Chants of “Black, Indigenous, Arab, Asian and white—unite, unite, unite to fight the right!” echoed across the streets of Sunshine West on Saturday, when 500 anti-fascist activists and local community members gathered to protest against Legacy Boxing Gym.
The gym has become a flashpoint for anti-fascist opposition since the Age revealed last year that it is an organising base for a neo-Nazi organisation called the National Socialist Network (NSN). The group is one of the most reactionary of Australia’s far-right: a Hitler-worshipping, anti-Semitic white supremacist outfit, the confidence and visibility of which has grown in the wake of the right-wing anti-vax movement.
In less than a year, the NSN has disrupted community events for queer youth and a mourning ceremony on Invasion Day, performed the Sieg Heil on the steps of Victoria’s parliament to support the far-right transphobic activist Posie Parker, and organised several racist protests—including a demonstration, in the wake of federal Liberal leader Peter Dutton’s post-budget remarks, blaming immigration for the housing crisis.
Saturday’s protest followed a recent attempt by NSN members to disrupt an anti-fascist fundraiser for the White Rose Society and the Black People’s Union at Cafe Gummo, a left-wing gathering place in Thornbury. Though they intended to intimidate, the handful of Nazis instead were forced to flee up High Street.