Countering the "March for Australia": are you part of the Resistance or part of the Vichy?

“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” - John Stuart Mill, British philosopher, University of St Andrews, 1867

"If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next" - Republican poster, Spanish Civil War, 1930s

A supposed "March for Australia" rally will be held on 19 October 2025 throughout most capital cities and larger towns of Australia. It builds on a previous anti-immigration rally held on 31 August 2025.

There is growing inequality, the cost of living (i.e., food, fuel, and rent) is increasing, and the chance of owning a home is rapidly dwindling or non-existent. This has caused some Australians to be open to, and manipulated by, populist ideas propagated in various media, resulting in them mobilising on the streets.

The protesters also include White Nationalists, Christian Nationalists, Christian Zionists, and residual elements of the "cooker" anti-vaccine and sovereign citizens "freedom" protests during COVID-19 that expressed discontent with excess government control or attacks on perceived "freedom". They are 99.9% white people and are directed by organisers of the rallies to carry only Australian flags.

Centre left (Labor) and centre right (Liberal / National) political parties (captured by, and generally representing, the corporate class) in Australia have consistently implemented neo-liberal policies for the last 40 years or so that have not addressed this growing inequality (and the impacts of capitalism generally).

This vacuum of policy solutions is being filled by right wing media (Sky News Australia), social media (2 Worlds Collide, Rebel News), Pauline Hanson's One Nation party, and neo-Nazi organisations like the National Socialist Network boosting misguided, bigoted and what may appear like 'simple' solutions to complex problems.

The populist gripes include:

1. 'Unchecked' migration and the great replacement theory. That Australia has become unrecognisable due to faces of people on the street being a different colour to nostalgic memories of the past, and misusing net permanent and long-term movement (NPLT) data as evidence of this. That Western Civilisation is under attack, and that Indian (or other non-white) people, for example, are being prioritised for immigration because of a false premise that they will vote for the Labor party or help pay off growing government debt.
2. The 'green' scam. That climate change is a hoax and 'net zero' is being used to control the citizenry. That all renewable energy has been subsidised at the expense of fossil fuels (forgetting that fossil fuels have always been and continue to be subsidised - including the cost of the pollution they cause). Whereas climate change is contributing massively to the increase in costs of living. The government’s National Climate Risk Assessment, projected that, "national disaster costs for floods, bushfires, storm surges and tropical cyclones could total $40 billion annually by 2050, and property values could take a $611 billion hit by the same year."

There are also gripes that young white men are being ignored, discriminated against, or targeted with accusations of 'toxic masculinity'. And globalist conspiracy theories pervade, that Australia is no longer sovereign because it participates in multilateral fora, like the United Nations, and its subsidiary agencies like the World Health Organisation, making agreements, signing treaties that undermine an "Australia First" policy. This is tied in with communist takeovers, and World Economic Forum, George Soros, and Jewish/Zionist conspiracy theories, you name it.

This has resulted in the scapegoating of, and 'punching down' on, minorities and the vulnerable: migrants, Muslims, Jews, Indigenous peoples, transgender people, people with disabilities, and neurodivergent people etc. Some super rich business and mineral resource owners support these right wing views through groups like Advance, in an attempt to divide and conquer, and profit from the promise of low taxation and limited government intervention.

Some Australians that are tired of the political duopoly and generally fearful of the future are unfortunately too willing to latch on to these 'simple' solutions and to target minorities.

Many of these arguments have been boosted in other similar Anglo-Saxon dominated countries with entrenched white supremacy like the US (Trump and MAGA, Fox News), UK (Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson, GB News) and the Unite the Kingdom rally, Canada (Rebel News) and New Zealand, egged on by Elon Musk and other wealthy individuals to take advantage of a downturn in economic conditions to push people towards far right political parties.

None of the groups or people involved in these 'March for Australia' rallies, offer any real solutions to our problems. They merely cast blame incorrectly. So what happens after there are no longer any migrants, Muslims, transgender people, or people with a disability? They will create new minorities and vulnerable people and target them - its a dead end path to cannibalising ourselves.

"First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me" -  'First They Came', Pastor Martin Niemöller

"The Left" is accused of weaponising the terms 'racist' and 'fascist' towards the "March for Australia" protesters - well if you blame all your problems on migrants, or have a hierarchy of immigration based on race - that is racist. And if you want a government to enforce those views, well that is fascist.

Are we really going to repeat 1930s and 1940s where the spectre of fascism haunted the world? Surely the historians will be marching to counter these rallies, and surely the Churches? But it is the majority white Australians that need to counter these rallies, to prevent the targeting of minority groups. If you don't, then aren't you complicit in allowing these views to fester and take hold? Aren't you responsible? Don't be a bystander. Don't say, "there's nothing I can do." Be a good ally. Talk to your neighbour, tell them not to listen to these 'simple' solutions, tell them not to 'March for Australia', explain why inequality is the problem and that the far right is a dead end, don't let them divide us... ...but if they do, do you want to be remembered as being part of The Resistance that stood up to fascism or being part of The Vichy that capitulated to the Nazis? It's your choice...

"Fascism conceals its anti-democratic nature by representing itself as the general will of the people, where ‘the people’ are the dominant racial or religious group". "Undoing fascism is very, very hard," he says. Democracy is not some natural default. - Jason Stanley, fascism expert

A US fascism expert warns: Australia is not immune and undoing the damage is ‘very, very hard’

The US’s slide towards authoritarianism is part of a global trend, says professor and fascism expert Jason Stanley

The GuardianBen Doherty

‘I feel scared like never before’: Indians in Australia report rising racist abuse

Nearly a month after anti-immigration protests swept across Australia, some in the Indian diaspora say they are still facing racist abuse and constantly “looking over their shoulder”.

ABC NewsMAnalysis by Marnie Vinall

Campaign Against Racism & Fascism

The Campaign Against Racism & Fascism condemns the shocking, reactionary anti-vax protests in Melbourne. We stand for health, safety and social solidarity, and oppose the far-right in all their forms.

Campaign Against Racism & FascismUnited Rally Against Racism