Australia bans Nazi salute, swastika, other hate symbols in public as antisemitism spikes
cbsnews.com
Australian lawmakers have banned the performance of the Nazi salute in public and outlawed the display or sale of Nazi hate symbols such as the swastika in landmark legislation that went into effect in the country Monday. The new laws also make the act of glorifying OR praising acts of terrorism a criminal offense.
The crime of publicly performing the Nazi salute or displaying the Nazi swastika is punishable by up to 12 months in prison, according to the Reuters news agency.
Mark Dreyfus, Australia's Attorney-General, said in a press release Monday that the laws — the first of their kind in the country — sent "a clear message: there is no place in Australia for acts and symbols that glorify the horrors of the Holocaust and terrorist acts."
Glad to see someone mention the Profiting part.
I've always suspected a lot of this was due to grifters stoking these A-holes up to increase sales of the flags, shirts, hats, etc.
The Brandon thing was a big boon to the Maga grifters as it created more new things one needs to collect to show your true level of being a Patriot.
You could then change out your Trump flag curtains for the Brandon stuff. Some are brave enough to change them out for the Nazis stuff when the time is right too. It completes the set when combined with the Southern Surrender flags as your curtains or bath towel.
I suspect that is also why their memes are quite slow to cycle trough. A lot of prolific figures need to sell their stock of stupid tat before they can move on to new things.
Here's a good one: I like to by small-time silver bullion, and ebay is actually a decent place for that. The first time I saw gimmick silver coins and bars with Trump's face on them, I was like wtf. And even to this day, there's some seriously wtf stuff out there all geared towards the maga persuasion.
It would be pretty comical, if it weren't so crazy how much he's being idolized. He's being elevated to the level of Reagan worship, even before he's been planted in the ground. I'm calling it now: After Trump croaks, the GOP is gonna try and pass a law to create a permanent federal Trump holiday.
While it would be really nice to have January 6th off of work every year, I unfortunately can't get behind the creation of this holiday.
Perhaps a compromise? We celebrate the day Trump lost the election. The right can celebrate it the way they celebrate the death and rebirth of Jesus, while the left can celebrate it more like Festivus.
I'm all for celebrating Trump's death as a federal holiday. We can even call it Trump day. The traditional celebration should of course be a mass exodus to go piss on his grave. Make effigies of him to burn for the folks that can't make the trip, and then piss on those to put them out.
You mean “appalling”, right? Hope that was a typo.
Solid typo on the side of CBS. Or, alternatively, a surprising amount of honesty from an Australian politician.
Like a gay fundie describing Chris Hemsworth: "horrifically appealing!"
There is a typo, he meant "terrific" not "horrific"
"Scaroused"
What implications does this have on media using the swastika? I know that for games like Wolfenstein the swastika is everywhere and while it doesn't really retract from the experience by being absent, it would be really strange for that to suddenly not be OK, especially in the context of Wolfenstein where you're tearing the Nazis a new one
German and Austrian versions of the new Wolfenstein games have swastikas and such removed/replaced.
I remember being pissed off the version sold on Steam to Switzerland was the censored version for no reason other than Switzerland is often stuffed with German and Austrian markets. When I blast sci-fi Nazis to bits, I prefer they look authentic.
Since the last Wolfenstein game was released, the law has been changed in Germany lifting the total ban on Swastikas in video games.
I don't recall any more recent WWII games where I've seen a swastika though.
I recall that even after the ban was lifted, most companies preferred to continue self-censoring.
I find it even more irritating that it is banned in the German version of Bollywood movies. It looks different and more importantly has a different meaning.
That's so silly. Not that censoring a game based entirely on brutalizing Nazis makes sense.
German laws allow swastikas in media under freedom of art and/or education. So depending on the context, it is legal in games. Foreign video game companies just don't want to take any risk and have their game blocked because of nazi symbolism so they rather just remove it than hope the courts see their game for the form if art it may be.
The actual law bans using the swastika to "glorify or profit from Nazi idiology".
Wolfenstein would not be impacted by the ban because at the core of the gameplay, the Nazis are the bad guys. It does not glorify the Nazis or celebrate them.
Sure Bathesda is profiting from the game, but they aren't profiting from the glorification of Nazi idiology, they're profiting from people's desire to shoot zombie Nazis in the face.
It should becovered by freedom of art.
I can't imagine any offensive way of publicly displaying or glorifying an instance of it in a game
Nah, it's easy to imagine that. Multiplayer. The Nazi team wins. Swastikas everywhere. Pretty sure it's why cod no longer has swastikas in multiplayer anymore (and if I'm remembering rightly, they kept it in the single player as they felt it wasn't offensive as it is given with a hell of a lot of context that multiplayer rounds simply don't have).
Does it require the public display be offensive, or just that it be a public display? If the latter, then playing Wolfenstein on your laptop anywhere but a private residence is punishable by up to a year in prison.
None
Good for Australia.
Surprised they weren't banned.
