Not all welcome at Perth anti-filter rally

By Liz Tay on Mar 8, 2010 1:57 PM
Filed under Telco/ISP

Protesters chant: "No room for racists."


See all pictures here »

Opponents of the Federal Government's internet filter plan faced unexpected controversy in Perth on Saturday, when an anti-immigration group joined the 'National Day of Action'.

Events were organised in Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane by the Stop the Filter group, which hoped to raise public awareness of ISP-level internet censorship.

An estimated 300 people attended the protest in Forrest Place, Perth, organisers said. The event kicked off at noon and wound down at around 2pm (photo gallery).

Speeches by Curtin University lecturer Mike Kent, Ben Peterson of the Socialist Alliance, Mark Walmsley of the Liberal Democratic Party, and Scott Ludlam of the Greens had been organised.

However, as Ludlam delivered his keynote speech, members of Perth's Nationalist Alternative group unfurled their flag above the stage.

"There was a little bit of controversy," Stop the Filter organiser Trish Zanetti told iTnews.

"We had members of the Nationalist Alternative Group turn up. They put this racist banner up right above the stage," she said.

Zanetti said that Nationalist Alternative members were "made to feel really unwelcome", with some Stop the Filter protesters chanting: "No room for racists."

Other attendees argued that it was hypocritical of the organisers to censor and expel the Nationalist Alternative group.

However, Zanetti said that Nationalist Alternative had been distributing its own, unrelated literature and were attempting to "hijack" Stop the Filter's event.

"Have you ever thought what it must feel like to be a migrant and be confronted with banners like that when you come out ... in support of an event against an internet filter?" she wrote in the Stop the Filter forums.

"When dealing with this sort of thing, you have to make decisions based on the big picture - things aren't always black and white.

"We don't support people who oppress others with their words. That is not censorship -- it is human rights," she said.

Zanetti told iTnews that the rally continued as planned after the Nationalist Alternative group left. Organisers collected "hundreds of signatures" for petitions to the Senate and House of Representatives.

At the State Library in Melbourne, organisers reported having received 300 attendees, aged between 18 and 70 and from various backgrounds (pictured, photo gallery).

Nearly 300 signatures were collected for a petition to the Senate that was organised by Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA).

Speeches were delivered by representatives of the Greens, EFA, Pirate Party, Exit International and Australian Sex Party, and were well received by attendees, according to Stop the Filter spokesperson Peter C. Hayward.

A few attendees also addressed the crowd publicly, including a concerned parent and an immigrant from Russia who spoke about the importance of freedom of speech.

Attendees also carried posters that read: "Church state: where is the line?", "Senator Conroy doesn't speak for us", and "Get your rosaries off my binaries".

Zanetti said that Stop the Filter planned to host more anti-censorship rallies, and had joined a nationwide "coalition" of anti-filter groups in hopes of coordinating more national events.

22 comments in this discussion

"Nationalism and having some pride in one's country and countrymen is not a bad thing. Sadly the term has been hijacked and is now associated with something quite different. @DarkCrescent said "i ..."

