None of them except the first paragraph are false, and even that one could be true if it were qualified instead of generalised.

They have biases, they might suggest and emphasise parts inappropriately, but the fact is this event, or rather these events were more complex than most articles or comment sections said.

Even some of my earlier comments were affected by missing information, generalisation and a bit of shock. For example, after having talked to a few different (socialist) people who were present visiting the racist rallies in Sydney, they pointed out that:

• The NSN were being sneaky in how they represented themselves, such as not leading the march out of Belmore Park, but then having a dozen of them jump to the front once the march was underway for the photo ops. Most of the people in the march would not have seen this at all.
• There were only about 30 of them, many out of uniform
• When they went up to speak, there was the same generic applause that other speakers got, and about half the reactions were boos instead of cheers once they started saying things, with many leaving
• Their attempted march on Newtown just got redirected down a side street where they changed clothes and went to the train station

Now, this does not change that it was well-known and well-publicised in advance that neo-Nazi organisations would be present, that they were involved in the organisation of many of the events and the main website.

It does not change that the protests themselves were based upon racist deflectionary arguments, including ones made by Labor members. This doesn’t mean all marchers are inherently racist, or that they were aware of the racism, but they’re repeating and supporting racist claims that immigration is to blame for various crises, or that some cultures (read: non-white cultures) are a major problem while others aren’t.

It does not change that a large amount of attendees were openly white nationalists, and that a large amount of attendees were knowingly tolerant of neo-Nazis. It does not change that the attendees who didn’t contest the Nazis accepted and emboldened them.

But we should try to avoid being careless and suggesting that everyone there is irredeemable and was there to be racist. It was foolish, ignorant and harmful for them to attend. But in my opinion, this was a way for many people to voice legitimate grievances which they believed were unvoiced, like housing. And so long as Liberals and Labor deflect that crisis onto immigrants, and as long as those to the left can’t get their voices heard in the mainstream, fascists will be there to collect their rage. If you want to stop neo-Nazis from being validated, we have to let citizens know we’re fighting for them.