram and individuals share them across their own social media accounts on other platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Beyond those meeting points, however, there really hasn\u2019t been much organisation in the protests to date.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clearly true that there have been individuals with far-right beliefs in the online groups and on the streets of Melbourne over the past several days. However, there\u2019s no good reason to think that these people form a majority of the crowd. The nature of these kinds of \u2018anti\u2019 protests is that the participants are united by what they\u2019re against<\/em>, but often have wildly differing opinions on what they\u2019re for<\/em>. Protesters are likely to be driven by a range of views, from a genuine opposition to mandatory vaccination on the grounds that it violates their rights to an equally genuine conviction that Bill Gates is using the vaccines to smuggle microchips into people on behalf of Satan.<\/p>\n

Labelling all these people as being far right, white supremacists or neo-Nazis, as the building industry union has suggested, is not just inaccurate. It\u2019s actively harmful, because it hands anti-lockdown protesters a propaganda tool which they can use to their advantage. The logic goes: \u2018They say we\u2019re white supremacists, but we\u2019re not. If they\u2019re lying to you about this, what else are they lying about?\u2019<\/p>\n

In a multitude of protest chats and livestreamed videos over the past week, protesters have reacted angrily to the suggestion that they are far-right extremists. Well-known livestreamer Rukshan Fernando spent the first minutes of his video of Tuesday\u2019s protests seeking out non-white members of the crowd, jokingly asking them if they were white supremacists.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m here with the right-wing extremists,\u2019 he said, filming a group of Sikh protesters. \u2018These are the neo-Nazis extremists here. The media is saying that the working people of Victoria are right-wing baby neo-Nazis, but here we have people from India, Sikhs from Punjab, working-class Australians from all walks of life, and they\u2019re calling them baby Nazis and right-wing extremists on television!<\/p>\n

\u2018So what I\u2019m trying to show you guys is the way that the media and the authorities have manipulated this entire thing with their false narratives,\u2019 he said. The video had received more than two million views as of 24 September.<\/p>\n

In another example, during the stand-off between protesters and police at the Shrine of Remembrance on Wednesday, a speaker with a megaphone said, \u2018One thing I wouldn\u2019t mind knowing is when they\u2019re going to get better rhetoric than saying we\u2019re all white supremacists. I\u2019m not seeing a lot of white supremacists! Maybe one. Go on man, we know your rhetoric, we\u2019re onto your rhetoric, and it\u2019s weak. The people are seeing through it, and we\u2019re seeing through it, and maybe that\u2019s why [the police] have to keep showing force, because you know your rhetoric is failing and the regime is dying.\u2019 That video had 1.2 million views as of 24 September.<\/p>\n

This demonstrates why it\u2019s so important to be accurate, careful and evidence-driven when talking about these protests, these movements and these groups. Fraying trust in authorities and legitimate media is further eroded by simplistic, inaccurate narratives about supposed shadowy far-right puppet-masters who never seem to materialise.<\/p>\n

The threat from the far right is real. Where there is clear evidence for the involvement of far-right groups or influences, that should be called out.<\/p>\n

However, the use of \u2018far right\u2019 as a generic label slapped onto every anti-lockdown protest dilutes the meaning of the term, hinders understanding of what\u2019s actually going on, and can be actively counterproductive.<\/p>\n

We cannot combat conspiracy theories with our own search for invisible bogeymen. Inaccurate reporting and commentary on protests like those Melbourne has experienced this week undermine trust just when it is most crucial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past week there has been a great deal of debate about who exactly has been storming through Melbourne\u2019s streets. 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