Probably because it hadn't been an issue until recently Strange times indeed
I wonder if those chants are actually anti-semitic or if they are just trying to trigger the people from Israel.
I feel if people are pro-Palestine, they are against discrimination and abuse of power, which would make it pretty strange if they actually want to do the same to jews.
The issue is that there are a lot of people who are already antisemitic and want to hijack the pro-Palestine movement to spread their own message or recruit new antisemites.
You're so right! Chanting "Gas the Jews" is just a bit of trolling. No antisemitism to be found here!
I mean, I'm fine with that. That seems like something that should have been done a while ago.
It's when they try and extend such things to saying any criticism of Israel is illegal, like what Germany is trying right now.
Germany is not doing that at all. Germans are just aware of their past and almost all will therefore be careful what they say and also point that out to other Germans. It is not forbidden to criticise Israel though and probably it never will be. Most Germans will just be the last to do it on their own individual initiative.
https://www.courthousenews.com/in-germany-debate-rages-over-a-state-policy-to-support-israel-no-matter-what/
It’s not a crime to not support Israel, just taboo and against stated policy. Policy isn’t law though
I would not say it's a taboo within the German population to speak out against the current Israeli government.
Nope. Why would it be taboo to criticise Benjamin von Papen and Itamar Ben-Hitler. The state is doing that, officially rebuking e.g. Ben-Gvir's ethnic cleansing statements.
I think the timing would be a little problematic.
So for a while now Germany has had some laws that may have been overly strict in an abundance of caution over antisemitism. Then there's a spike in antisemitism worldwide so Germany chooses to remove these law in this particular point in history? Why? Because people are so very angry at Israel right now they can't think about anything rationally?
You're not splitting hairs, you're decoupling them.
Um well, better not read German news media then....
Where did you get that from?
https://www.courthousenews.com/in-germany-debate-rages-over-a-state-policy-to-support-israel-no-matter-what/
It's a poorly written article that confuses with its wrong translation of "Staatsraison" and omits the classification of Samidoun as a wing of PFLP, declared a terrorist organization by both the EU and the US. Supporting terrorist organizations is illegal. People getting canceled does not necessarily mean they did something illegal, and there hasn't been a discussion about criminalizing criticism of Israel.
Criticizing Netanyahu's actions is very popular in Germany. It's just true that the German government does not do that enough.
Classic Germany. Goes from Nazist to Progressive so hard they end up on the other side of the spectrum back in Fascist territory.
How can that be a classic behaviour? For one, they haven't done it, as illustrated by how hard they've cracked down on any facist behaviour since the cessation of WII. And wouldn't they have had to have done it more than once for it to be a classic behaviour? They've literally been nazists once. They'd have to have been nazists more than once, and gone through the phases you've described for any normal person to call it a "classic".
You know what is an example of a classic behaviour though? Internet "experts" who just trust what they're given and don't do any research about it. Like you've done. Want proof? Read the other reply to the comment you've replied to here. And if that's not enough, explain to me why the German foreign minister hasn't been jailed/charged/etc for these remarks. Never trust just one source.
Wow. You know absolutely nothing about current germany.
It's a common "official" response from Western governments in light of justified criticism of the State of Israel's policies on Palestinians. The idea is that Israel is perfect because it was founded by Holocaust survivors and they can do no wrong and anybody that questions that is a Nazi.
Excellent
This is the best summary I could come up with:
"No one in Australia will be allowed to glorify or profit from acts and symbols that celebrate the Nazis and their evil ideology," the press release said.
The landmark new laws were introduced as Australia tries to get to grips with a spike in antisemitism in the country as the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza rages.
Preliminary data released by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry showed a rise in antisemitic incidents in the wake of the bloody Oct. 7 terror attack on southern Israel by Hamas militants, which the Israeli government says left more than 1,400 people dead.
Israel launched an immediate war on Hamas in response, which health officials in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip say has killed nearly 23,000 people.
In October, unverified video went viral online showing a small group of people appearing to chant antisemitic slogans at a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside the Sydney Opera House.
A video posted on social media on Oct. 8 by the conservative Australian Jewish Association group purportedly showed protesters launching flares and chanting "Gas the Jews" and other antisemitic refrains.
The original article contains 367 words, the summary contains 177 words. Saved 52%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
... You mean it wasn't already banned? lol
Immediately following the war and for a few decades after no one would have thought that Nazis were ok. Either your brother or neighbor or father fought them or died fighting them. By the time the 80s were coming around though the younger generations were forgetting or uncaring of what granddad or the old man in the barbershop did 40 years ago. Now it’s so far back that the youth have almost no connection to the heroes who fought against the nazis and so believe the disinformation spewed by modern Nazis.
Most people never needed an excuse to not sieg heil.
No? I’m pretty sure it’s legal in 99% of the world.
such as? am I going to prison for owning a black flag?
I will not stop praising or glorifying climate protestors laying across lanes of traffic. you being a little bit late to your soul sucking 9 to 5 isn't an act of terrorism.
The word Terrorist is already used as a truncheon against dissidents. Convicted Terrorist is about to become the 3rd gender in Australia.
On the internet words like terrorist, fascist, and genocide seemingly has lost all meaning. It's just an expression of dumb emotions.
But in a court of law these words do have defined meanings. The internet != real life.
And yeah a law in which the intent is to reduce antisemitism by banning symbols carried by antisemitic people may result in it being illegal for you to display your black flag in public if that same flag as carried by people who promote violence against Jews.
This might trigger some introspection in some people about why they're in possession of symbols that are also carried by people that promote racist violence. Is there is significant difference between your black flag and a swastika in terms of how those symbols affect people?
The big problem with these laws is that the people legally defining these words are including non violent acts such as protesting.
if I say we should abolish the senate that's not terrorism ... unless you're a senator.
and if you know anything about the black flag you know I don't stop at the senate.
Can you point out any examples of this happening in Australia?
open any legislation, the first thing they do is define any words they use that diverge from common use.
C'mon, you're making the claim here. If it's as easy as opening any legislation then it shouldn't be hard for you to provide an example.
While blocking roads isn't terrorism, being late can have serious consequences for people. Not everyone has the ability to show up late with no consequences. Trivializing people getting fired, getting smaller raises, being late/ missing medical appointments,... is not going to help your cause.
What if everyone is too busy hating you to pollute?
They'll pollute even more as they're idling on the highway waiting to move instead of getting to their destination more efficiently.
Damn the protest might add an extra 0.0000000000001% to our annual pollution.
Alienate people to your cause and increase pollution. It doesn't seem like an effective way to protect the climate.
“I was going to support not causing the extinction of our species but someone made me late to work one day, so I support climate change now due to spite”
Said nobody ever.
It's more I don't want to associate with this group they made me lose my job and then said suck it up its for the greater good.
But that didn't happen.
Either was the hypothetical I responded to.
People have complained about being delayed. I've seen no one say they lost their jobs.
Does a person on parole who was sent back to jail because he lost his job for being late count?
https://reason.com/2022/07/06/blocking-a-highway-is-not-a-legitimate-or-effective-form-of-protest/
How about not being able to get to the emergency room.
https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/manitoba-man-trapped-in-convoy-protest-while-trying-to-drive-his-sister-to-emergency-room-1.5775033
How about going into labor and being stuck. https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/woman-reportedly-goes-into-labor-while-stuck-in-traffic-after-protesters-shut-down-i-80-in-berkeley/
They don’t care if you associate with them or not, they care about the survival of our species/life on earth.
And they won't get more people to join their cause with those tactics. You need people to support your cause for your cause to be successful.
it's ok to hate as long as it's the right people I guess.
meanwhile truck drivers blocking tunnels because they don't know their clearance don't go to jail.
You don't see a difference between intentional and accidential acts?
How bloody far down did i need to scroll to find this. Why am i not suprised they did this.
Yeah, that second part is concerning.
No more WW2 video games with German swastikas?
Of course that dipshit has his shitty t shirt tucked in
Oi fuck off mate.
Nothing wrong with tucking your shirt in. Go be some boomer curmudgeon elsewhere.
Lol really touched a nerve there didn’t I? Boomer rapidly losing all meaning, those guys love tucking in their tees while rocking some white new balance.
Man i remember being an absolute dipshit ignorant child. I had that same butthead grin too. Time helped.
This can only work if they change their neuliberal ideology and the myth of the free market regulating. They have to answer the issues of the inequalities. Otherwise, they banned symbols and profits. But, the ideology will still be present. And this one, you have to address social and systemic issues to fight it.
You guys I heard the Soviet Union killed millions of people. Should we ban their flag and symbols, too?
If there's people wearing a hammer and sickle on their arms going around being violent shitheads, then yes.
And the USSR was a state capitalism regime. I personally prefer extrem capitalism to define it.
The human was seen as a machine and health care as the repair shop for them. Breaks were provided to let the machine "cool down". And the capital was in the hand of a handful of people.
The ideology was here to control the minds.
Tell me you think real socialism has never been tried without telling me real socialism has never been tried.
It hasn't, and even the Soviets would have agreed.
But real (anarcho)capitalism hasn't either.
Oh wait, no, it has, and it became a dictatorial shithole every time lol
Of course it has been tried, it even has been successful! See e.g. Chiapas and Rojava.
What's true is that Marxist-Leninist-Maoists have never tried socialism, which shouldn't be too surprising given that they're authoritarian which inevitably leads to state capitalism. Heck Socdems are more socialist than MLMs.
I like that acronym you made of authlefts.
Tell me you think capitalism is working just fine without telling me you think capitalism is working just fine.
Has it?
The USSR was definitionally about as socialist as the DPRK is democratic. I don't know why you'd believe either of them - particularly when you seem so pessimistic about such "socialist" regimes.
Real modern capitalism hadn't been tried until it had... nor had mercantile capitalism before that... or feudalism before that... Doing things that haven't been done is a necessary part of progress - you do understand that, don't you?