Logan^B
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The radical left in Australia. Is anonymous hacktivist group part of the the radical left?? they're anarchists after all?
www.abc.net.au
OPINION
The political pressure has been building in the wake of the right-wing terror attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March 2019. Hence, after a series of recent events — including announcements from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) about their increasing right-wing extremist caseload, Australia’s first terrorism-related conviction of a right-wing extremist, the high-profile arrest of an alleged right-wing extremist, and, finally, the tabling of the report of New Zealand’s Royal Commission into the Christchurch terror attack by an Australian man — it would have been difficult for the government to argue against Labor’s call for a parliamentary inquiry into right-wing extremism.
But Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton insisted on broadening the mandate of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security to look also beyond right-wing extremism. The inquiry is now tasked with examining, among other things, “the nature and extent of, and threat posed by, extremist movements … including, but not limited to, Islamist and far-right-wing extremist groups, and how these have changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
It might not be entirely surprising to some that the Minister insisted on also including “Islamist extremism”, but why is it “not limited” to those two types of extremism? What else? One may be reminded of Dutton’s statements in the past alluding to potential threats from right-wing and left-wing “lunatics”, or Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells’s recent (and rather incoherent) claims that “so-called right-wing extremists … were actually left-wing.” Left-wing extremism is not explicitly mentioned in the inquiry’s terms of reference, but the wording suggests that submissions on the radical left would be considered relevant.
What empirical evidence do we have on the potential threat of radical (or extreme) left groups in Australia? Despite some recent public commentary, the answer is simple: there has been very little robust research into Australia’s contemporary Marxist-Socialist, anarchist or Antifa movements, which are bound together by a firm commitment to anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, and radical form of egalitarianism. There is a handful of excellent historical examinations, for example, on the clashes between anti-fascist groups and far-right groups in the 1990s in Melbourne, or on what ASIO once labelled “unstructured terrorism” within the extreme left between 1968 and 1972. But the empirical research landscape on the radical or extreme left in contemporary Australia remains sparse.
The public debate around the radical left appears to be shaped primarily by media reports and political debates from overseas — especially the United States — where anti-fascist activists have frequently and violently clashed with white supremacists and other far-right groups for years, with increased intensity during the 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests. This has resulted in many injuries and several deaths on both sides.
Australia has seen similar, though less intense and non-lethal, street confrontations, and a certain escalation of tensions between far-right protesters and (primarily) radical-left counter-protesters in Bendigo, Melton, and other metropolitan suburbs across Melbourne between 2015 and January 2019. The media has tended to portray the counterprotest tactics of far-left anti-fascist groups not only as confrontational and unruly, but often also as aggressive and violent. This seems to have contributed to the rather sceptical public perception of radical left groups in parts of Australian society — especially in the absence of empirical research which might offer more nuanced, evidence-based insights into these radical left groups and movements.
We used a machine-learning (computational) techniques to identify the most salient themes in the approximately 6,400 posts on these 33 radical left Facebook accounts between January and July 2020. Not surprisingly, three major events shaped the online activities: the Australian bushfire crisis in January; the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in March and April (the data set did not cover the second lockdown in Victoria); and racial justice protests linked to the BLM movements and the Australian Death in Custody protests. But how did these radical left groups talk about these crises? The computational analysis technique identified the following key topics:
Is the radical left a threat to Australia’s security? - ABC Religion & Ethics
A parliamentary joint committee has begun an inquiry into extremist movements in Australia. While left-wing extremism is not explicitly mentioned in the inquiry’s terms of reference, the wording — together with past statements by the Minister for Home Affairs about left-wing “lunatics” —...
www.abc.net.au
OPINION
Does Australia’s radical left pose a security threat? What the empirical evidence tells us
The political pressure has been building in the wake of the right-wing terror attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March 2019. Hence, after a series of recent events — including announcements from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) about their increasing right-wing extremist caseload, Australia’s first terrorism-related conviction of a right-wing extremist, the high-profile arrest of an alleged right-wing extremist, and, finally, the tabling of the report of New Zealand’s Royal Commission into the Christchurch terror attack by an Australian man — it would have been difficult for the government to argue against Labor’s call for a parliamentary inquiry into right-wing extremism.
But Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton insisted on broadening the mandate of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security to look also beyond right-wing extremism. The inquiry is now tasked with examining, among other things, “the nature and extent of, and threat posed by, extremist movements … including, but not limited to, Islamist and far-right-wing extremist groups, and how these have changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
It might not be entirely surprising to some that the Minister insisted on also including “Islamist extremism”, but why is it “not limited” to those two types of extremism? What else? One may be reminded of Dutton’s statements in the past alluding to potential threats from right-wing and left-wing “lunatics”, or Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells’s recent (and rather incoherent) claims that “so-called right-wing extremists … were actually left-wing.” Left-wing extremism is not explicitly mentioned in the inquiry’s terms of reference, but the wording suggests that submissions on the radical left would be considered relevant.
What empirical evidence do we have on the potential threat of radical (or extreme) left groups in Australia? Despite some recent public commentary, the answer is simple: there has been very little robust research into Australia’s contemporary Marxist-Socialist, anarchist or Antifa movements, which are bound together by a firm commitment to anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, and radical form of egalitarianism. There is a handful of excellent historical examinations, for example, on the clashes between anti-fascist groups and far-right groups in the 1990s in Melbourne, or on what ASIO once labelled “unstructured terrorism” within the extreme left between 1968 and 1972. But the empirical research landscape on the radical or extreme left in contemporary Australia remains sparse.
The public debate around the radical left appears to be shaped primarily by media reports and political debates from overseas — especially the United States — where anti-fascist activists have frequently and violently clashed with white supremacists and other far-right groups for years, with increased intensity during the 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests. This has resulted in many injuries and several deaths on both sides.
Australia has seen similar, though less intense and non-lethal, street confrontations, and a certain escalation of tensions between far-right protesters and (primarily) radical-left counter-protesters in Bendigo, Melton, and other metropolitan suburbs across Melbourne between 2015 and January 2019. The media has tended to portray the counterprotest tactics of far-left anti-fascist groups not only as confrontational and unruly, but often also as aggressive and violent. This seems to have contributed to the rather sceptical public perception of radical left groups in parts of Australian society — especially in the absence of empirical research which might offer more nuanced, evidence-based insights into these radical left groups and movements.
Mobilising the radical left
Researchers from Victoria University and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a London-based think tank, have just published the first empirical study on the dynamic interplay between far-left and far-right movements. As part of this study — which was conducted within the Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies (CRIS) — we systematically collected and analysed Facebook posts from 50 far-right and 33 far-left accounts active in Australia (with a focus, where possible, on groups based in Victoria). This data set allowed us to analyse the online messaging not only of far-right groups and individuals, but also of radical left groups, including Socialist, anarchist, and Antifa groups and associated individuals.We used a machine-learning (computational) techniques to identify the most salient themes in the approximately 6,400 posts on these 33 radical left Facebook accounts between January and July 2020. Not surprisingly, three major events shaped the online activities: the Australian bushfire crisis in January; the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in March and April (the data set did not cover the second lockdown in Victoria); and racial justice protests linked to the BLM movements and the Australian Death in Custody protests. But how did these radical left groups talk about these crises? The computational analysis technique identified the following key topics:
