3CR Community Radio released this statement in the wake of the United Patriots Front's invasion of their offices on November 1.
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On November 1, five members of the fascist group United Patriots Front (UPF) gained entry to the premises of 3CR Community Radio and filmed throughout the building without permission. In an effort to intimidate the station and its programmers, they then posted the video on their Facebook page.
3CR reasserts its commitment to progressive politics and our core mission of providing a voice to people denied one elsewhere in the media and in society.
We stand by our commitment to providing a voice for Muslims, newly-arrived migrants, Indigenous people, unions, women, queers, the working class, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and people with a disability.
3CR was established in 1976 and the station currently has about 400 programmers broadcasting over 120 programs a week in 19 different languages. There is a diverse range of organisations affiliated to the station ranging from trade unions to housing groups to music appreciation clubs.
The UPF is of concern because of its racist, Islamophobic and anti-semitic beliefs, its hostility to the left and its capacity for violence.
On the same day the UPF came to 3CR, they also made an unwelcome visit to the Melbourne Anarchist Club.
We totally reject these tactics of intimidation and express our solidarity with other groups subjected to their harassment and vilification.
We call on the people of Melbourne to join us in rejecting this amateur schoolyard bullying and the politics of fear that make it possible. The routine Islamophobia present in mainstream politics and the media must stop and the indefinite detention of refugees must stop. We call on our political leaders to take some responsibility.
3CR urges all people concerned with upholding basic principles of human dignity, diversity and fairness to attend the protest against racism and fascism on Sunday November 22 on the steps of Parliament House [Melbourne].
For more information about the anti-racist protest visit Facebook.
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