Ruth Ratcliffe, Newcastle
When residents of several Newcastle suburbs received offensive leaflets in their letterboxes demanding "humanitarianism for local Australians, not gang-banging Sudanese" and advertising a January 22 "meeting" in Islington Park with Jim Saleam — former leader of National Action and current member of the extreme nationalist Australia First party — the community outcry was immediate.
The Socialist Alliance called a meeting on January 19 to organise a counter-protest and more than 40 people attended. A number of tactical issues were discussed and some Greens members and others argued strongly against a counter-mobilisation at Islington Park, saying it would "give the fascists the attention and confrontation they want".
Greens member and former Newcastle City Councillor John Sutton proposed that the "protest" be rolled into a "welcome BBQ" at an indoor venue, well away from Islington, which could win the support of Newcastle City Council. Sudanese community representatives explained that they would not endorse a counter protest, and advised their community to support the indoor event at Newcastle's Palais Theatre.
Others weren't so sure that this would be a potent enough counter response. Eventually the agreed compromise motion, put by Simon Butler from the Socialist Alliance, proposed a public rally prior to Saleam's event on a busy shopping strip in Hamilton, close to Islington Park, as well as endorsing the welcome BBQ.
With just two days to get the word around, both events were highly successful attracting 300 and 500 people respectively. In addition, around 50 people staged an ad hoc counter protest at Islington Park. The majority of these protesters were outraged local residents, some of whom were unaware that the other counter-protests had been organised. As opposition numbers grew, the racists, numbering less than a dozen, fled.
"The minuscule support for the Patriotic Youth League's event [PYL is the youth wing of extreme nationalist party Australia First, which organised the meeting with Saleam] confirmed that anti-racists need to focus their main fire on organising opposition to government racism — primarily mandatory detention and the scapegoating of Muslims and Indigenous people — rather than worrying too much about a tiny group of thugs spouting near incoherent, racist conspiracy theories", Butler told Green Left Weekly.
"However, in this case, the 'ignore them and they'll go away' approach would have meant, in practice, deserting the Sudanese community and giving the PYL a little more political space to continue their slander campaign.
"While this group is tiny and doesn't represent a real fascist movement, it is still dangerous. The PYL was associated with several violent attacks on international students at Newcastle University in 2004, and we do not want to give them any room to grow."
The January 20 Newcastle Herald tried its own bit of scaremongering, quoting a police officer advising the community against holding a protest at Islington Park to avoid a "clash" with Saleam's supporters. But, as it happened, those who turned up to the PYL event were able to put their views — peacefully, conscious to avoid creating any "bad media". As the fascists retreated to their cars, the sense of community empowerment was tangible.
"If there had been a direct counter-protest organised at Islington Park, the message to the PYL would have been even more decisive", said Butler. "However, given the Sudanese community's concerns about this, it was essential to organise an alternative that they could support. As it happened, representatives from the Sudanese community did feel confident enough to attend the protest in Hamilton and were greeted by sustained applause, hugs, tears and the presentation of bouquets of flowers."
The protest's broad platform — which included representatives from the Sudanese community, the ALP, the Socialist Alliance, the Greens, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, the Ethnic Communities Council and the Newcastle University Student Association — showed the practical unity that had been built in a short space of time.
Lord Mayor John Tate and the local ALP member of parliament, Sharon Grierson, among others also addressed the welcome BBQ.
"Despite reservations from some Greens members about organising a protest, its success showed just how inclusive and potent they can be", said Butler. "Greens and the Socialist Alliance should strive to work together in all such anti-racist campaigns — whether they are instigated by Jim Saleam or PM John Howard", concluded Butler.
From Green Left Weekly, February 2, 2005.
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