He is a "normal white man", according to the manifesto attributed to the alleged assassin of Christchurch. He grew up in the 18,000-inhabitant town of Grafton about 600 kilometers north of Sydney, where the so-called Jacaranda Festival is a highlight; then the citizens celebrate the purple flowers of the trees.

He led an average life, writes the author of the manifesto. He finished school in 2009 and then worked as a fitness trainer in Grafton. His former boss, Tracey Gray, recently described him at ABC as a hardworking employee who has never been struck by extremist or "crazy" views. Only during his travels abroad - apparently to Pakistan, North Korea and Europe, among others - must something have changed in him, said Gray.

He was treated wonderfully during his travels, according to the manifesto. He does not hate foreigners or Muslims who "lived in their homelands". But immigrants, these are "invaders." It's right-wing, racist rhetoric that runs through the manifesto.

Since the attack on two mosques in Christchurch last Friday, the political climate in the country is once again being discussed in Australia. The oldest newspaper "Sydney Morning Herald" headlined: "Australia's problem with right-wing extremism: are we doing enough?"

That's what experts say about the "new rights" in Australia

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was one of the first to say after the assassination, "We strongly condemn this attack, committed by a right-wing extremist violent terrorist." Shocked, sad and affected were many in the country. It has surprised most people.

"It was just a matter of 'when'," says Geoff Dean, terrorism expert and professor at Griffith University in Brisbane. In 2016, he co-authored a study titled "Right-wing Extremism in Australia: The Rise of the New Radical Right." Dean refers to those groups that, in contrast to the older groups no longer rely on violence, but on rhetoric and political influence to spread their right-wing extremist and populist views. This development exists in the US, in Europe, "and even Australia is not immune to it," says Dean. "The new rights are more dangerous, and when they come to power they will cause a bloodbath."

Michele Grossman from Deakin University in Melbourne has been researching radicalization and violent extremism for years. In Australia, right-wing extremism is not a new phenomenon, she says. For about ten years, however, they observe a steady increase: There are more right-wing extremist groups in the country; and, thanks to social networks, they have become much better at reaching citizens and thus recruiting new followers.

"Until recently, the influence of the right wing was low, they have received little from them," says Grossman. Recently, however, they profited, among other things, from the political mood. As an example, Grossman calls the news about "gangs" from Africa: In mid-2018, there were numerous reports of young people from South Sudan, which allegedly terrorized Melbourne. Even politicians joined - partly for election tactical reasons - in the charged debate and warned of the "gangs". "The politicians set the tone for such debates," says Grossman. "And the right-wing groups use that for their own purposes."

These right-wing groups exist in Australia

In Australia, populists and right-wing extremists have joined forces in different groups. It often happens that individual members split off, found a new organization and the old one is given up shortly thereafter. The number of members of each group is difficult to estimate, according to experts.

  • The largest and most influential group is Reclaim Australia , which has existed since 2015. In April of the same year, members called nationwide for protests against "sharia, halal tax and Islamization" and hundreds of people took to the streets in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and other cities. These rallies in Australia are the starting signal for the new right-wing movement in the country.
  • The United Patriots Front (UPF) was a faction of Reclaim Australia and in 2016 was considered the largest right-wing extremist group in the country. Since then it has become quiet; At the same time, the True Blue crew rose. UPF leaders were Neil Erikson, Blair Cottrell and Christopher Shortis , who continue to make headlines today. In 2015, they staged the use of a doll in front of a public agency, where they discussed the construction of a mosque. The convicted Cottrell has already demanded that every school in Australia should have a portrait of Hitler. Erikson - also convicted - denounced a Senator from Iran at the end of 2017 as a "terrorist" in a bar in Melbourne. And a few days ago Erikson was one of the men who crushed a 17-year-old who had previously smashed an egg on the head of Islam-hostile Senator Fraser Anning - as the following video shows:

Video

REUTERS

  • In October 2016, the so-called Antipodean Resistance was formed, which translates roughly to "Australia's resistance". Among other things, the logo consists of a skull, which bears the typical Akubra hat in the country. On posters, followers have already demanded that executions of Jews be legalized and homosexual commit suicide. The group has numerous connections to like-minded people abroad, as the broadcaster ABC reported. On the website of the group is the slogan: "We are the Hitler you have been waiting for."
  • In addition to these younger groups, there are still older associations in the right wing in Australia, such as the Southern Cross Hammerskins and the Soldiers of Odin (more details on the individual groups has prepared the "Sydney Morning Herald" here in a graph).

It is not just these radical right-wing groups that create a climate of latent xenophobia in the traditional immigration country of Australia. Racism is widespread in the country, it extends to parliament.

more on the subject

Debate after controversial interview Australia has a racism problem

  • Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, who is on the right wing of the Liberal Party, was one of the politicians who urged his compatriots to warn against African "youth gang" in Melbourne. He is always in the mood against refugees and has already been called a "mini trump".
  • When Senator Anning (with the egg on his head) - once a member of the One Nation party - delivered his inaugural address in August 2018, he called for a referendum as "the final solution to the migration problem" - and then stated that he did not know that it is a Nazi vocabulary. In January 2019 Anning took part in a demonstration in Melbourne, which was co-organized and led by the well-known right-wing radicals Cottrell and Erikson. And shortly after Christchurch's assassination, Anning, meanwhile nonpartisan, declared that the immigration of Muslims had led to the attacks on mosques.
  • In the mid-1990s, Pauline Hanson, with her "One Nation" party, was still struggling against a "flood by Asians." Meanwhile, she is making headlines with her campaign against Muslims. In the 2016 elections, Hanson's populist party rose sharply and made it into the Senate for the first time, with two seats in the meantime. The politician staged a burqa in the Senate in August 2017. Last October, in the Senate, one of her petitions was almost accepted, with which she wanted to condemn "racism against whites" and said, "It's okay to be white."