Yes please!

Sorry for the delayed reply, I didn't see this comment until now.

I'd say none of us want any drama either, and that's one of the reasons I wanted to make clear upfront that it'd be strictly about Aus-focused discussions. If I get the support of other moderators, we can gladly emphasise that we're on probation, that drama, infighting and troll-feeding won't be tolerated, and create rules to promote a respectful community.

Note: The Age's live coverage at the time also confirmed their presence.

It can be easy to miss activist events if you're not on mainstream social media and not in a political organisation/network. Even if you're in a city, only some areas will have posters and leafleting groups around.

I'll try and remember to share events here too.

@ShrimpCurler@lemmy.dbzer0.com: Same here. It doesn't even seem to be a central place anymore, the March for Humanity back in August had an estimated 300K marchers, while the Facebook event only listed 2.4K going, 2.8K interested. A link to another site could be shared just as easily, right?

A couple of coworkers were talking at the pub about the nazis at the March for Australia so I’ll try and convince them to come along this time.

Good luck! We need everyone we can get. And with a bit of luck, the social media effect grows exponentially as friends tell friends to tell friends, just like with the March for Humanity.

Yes but I wasn't talking about that. I was referring to the many smaller cases of individuals or small groups opportunistically harassing people on public transport, in parks, etc., which can easily be prevented just by having more people around to remove that opportunity. Simply attending the counter rally helps.

If we're aiming to prevent an premeditated gang of dozens from going out of their way to terrorise a peaceful camp, we'll need an organised force with fighting experience, or an even larger group able to mobilise rapidly. That's absolutely possible, we saw that Melbourne has the roots for building such a force, but it's a tougher challenge which involves more than just the regular public showing up.

Thanks mate. Tagging @Ilandar@lemmy.today

Tom Tanuki had a great video detailing some speakers and attendees standing up to them, along with pointing out their plain clothes stooges manufacturing fake support, starting using the same chants in each state, and their other manipulation tactics. The video has been taken down by a copyright claim (edit: see reply!). I also know a couple of socialists who were present in the rallies to provide updates, who felt the crowd was a 50/50 split for support and rejection when the Nazi speaker got the mic. And after seeing horrible interpretations of the event like that from Red Flag (basically imagining every single person there was a white middle-class lost cause), I emphasise that many people there were tricked and didn't just roll over or use their megaphone like Katters.

But yes. You're right. Head in the sand has been something I've seen plenty of too, and this time they have no "ignorance" excuse. Nazis ran the major rallies. We weren't just calling people 'nazis' as a scary strawman, they were real, they controlled the rallies, and they are planning to do it again.

It's amazing how much isn't taught in school. And I know that won't be surprising to those in other colonial states like the US and Canada but we learned about US segregation, Jim Crow, read/watched To Kill A Mockingbird, but didn't know we've had the same kind of de facto segregated towns here in Australia within living history, complete with our own Freedom Ride in 1965. Luckily the union movement and communists eventually put a dent in it through boycotts and shoved the government into action.

Classic outsourcing.