Australia’s youth radio station, Triple J, has been following the campaign against the Patriotic Youth League, and covered it on the Hack current affairs program on Tuesday, 18 January. You can listen to an MP3 of the segment here.
The following day, the PYL had organised a rally, but we smashed them. “We” is a conglomeration of Greens, Labor left, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), the Labor Council (Unions NSW), the Socialist Alliance, Resistance and other assorted activist groups who today staged a massive counter-protest against the PYL in Sydney.
It was a clandestinely-organised affair, because we didn’t want the PYL to chicken out and waste our time. I was originally tipped off a few days back that the PYL were planning a Sydney rally by going through their message boards.
stuart
Demonstration
« Thread started on: Jan 10th, 2005, 03:55am »Hi all,
Just letting you know there will be demo on 19th.
Send me a private message if you want further details.
cheers,
Stu.
From there it was simply a matter of scouring other neo-Nazi web forums like The White Pride Coalition of Australia and this tidbit from Stormfront.
I won’t delve too deep into the espionage side of things, because I don’t want to give away too many secrets, but we uncovered that the PYL were planning to meet at 11:45 at the naval gun in Hyde Park. They were to be joined by members of the National Front.
This is an email reply I got from a Stormfront user I contacted on Tuesday.
Gday mate,
Im going to a PYL Demo this week(wednesday)it is going to be in the city if your interested.Give me a buzz if you want to attend 04## ### ###, im not a member of the PYL in apart of the National Front but i like to go support who ever is getting out on the streets and standing up for what we are.We usually fly the Australian or Eureka flag.
If your interested in coming along to the NF youth flyer day in the city on the 27th then your more than welcome to.
Hope to hear from you soon
14 words
From there it was simply a matter of organising a counter-rally. I 100% respect the right of the PYL to march through the streets so long as they respect the rights of others to counter-protest.
The counter-protest
Our coalition met at 11am at Taylor Square, at the other end of Oxford St from the Nazis. I’m very happy to say that Sydney bloggers were in the thick of the action for this event. We had Weezil providing logistical support and backup from home base, Flashman taking care of filming duties and Philip Gomes doing a sterling job as recon scout on his bike. Phil reported that a small number of PYL folk had begun to gather at the naval gun. That was our cue: we marched.
As we neared the PYL meeting point I could pick out Andrew Wilson from a distance. He had three blokes with him (that’s a huge rally). We sent the Union fellas to the front our march and turned towards them. Our sixty strong group was fifty metres away when the sight of the MUA and CFMEU flags caused the PYL to scarper.
Elise Patoka from Triple J’s Hack program chased them down and tried to interview them. Wilson reportedly whined that “JJJ never give us a fair go”. Elise offered him a chance to get his opinion across to which he replied “No comment, I am not the press officer.” The Hack report can be downloaded here (MP3).
We were informed that another small PYL group had made their way to Wentworth street and were trying to hand out leaflets. Off we marched.
This Patriotic “Youth” League contingent didn’t appear to be very youthful at all. It was four blokes, all over the age of 40. And guess who was amongst them? That’s right, the good Dr Jim Saleam himself with his notorious skinhead sidekick from his National Action days, Ross “The Skull” May.
The ANSP’s most notorious member was a tall, musclebound and shaven-headed stormtrooper by the name of Ross “the Skull�? May. The Skull intimidated protesters in Sydney until the late ’70s. He was jailed for six months for bashing a journalist in 1972, and served other stints in jail for similar offences over the years.
The Skull looks well and truly over the hill these days and is about as musclebound as Mick Molloy. Still, it didn’t stop him scowling at a counter-protestor as she filmed him, while some beared Ned Kelly look-alike leant into the shot and motioned to slit her throat.
Nice guys.
