True Blue Crew

Last updated

True Blue Crew
AbbreviationTBC
FounderKane Miller
Founded at Melton, Victoria, Australia
Type Far-right
Purpose Anti-immigration
Anti-Islam
Anti-multiculturalism
Far-right politics
Hinduphobia [ citation needed ]
Anti Semitism [ citation needed ]
Homophobia [ citation needed ]
Region
Victoria
LeaderKane Miller
Affiliations United Patriots Front (UPF), Reclaim Australia
Formerly called
Reclaim Australia
Split from Reclaim Australia

The True Blue Crew (TBC) is an Australian far-right extremist group. [1] [2] Members and supporters have been linked to right-wing terrorism and vigilantism, and members have been arrested with weapons and on terrorism-related charges. Experts who have studied the group say it appears to be "committed to violence". [3]

Contents

The group rose to prominence as an anti-Islam group in 2015, and shifted more towards anti-immigration in response to public sentiment and police crackdowns. [3]

History

2014: Bendigo mosque protests

Beginning in 2014, members of what would become the True Blue Crew were involved in the "Voices of Bendigo" and "Stop the Mosque" Bendigo protests. A number of far-right groups, including the Q Society, Reclaim Australia, the Australian Defence League and the United Patriots Front opposed the construction of a mosque and Islamic community centre in Bendigo, Victoria. [4] [5]

The True Blue Crew was formed in 2015 as a splinter group from the anti-Islamic Reclaim Australia group, along with a number of small far-right nationalist groups such as the United Patriots Front. [6]

2016: Melton mosque protests

In May 2016, the group attended an anti-mosque protest in Melton along with members of the United Patriots Front and the Love Australia or Leave Party. [7] About 150 people attended, opposing a housing development which they falsely claimed was being built for Muslims only. [7] As the crowd dispersed following a similar protest in August the same year, fighting broke out between members of the True Blue Crew and anti-Muslim vigilante group the Sons of Odin. [8]

2018: Vigilantism

In January 2018, United Patriots Front and True Blue Crew were reported by Channel 7 news to be attempting to arrange vigilante patrols to monitor young African Australian men. The report led to accusations that Channel 7 were giving neo-Nazis a speech platform. [9] [10]

On 25 June 2016, police seized weapons including a knife and knuckle duster during an "Australian Pride" rally. [8] [11]

Phillip Galea

In August 2016, a member of True Blue Crew, Phillip Galea, was charged with terrorism-related offences. Galea ordered ingredients for explosives and video footage seized in raids showed Galea carrying out reconnaissance of a target. His intended targets were various "leftist" organisations in Melbourne, including Trades Hall in Carlton, the Melbourne Anarchist Club in Northcote, and the Resistance Centre in the Melbourne CBD. Galea's intentions were to cause as much devastation to these locations as possible in a coordinated attack, using smoke bombs and improvised explosive devices. At court it was outlined that his aims were to eliminate the leaders of the left in Melbourne, blaming them for the "Islamisation" of Australia. Galea researched homemade bombs, ballistic armour and guns, and prepared a terrorist document entitled Patriot’s Cookbook, intended to be a how-to guide for far-right terrorists. [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]

Galea was also a supporter or member of Right Wing Resistance Australia, [17] the United Patriots Front, Patriots Defence League Australia, and the openly neo-Nazi group Combat 18, as well as TBC and Reclaim Australia. [12]

He was convicted in December 2019 of plotting terrorist attacks and creating a document likely to facilitate a terrorist act. [15] He was sentenced to maximum of twelve years in jail, with a nine-year minimum in December 2020. [18] One commentator saw his conviction as reflecting "the decline of extreme- and far-right groups and organising projects, including... Reclaim Australia and The True Blue Crew". [17]

In the wake of the Christchurch mosque shootings in March 2019, it emerged that the perpetrator, Brenton Tarrant, had three years earlier given fulsome praise to Blair Cottrell as a leader of the far-right movements on social media. He made more than 30 comments on the now deleted UPF and TBC Facebook pages, singling out Cottrell for praise and disparaging Neil Erikson and Shermon Burgess as "useful idiots". [19] The group was banned from Facebook after posting Islamophobic messages in the wake of the Christchurch massacre. [20]

Members of TBC have been linked to One Nation candidate Nikhil Reddy, with members of both groups volunteering for one another. [20]

See also

Related Research Articles

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In the United States, domestic terrorism is defined as terrorist acts that were carried out within the United States by U.S. citizens and/or U.S. permanent residents. As of 2021, the United States government considers white supremacists to be the top domestic terrorism threat.

