Extremists….what did anyone do to them?

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Extremists or hate groups…why not call them both? Being described as radicals putting forward drastic ideas into society,I never even knew they still existed. Hate groups are recruiting new people to protest their own ‘correct’ views. Although not always correct, majorities of people are still joining these extremist groups with the numbers increasing. Chiang, Gerstenfeld and Grant (2003) explain extremists as groups who express their racial feelings. With radical and spiteful policies, the Australia First Party can be described as an extremist group, who utilise the internet to spread messages about their thoughts and policies, and try to recruit new members.

The Southern Poverty Law Centre (2010) name the US extremist groups. Here are just a few:
• Free Your Mind Productions- racist group
• Hammerskin Nation- violent neo-Nazi Skinhead group
• Konfederation of Klans- racist group
• Resistance- neo-Nazi National Alliance
• Skinhead Forum- racist group


Among these extremist groups are Aryan Nations and Storm Front. These hate groups are racial realists, who seem to have not moved along with the rest of the world with their racial movements. Seen as hate groups, Aryan Nation and Storm Front (along with other hate groups) can be compared to the Australia First Party. With similarities in which are argumentative and can be disputed, are these extremist groups going to far?

One of the Australia First Party’s policy, states that the Australian country should “abolish multiculturalism”. Yet what does this extremist group suppose we replace it with? The Australia First Party focus more on the cultural differences of ethnic groups, rather than the amount of racism which has been expressed through this extreme policy. Trying to meet this expectation of abolishing multiculturalism restricts the AFP in other different topics. Does this mean the Australia First Party will reject gays and lesbians? What else will they want to abolish?
Their positive quote “We are fighting for the future of Australia” and “Make a difference” formulates a discussion and makes me wonder whether they really are making a difference to the country of Australia, and if they are fighting for the future of Australia in a positive way.

An article found on the AFP website called “The Asianisation of Australia”, makes me wonder why there was any doubt that they were not an extremist group, and why the question was asked. This article shows that the AFP think that Asian people will eventually take over the Australian society, and that in the governments ‘simple mindness’, Australia must become and Asian country. Sounding ridiculous, this is part of the reason why the Australia First Party can be seen as an extremist group.

This discussion leads me to ask the question, what did anyone ever do to these extremist groups? Why are they so against racial differences? As a result from radical policies and articles which can be highly disputed, the Australia First Party is seen as an extremist group, who are in fact afraid of the differences between cultures. It will be interesting to find out what they come up with in the future for the Australian society- they think they seem to know best.