Reclaim Australia
Reclaim Australia (German: Australia win back ) is a right-wing extremist and racist group in Australia that was founded in 2015. From 2015 to 2017 she organized demonstrations across Australia, which are variously cited as the starting point for a right-wing development in Australia. According to the Australian secret service , it is the strongest right-wing extremist group in Australia.
Reclaim Australia is essentially anti-Islamist and fears that Islam " exchanges " Australia's national culture .
In Germany, the press first took notice of Reclaim Australia when it held demonstrations with anti-Islamic content in 16 Australian cities on Holy Saturday 2015. The organization counted 20,000 participants according to its own information, but the police doubted these numbers and named much lower ones.
Furthermore, two right-wing extremist factions split off from Reclaim Australia in 2015, the year it was founded, the United Patriots Front and the True Blue Crew , which became known in Australia for their militant demeanor. With the splits, the right wing movement in Australia weakened and Reclaim Australia has not been able to match the initial success in 2015 until today (2019).
Program
In Reclaim Australia's only programmatic statement, which includes nine points, a clear Islamophobic focus can be seen.
There are seven items in the program that can be described as Islamophobic . Relaim Australia is against the introduction of Sharia law , Halal products and against teaching Islam in schools, as well as against wearing a burqa and the mutilation of female genitals and against polygamy . Two points of their program relate to the right of free speech, which means that political inflammatory language must not be banned, and the second point is the requirement that the Australian anthem and the Australian flag should be sung once a week in schools Should become mandatory.
politics
Meaning, influence
In contrast to other small, mostly short-lived right-wing extremist groups in Australia, Reclaim Australia is an organization that is in the focus of public awareness. It is considered the largest and most influential right-wing radical group in Australia.
Right-wing populist, racist and nationally conservative political forces in Australia sympathize with the ideas of Reclaim Australia. There are links to these camps as can be seen in the participation of speakers at Reclaim Australia demonstrations. These are Danny Nalliah from the Rise Up Australia Party , a pastor, Pauline Hanson from the right-wing populist and racist One Nation and George Christensen , a national-conservative racist from the Liberal National Party . Both Hanson and Christensen are senators in the Australian national parliament.
Organizational structure
Reclaim Australia organizes itself largely through social media, especially Facebook , and tries to influence the public through it. For them, the demonstrations organized by Reclaim Australia are the answer to Islamic extremism. This is to prevent Australian culture from being replaced by Islam. The organizational scheme of the group is simple: Reclaim Australia has so-called "organizers" (German: "organizers") in various cities, who prepare and carry out the demonstrations and events. The founders of Reclaim Australia are Catherine Brennan, Wanda Marsh and John Oliver, who describe themselves as Australian patriots and want to stop the Islamization of Australia they claim.
Demonstrations
There were mostly counter-demonstrations against the demonstrations organized by Reclaim Australia. When the participants of these events met, there were sometimes violent clashes in which the police intervened. Some individuals were arrested.
The demonstrations organized by Reclaim Australia in April and July 2015 achieved the greatest successes so far. Demonstrations took place in 16 Australian cities, with attendance figures in the low three-digit range. Most of the time, the number of counter-demonstrations outweighed.
In February 2016, Reclaim Australia again called for demonstrations across Australia, which met with less interest than in the previous year. However, there were also significantly fewer counter-demonstrations. The same applies to 2017, when, for example, only several dozen participants were counted in Sydney.
Australian human rights organizations, trade unions and members of the Socialist Alliance turned against the demonstrations .
elections
Daniel Evans, who was a political independent candidate for the 2016 constituency of Yerrabi in the Australian Capital Territory House election , was a key organizer of Reclaim Australia demonstrations in Canberra . In the election he received only 0.5% of the votes cast and was therefore not elected.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Anna-Lena Roth: Right-wing extremists and racism in Australia Down Unter, right in front , from March 19, 2019, on Spiegel Online . Retrieved April 14, 2019.
- ↑ a b Nick McKenzie, Michael Bachelard: ASIO monitoring of right-wing extremists uncovered alleged plan to attack radical left , from August 13, 2016, on The Age . Retrieved on
- ↑ Chrostoph Sydow: Pegida in Australia: The hatred is the same , from April 15, 2015, on Spiegel Online . Retrieved May 2, 2019.
- ↑ Reclaiming Australia? Liberalism's role in Islamophobia , July 16, 2015, on The Conversation . Retrieved April 14, 2019.
- ↑ Deryia Iner: Islamophobia.pdf Islamophobia in Australia 2014-2016 . Edited by Islamophobia Register Australia, online at Deakin University . Retrieved April 14, 2019.
- ↑ Josh Dye: Founders of 'anti-Islamic' group Reclaim Australia make first television appearance on Channel Seven's Sunday Night , October 15, 2015, on the Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved April 15, 2019.
- ↑ Alex Cullen, The faces behind the Reclaim Australia movement , October 18, 2015, on Australia News. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
- ↑ Reclaim Australia clashes with opposing groups at rallies around the country over extremism and tolerance , April 4, 2015, to Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved April 14, 2019.
- ^ Eddie Williams: Canberra's Reclaim Australia Rally Was Small on Numbers but Big on Signs , February 6, 2016, on Vice Channels. Retrieved April 14, 2019.