Far-right politics in the United Kingdom is a recurring phenomenon in the United Kingdom since the early 20th century, with the formation of Nazi, fascist and antisemitic movements. One of the earliest examples of Fascism in the UK can be found as early as 1923 with the formation of British Fascisti by Rotha Lintorn-Orman. It went on to acquire more explicitly racial connotations, being dominated in the 1960s and 1970s by self-proclaimed white nationalist organisations that opposed non-white and Asian immigration. The idea stems from belief of white supremacy, the belief that white people are superior to all other races and should therefore dominate society. Examples of such groups in the UK are the National Front (NF), the British Movement (BM) and British National Party (BNP), or the British Union of Fascists (BUF). Since the 1980s, the term has mainly been used to describe those groups, such as the English Defence League, who express the wish to preserve what they perceive to be British culture, and those who campaign against the presence of non-indigenous ethnic minorities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Right-wing terrorism</span> Terrorism motivated by right-wing and far-right ideologies

Right-wing terrorism, hard right terrorism, extreme right terrorism or far-right terrorism is terrorism that is motivated by a variety of different right-wing and far-right ideologies. It can be motivated by Ultranationalism, neo-Nazism, anti-communism, neo-fascism, ecofascism, ethnonationalism, religious nationalism, anti-immigration, anti-semitism, anti-government sentiment, patriot movements, sovereign citizen beliefs, and occasionally, it can be motivated by opposition to abortion, tax resistance, and homophobia. Modern right-wing terrorism largely emerged in Western Europe in the 1970s, and after the Revolutions of 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, it emerged in Eastern Europe and Russia.

The Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001 is an Act of the Parliament of Victoria, Australia, that makes behaviour that incites or encourages hatred, serious contempt, revulsion or severe ridicule against another person or group of people, because of their race or religion, unlawful in Victoria. The Act was passed during the premiership of Steve Bracks and went into effect on 1 January 2002.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reclaim Australia</span> Australian far-right group

Reclaim Australia is a far-right Australian nationalist protest group which is associated with nationalist and neo-Nazi hate groups. The group was formed in 2015, holding street rallies in cities across Australia to protest against Islam. It has protested in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Newcastle and Canberra. Reclaim Australia has also been described as a loose collective of groups.

The Q Society of Australia Inc. was a far-right, anti-Islam and homophobic organisation that opposed Muslim immigration and the presence of Muslims in Australian society. Q Society described itself as "Australia's leading Islam-critical organisation" and stated that its purpose was to fight against the "Islamisation of Australia". The Q Society was so named because it was founded at a meeting in the Melbourne suburb of Kew in 2010.

Islamophobia in Australia is highly speculative and affective distrust and hostility towards Muslims, Islam, and those perceived as following the religion. This social aversion and bias is often facilitated and perpetuated in the media through the stereotyping of Muslims as violent and uncivilised. Various Australian politicians and political commentators have capitalised on these negative stereotypes and this has contributed to the marginalisation, discrimination and exclusion of the Muslim community.

The United Patriots Front (UPF) was an Australian far-right extremist group that opposed immigration, multiculturalism and the religion of Islam. Formed in 2015, the group has been largely dormant since their Facebook page was deleted following the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings.

Blair Cottrell is an Australian far-right extremist and neo-Nazi. He is the former chairman and founding member of the United Patriots Front (UPF) and the Lads Society. He has been convicted of several charges, including stalking, arson, steroid dealing and burglary, and has spent time in prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antifa (United States)</span> Anti-fascist political activist movement

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antipodean Resistance</span> Australian neo-Nazi hate group

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The Australian Defence League (ADL) is a militant far-right, white nationalist street gang. The group is anti-Islam, and has been involved in making terrorist threats, abusing, doxxing and stalking Muslim Australians. The gang was founded in Sydney in 2009 as an offshoot of the English Defence League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neil Erikson</span> Australian far-right extremist

Neil Erikson is an Australian far-right extremist and self-proclaimed neo-Nazi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lads Society</span> Far-right extremist group

The Lads Society is a far-right, white nationalist, Islamophobic extremist group founded by several former members of the United Patriots Front (UPF) in late 2017. It established club houses in Sydney and Melbourne. The Lads Society came to national prominence after it staged a rally in St Kilda, Victoria, targeting the local African Australian community. Attendees were seen making the Nazi salute and one was photographed wearing an SS helmet.

Far-right politics in Australia describes authoritarian ideologies, including fascism and White supremacy as they manifest in Australia.

Far-right terrorism in Australia refers to far-right ideologically influenced terrorism on Australian soil. Far-right extremist groups have existed in Australia since the early 20th century, however the intensity of terrorist activities have oscillated until the present time. A surge of neo-Nazism based terrorism occurred in Australia during the 1960's and 70s, carried out primarily by members of the Ustaše organisation. However in the 21st century, a rise in jihadism, the White genocide conspiracy theory and after affects of the COVID-19 pandemic have fuelled far-right terrorism in Australia. Both the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) are responsible for responding to far-right terrorist threats in Australia.

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References

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