A good yelling match between the sixty or so anti-Nazi protesters and the four, yep count ‘em again, four Nazi nutters ensued. Jim Saleam and I had a good one-on-one where he screamed something about ball shaving, Trotskyite conspiracies and the Federal Police — apparently it was some unholy triumvirate that can all be traced back to me. I have to say, his reputation as a sad, twisted and bitter old bugger most certainly did him justice.
As you can from the pictures, he also has some rather dishy dress sense.
After copping a bollocking for twenty minutes, Jim, the Skull and Ned Kelly turn-tailed and retreated to the jeers and cheers of the victorious anti-fascist coalition. See Philip Gomes for some great pictures of them slinking away in defeat. It will bring a tear to your eye.
It was a truly sweet victory. The actual Patriotic Youth scarpered at the first signs of a union banner, and Jimbo Saleam copped a good earful into the bargain before he too, hightailed it out of there. It was a bad day all-round for the PYL. So much fo 2005 being the “year of the Nationalists” as they claim. Here’s a tip lads: try and walk the walk before you talk the talk. Take this comment from one of your mob left on a blog entry:
Nothing can stop the firestorm that has reached our shores from the hearts and mouths of our bretheren throughout Europe.We walk with heads held high in the firm knowledge that our day is coming soon.Our beloved homeland of Australia is being awakened from its 20 year slumber of complacency and oppressive state enforced multiculturalist fascism.
With the determination and daring of Kelly in our minds and the words and airs of Patterson in our hearts we will fight to the death.No amount of phoney traitorous left wing anti-Australian propaganda or capitalist sell out pseudo-conservatism will stop us.
Well, it didn’t take much more than an MUA banner and a Haka to scare you wooses off today, pal. That ain’t much of a ‘firestorm’ you’ve got brewing.
I originally intended this to be an ambush protest but if the PYL had bothered to check Sydney Indymedia yesterday, they would have seen the call to arms.
Maybe they did see it? It might explain why PYL president Stuart McBeth “missed his train” to Sydney and when he finally did arrive (two hours late), he was alone and minus the fifty footsoldiers that were allegedly coming with him. It’s all very well to be a toughie-toughie Nazi thug but it’s interesting to see how brave they are when confronted by an organised opposition. I mean, if I was a Newcastle-based white supremacist, I wouldn’t want the Maritime Union of Australia taking my photo either.
Thank you, everyone
There are many people I need to thank for helping to make today the outstanding success that it was. Firstly, David Fox (Foxie) from the AMWU for his tireless phone work in bringing everyone together. Warren Smith and everyone from the MUA for their numbers on the ground and invaluable experience. Adam Lincoln and everyone from the CFMEU for sharing his wealth of background information on Jim Saleam and for his efforts in drumming up the numbers. Sorry you couldn’t be there in person, mate. Thanks also to Phil Davey from the NSW Labor Council for his help in spreading the word.
We wouldn’t have had the numbers we had it if wasn’t for Resistance. You can say what you like about their ideology and supposed wackiness, but by jove they come out when it really counts. Thanks especially to Marc and Katie.
Muchos gracias to all the solid folk of the IWW for their numbers on the ground and for their quick fixing of that timetable mixup yesterday arvo. Much appreciated.
To all the Ryde-Epping Greens/NDMF folk that made the trek into town, I thank you again after profusely doing so in person only a few hours ago. A special thanks also to the Honky Tonk Man and the Nutter for their excellent surveillance work. The Nutter disguised as a pommie backpacker (well, he is from Oxford) and the HTM, well, he was just a guy with big sideburns who looks a bit like Russell Crowe.
Lastly, the NSW Police deserve a big thanks for the way they handled things today. The unions rang them last night and informed them of our plans for the day. Consequently, I spent a fair bit of time today working with yellow-capped officers of the Street Policing Unit to ensure that everything went off peacefully. They were courteous, informed and conducted themselves with the utmost professionalism.
For more photos check out Flashman and Philip Gomes. You can also watch a short video of the event (13mb, Quicktime format).