By legless

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Comments: 22

Johnny Mar 8, 2010 8:54 PM	I think the stupid anti-immigration people should have picked their own protest day rather than trying to hijack somebody elses protest. I would be pissed off at this. "Other attendees argued that it was hypocritical of the organisers to censor and expel the National Alternative group." Well they are trying to take over the protest, It's not censoring them it's telling them to piss off!
ITrant Mar 9, 2010 12:13 PM	Totally agree. The criticisms were so invalid, they shouldn't have been reported, unless it gets more publicity for the anti-filter protest. Keep up the good fight, you know you're making headway when you get disruption tactics used on you. 'Disruption', it's such a benign sounding word. The government uses it all the time, like justifying the murder of hundreds of refugees http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/17/2545935.htm http://www.tonykevin.com.au/Smuggle1.html
Haggis Mar 9, 2010 5:07 PM	@Johnny >It's not censoring them it's telling them to piss off! The event was organized to protest the government's attack on freedom of speech on the internet and then you support attendees at said event who attempt to prevent free speech. Are you an idiot? "Have you ever thought what it must feel like to be a migrant and be confronted with banners like that when you come out ... in support of an event against an internet filter?" she wrote in the Stop the Filter forums. What do you think it is like for White Australians to watch their country being given to the third world, without their ever being allowed to vote on the issue? This breaks article 21 (3) of the UNs UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS Article 21. (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
Haggis Mar 9, 2010 8:35 PM	Forced immigration also breaks the UN Laws on Genocide. Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide from 1948 defines genocide as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. Forced mass immigration and inevitable assimilation is genocide, because the original peoples no longer exist in their present form. This was done to the Australian Aboriginals by the do gooders of the past and now it is being done to every European majority country on the planet and still we are not allowed to question it, or vote on the issue.
FrankJackson Mar 9, 2010 9:27 PM	I did not know the white supremacists was this strong in Australia. I thought that was limited to a few idiotic minorities and you will only find larger groups in europe and the hicks living in the bible belt in the USA. @Haggis: Do you actually think that WHITE Australians are the "true" Australians? You unfortunately have got your head up your backside if that is the case. I am running with the assumption that you are white - which means YOU are not an Australian native and your genealogy also shifted (immigrated) here at some point in time. If I am wrong in my assumption I apologise. The problem with any Racist view is that it over-generalises and as a rule generalisation is inevitably incorrect. This causes wrong people to be persecuted and a blanket thrown over ALL WHO ARE NOT OZZIE (white? are you being serious?!?!?). If a man has been in Australia for 10 years, has been in a single job and has always paid his taxes, never been on handouts and has fully integrated into the "Ozzie way of life". But he is a black immigrant who saw his father being hacked into pieces by thugs and his mother and sisters raped and killed? Does he not deserve the right to be here? If he is willing to die for Australia if asked to do so, does that make him just another immigrant? Racism is an ideological pile of crap not even worthy of its own ideals. It achieves nothing ... you could remove all foreigners from this country - leaving only those who were born here, but your problems would persist and likely increase. Look at old Pauline - who now finds herself looking for greener pastures. I hope now she understands that leaving your own country behind is not an easy thing. But its usually driven out of need and not want. I cannot believe there are actually people in Australia who believe in such tripe. I am glad the filter group shoved the idiots out. End Rant
SvenV Mar 10, 2010 12:14 AM	Normally labelling those promoting reduced immigration as 'racists' would seem similar to labelling those against the filter as 'paedophiles'. Since I don't know anything about the "Nationalist Alternative Group" or what was on their controversial banner (since the article doesn't give specifics), however, for all I know it may have been clear from the context.
Sams Mar 10, 2010 8:50 AM	"What do you think it is like for White Australians to watch their country being given to the third world" It is not "their country" to start with, and never was.
Haggis Mar 10, 2010 12:03 PM	Any poll taken by the MSM, shows the majority of Australians including recent immigrants, do not want the mass forced immigration to continue and yet they have never been allowed to vote on the issue. So if you and your buddies think Democracy is "racism", and don't care about the UN's view on human rights either, then perhaps you should go live in a communist dictatorship? Red Fascists are not welcome in Australia. P.S. Notice they ignored the UN's view on human rights and counter with name calling. The reason is because they have no answers they are willing to give publicly, as to why we should surrender our sovereignty.
Sams Mar 10, 2010 12:21 PM	I'm sorry but what is this "mass forced immigration" to are banging on about? "Any poll taken by the MSM" .. is bound to be primarily votes by morons. Can you point us to these polls pls.
Haggis Mar 10, 2010 12:38 PM	>It is not "their country" to start with, and never was. I also note these same Red Fascists use similar arguments in Europe and Britain, who's indigenous populations are also facing minority status and the inevitable obliteration of their identity and culture. Over there the Red Fascist mantra is "we are all from Africa, (if you go back far enough) so Europe is not for Europeans either". Of course they would never dream of saying Africa is not for Africans, China is not for Chinese, etc. So by their words and actions, they expose their agenda. They are Anti-European.
Sams Mar 10, 2010 1:11 PM	Haggis, you are confusing citizenship with race. A "Chinese" person is a person who is a citizen for China. They could be Caucasian or Negroid for example. By definition, it is fair to say Australia belongs to Australian's citizens - it is just you assume that all Australian are "white" - which is not the case now, has never been the case, and never will be the case. As for "reds" and "fascism", I don't see the connection other than they are used as slurs to prop up a weak argument by people that don't have a proper grasp of what they mean. Cultures will always change over time, which, looking back at the dark ages, is a good thing in general. I do feel sorry for people that wet their pants with fear about increasing the diversity culture in Australia though, because it is going to happen regardless of their semi-coherent bleating.
