Virginia Brown, Perth
A spate of racist graffiti and vandalism in Perth over the July 17-18 weekend has been linked to Jack van Tongeren's neo-Nazi Australian Nationalists Workers Union (ANWU).
Racist stickers have been plastered over lamp-posts in several suburbs, including those with North African migrant populations.
Racist graffiti was spray-painted on the synagogue in the suburb of Menora and on the home of WA Refugee Alliance coordinator Sue Hoffman. The synagogue walls were painted with swastikas and messages reading "Hitler was right", "Jews out" and "6 million ... plus chips".
Some of the regular worshippers at the synagogue are survivors of the Holocaust (Nazi Germany's mass extermination of European Jews), and were very distressed by the messages.
Swastikas and ANWU posters were also pasted onto the walls surrounding Hoffman's home, as well as graffiti reading "Refugees die", "Racial war" and 'White devils Perth".
A couple whose Willetton restaurant was firebombed in a racist attack on February 1 found that the window of their newly-renovated Chinese restaurant had been smashed in the early hours of July 19. Swastikas and the message "I'm back, I will bomb you all" had been spray-painted on the restaurant.
Shops in the suburb of Thornlie and Gosnells were also targeted.
Two men have been charged with the attacks on the synagogue, one of whom is a member of the Australian Nationalists Movement (ANM). Two other suspects are being questioned in connection with some of the other weekend attacks, but have not been charged.
These latest attacks follow other recent acts of racist terrorism, including the firebombing of two other Chinese restaurants on February 1.
As well as the ANWU sticker campaigns in many suburbs, there have been attacks against Muslims and Arabs, and attacks on Sikh temples in Canning Vale, a Polish community centre in Lesmurdie and an Iraqi-owned service station in Kenwick. Other Kenwick residents had "No gooks", 'Kill all Arabs", "Fihgt [sic] for our fredom [sic]", "War on Iraq" and swastikas spray-painted on their houses and cars.
Van Tongeren, who was released from prison two years ago after serving 12 years for arson attacks on Asian restaurants, has denied that he or any of his close associates were involved in these latest attacks. He acknowledged that the ANWU has been conducting an "advertising" campaign, but suggested that the weekend attacks could have been the work of people conspiring to damage the launch of his new book.
The ANWU, formed by van Tongeren while he was in prison, shares a website with the ANM, and has similar policies. The website cites van Tongeren as leader of the ANM and president of the ANWU.
In response to the latest attacks, Ethnic Communities Council president Suresh Rajan has called for the state's racial vilification laws to be strengthened. Incitement of racial hatred has been a crime in WA since 1990, but no-one has been charged under the laws.
Perpetrators of racist attacks are usually charged under other laws, such as those relating to property damage. The maximum penalty for criminal damage is 10 years' imprisonment, while the maximum sentence under the racial vilification law is two years.
Acting Premier Eric Ripper has flagged strengthening WA's racial vilification laws by providing victims with the option of pursuing a civil lawsuit, under which the standard of proof would be less onerous than in a criminal case.
Other activists are talking about the need to counter the racist attacks with anti-racist messages and campaigns.
Many refugee supporters are saying that the attacks are not just the responsibility of a few far-right individuals, but have been encouraged by the anti-refugee scare-mongering of the Howard government.
Peter Wilkie of the Refugee Rights Action Network commented that the government's tactics of demonising asylum seekers "are not precise and neither are the people who are inspired to hatred by them".
Wilkie told Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly: "The government might be targeting asylum seekers, but don't expect the racists to do the same. Racism is an equal-opportunity vice. Any policy that denies basic rights or exploits and incites fear is dangerous to us all. It might be only the asylum seeker today, but the tactic can just as easily be applied on the basis of which party you voted for, membership of a union, sexuality or your religion. Security lies in rejecting racism and the politics of difference."
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, July 28, 2004.
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