Is there a neo-Nazi network on campus?

An investigation into the presence, actions and recruiting of neo-Nazis on campus

Overt racism, misogyny and anti-Semitism are not especially new to campus, nor within the Inner West. But for some reason, the idea that people who believe in the disgusting ideology of Nazism may have a covert presence on campus is uniquely sobering.

Back in May, an investigation conducted by the ABC and the Sydney Morning Herald exposed relationships between neo-Nazis and the National Party of Australia, taking cues from a series of chat threads on the website Discord. These threads came to light as part of a series of Discord-related leaks made public by Unicorn Riot, an American left-wing media collective. Notably, the forums were employed to organise and mobilise the 2017 white-supremacist ‘Unite The Right’ rally in Charlottesville.

To aimlessly meander down King Street, to catch a bus from the Marlborough Hotel to the City Road stop, or to rush past the Eastern Avenue auditorium on the way to class are all seemingly uneventful experiences for most students at the University of Sydney (USyd). That the likes of Charlottesville organisers are prevalent in your own day-to-day routine is unthinkable.

That idea is turned on its head when it dawns on you that the same routes are frequented by neo-Nazis; that they are sitting behind you in your lectures, brushing past you on the 428 bus, or sprawled out a few metres away from you on the Law Lawns. This very realisation was made by Honi, as we trawled through the aforementioned threads, discovering sinister links between USyd and the neo-Nazis lurking on Discord in the process.

Read the article by  Pranay Jha, Nell O’Grady and Jessica Syed in Honi Soit.