Racist white supremacists are expected to converge in Brisbane, Australia, on April 21st under the guise of a music festival, "Hammerred". Australian Federal Race Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Helen Szoke, has labelled the event as "abhorrent to our community", while Queensland Police and the Brisbane City Council are allowing it to go ahead, saying it is legal.
The organising group, Southern Cross Hammerskins, are associated with the international white supremacist group, Hammerskin Nation, and both have outspoken views on Hitler, racial vilification of Jews and connections to Australian groups associated with racist attacks in the 1980s.
The 'Hammerskins Nation' website that represents the views of white supremacists such as the Southern Cross Hammerskins claims its goal is 14 words: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for White Children." In the US Hammerskins groups have been associated with the Ku Klux Klan and many members have been jailed for assault and murder of black people.
According to the Anti Defamation League (US) the Hammerskins are "the most violent and best-organized neo-Nazi skinhead group in the United States. A number of its members have been convicted of harassing, beating or murdering minorities. Many popular racist rock bands are affiliated with the Hammerskin Nation, and the group regularly sponsors concerts. Though internal dissension and a civil lawsuit currently threaten its continued strength, the Hammerskin Nation remains active and dangerous."
The Australian Racial Discrimination Act (1975) says it is unlawful "to do an act, otherwise than in private, if: (a) the act is reasonably likely in all the circumstances to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or group of people, and (b) the act is done because of the race, colour or national or ethnic origin of the other person or some or all of the people in the group”.
This event is highly likely to cause public offence, as it is being publically advertised on internet fora and websites and is already being exposed in the mass media. The 'whitelaw' blog advertising the event features links to youtube videos promoting Hitler and glorifying racial violence.
That the police, the Brisbane City Council and the Queensland state government are letting this racist event go ahead is against the spirit of the Racial Discrimination Act and would likely be attracting visitors to the region that may have been involved in racist or possibly even violent acts.
It's time we stopped this hangover from the White Australia Policy and made it clear to the world that Queensland and Australia will not tolerate people continuing to spread racial hate like these groups do. To allow this event to go ahead is to condone racial vilification and incitement to racial vilification.
The author of this article urges all free thinking and egalitarian people to write an urgent complaint to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, the QLD Premier Anna Bligh, the Queensland Police Force and the Brisbane City Council. This racist event must not stand.