Digger11 Mar 10, 2010 5:04 PM	Australian is also a Nationality, not just a group of disparate races or citizens. You are the nationality of your parents - so if you have 2 Japanese parents, you will always be Japanese for instance. Where you live is totally separate to this. My parent were born in Australia so I am Australian. Not many of true Aussies left unfortunately - the immigration policy of turning Australia into a suburb of Choian (and now India) is increasingly changing our once great country. If I was born to Swedish parents and lived in say, Africa, I will always be Swedish (never African). It is this simple concept that is accepted worldwide that people like Sams often get totally confused about. Of course, any one coming from a race like China or India would love to pretend they are Australian - unfortunately that can never be ....
Digger11 Mar 10, 2010 5:16 PM	BTW - Haggis's point on immigration and that the politicians have "censored" the debate from us Aussies is so very true. It is clearly the "Elephant in the Room" when it comes to lack of water, crowded public transport and roads and cities etc. Why shouldn't we be allowed to discuss it and vote on it ??? Lets hope we do not become a Fiji where the Indian immigrants took over due to their numbers. As the ABC journalist said, when reporting on Pauline Hanson moving to the UK, why is she going to the UK - they have even larger problems with immigration than Australia !!! At least he was brave enough to talk about the elephant. BTW - immigration and population policy debate, or censorship of it, is not Racist. Racism is the hating of other cultures. It is funny how the uniformed who support increased immigration (why ???) always try to play the racism card to justify their stupid views.
DarkCresent Mar 10, 2010 7:38 PM	were all human beings to say that the people of the nation should get a vote in whether immigrants can come to Australia or not , is the dumbest thing i have heard, in which case aboriginals should get a vote whether 'white Australians' can stay in Australia cause we where all immigrants who 'forced' ourselves into their country , i mean come one seriously that is racism i mean have u ever been to a 3rd world country , 30 million poor people in India get buried in the street on a regular basis so people don;t have to deal with the poor dead and these people only died due a corrupt government which they don't have the power to change, or in some African countries where law is governed by mobs and women are raped or regular basis 'but that's OK cause as long as other humans don't come into my country just cause they look different or have a different color' cause otherwise that's an impediment of my rights which i gained by being born in this country so the country automatically becomes mine cause i'm an asshole' <-- being sarcastic , just cause your born in a country doesn't mean you should be entitled to that country unless ur a respectful citizen who helps out his country , i do reforestation and community service and donate to charity's when i can, whens the last time any of you helped out Australia , you so called 'Australians'
DarkCresent Mar 10, 2010 7:41 PM	or are an Australian citizen who doesn't at least make Australia worse ..
Sams Mar 10, 2010 8:31 PM	Digger11 wrote: "any one coming from a race like China or India" Um, China and India are are countries mate. Digger11: "If I was born to Swedish parents and lived in say, Africa, I will always be Swedish (never African)." So by your definition, none of us are Australian then, because we have ancestors that were not Australian. "It is this simple concept that is accepted worldwide that people like Sams often get totally confused about." No, I think this is some befuddlement that you came up on all one your ow .. but I suppose this is consistent with the stats I showed earlier that showed nationalists are the lowest IQ segment of our population.
KB Mar 11, 2010 8:33 AM	Personally, I am tired of hearing the argument that if a particular race of people were the first to inhabit the land/country of any continent, then they own it in totality. In this day and age of world wide multiculturalism, it is getting very tiresome. It would mean that they aboriginal culture would be at least entitled to parts of New Guinea as well. In saying this though, immigration into Australia needs to be cut back until the shortages that is making the cost to live rise at such a alarming rate come back to normal. All this being said though, I also feel that it is wrong to use one protest meeting to further the agenda of a totally different one.
legless Mar 11, 2010 9:52 AM	@Digger11 - I can't figure from where exactly this confused idea of yours comes. You're saying that a person who is born in Australia is not an Australian national because his parents were born somewhere else. What kind of stuff are you smoking? Swedes are not a race of people. They are the citizens of a nation.
mtfu Mar 11, 2010 3:00 PM	Folks you should know to ignore Digger11 by now. he's a troll. probably hired by the site to bump up activity
rycrozier Mar 11, 2010 3:13 PM	Just to be clear, the site has NO connection to Digger11. He or she has been warned before.
legless Mar 11, 2010 5:48 PM	Nationalism and having some in one's country and countrymen is not a bad thing. Sadly the term has been hijacked and is now associated with something quite different. @DarkCrescent said "i do reforestation and community service and donate to charity's when i can, whens the last time any of you helped out Australia , you so called 'Australians'" Get off your high horse. If you are doing something good for the country then good on you. Just because you do some good things doesn't mean you're also not an axe-murderer. Big noting yourself does not make your acts any more laudible. I AM a "so-called Australian" by definition but you have no idea what I do or don't contribute to the community or the country and frankly it's none of your business. ... and sorry to burst your little bubble, but yes, being born in a country does entitle you to be a citizen of that country even if you are a very bad person, and even non-citizens can own a part of it. Also just a tiny bit of grammar and proper syntax might make your statements a bit easier to follow and your points a little clearer.
legless Mar 11, 2010 5:48 PM	Nationalism and having some pride in one's country and countrymen is not a bad thing. Sadly the term has been hijacked and is now associated with something quite different. @DarkCrescent said "i do reforestation and community service and donate to charity's when i can, whens the last time any of you helped out Australia , you so called 'Australians'" Get off your high horse. If you are doing something good for the country then good on you. Just because you do some good things doesn't mean you're also not an axe-murderer. Big noting yourself does not make your acts any more laudible. I AM a "so-called Australian" by definition but you have no idea what I do or don't contribute to the community or the country and frankly it's none of your business. ... and sorry to burst your little bubble, but yes, being born in a country does entitle you to be a citizen of that country even if you are a very bad person, and even non-citizens can own a part of it. Also just a tiny bit of grammar and proper syntax might make your statements a bit easier to follow and your points a little clearer.