The far-right figures involved in the anti-vax, anti-lockdown movement
This page is being updated periodically. It was last updated on 24 October 2021.
While the ‘freedom’ demonstrators try to present themselves as apolitical — innocents who are merely vaccine hesitant — the reality is very different. Scratch the surface and it becomes clear that the key figures, spokespeople, and organisations leading and organising the movement are associated with various right wing, far Right, conspiracy and even neo-Nazi currents. There are many people at these demonstrations who may not know who they are marching alongside, but the verdict is in, these protests are breeding grounds for some of the most appalling politics around.
Avi Yemeni, Rebel News
Calls himself “the world's proudest Jewish Nazi”
The right-wing, anti-vax protestors outside the CFMMEU’s offices in Melbourne were recorded cheering “Avi, Avi, Avi!” when Yemeni showed up to support them. Who is he?
A former marksman for the Israeli Defence Forces, he now works for Rebel Media, a Canadian “news” channel specialising in far-right content, while portraying himself as an “independent journalist”.
Yemeni consorts with known fascists and supported Tommy Robinson of the English Defence League against assault charges, declaring “Tommy is my brother, Tommy is my leader”.
He has a history of attending social justice protests, particularly those focussing on Indigenous rights such as Invasion Day rallies, and attempting to provoke participants. This “content” is then used to disparage left-wing causes.
Rebel News created a “Free Avi” donation page in January 2021, anticipating he would again be “moved on” from the Invasion Day March. The page was created five hours before the protest, a fake campaign about a fake arrest soliciting money to fight non-existent charges. He grifted over $100,000 to fight the fines of people charged with COVID breaches - there isn’t even any evidence this money was ever used for this purpose.
He has been convicted of domestic violence and assault, including throwing a chopping board at his then-partner’s head.
Yemeni plays the persecuted victim, pushing a right-wing, “culture war” narrative for the purposes of making money from his supporters.
Harrison McLean a.k.a. Dominic D.
Private school educated fascist
The ‘Freedom Rallies’ are largely organised via Telegram. In Victoria the guy who set up the group is called Harrison McLean, who has well documented and substantial ties to the anti-semitic fascist wing of the internet. McLean set the dates and locations of Melbourne’s recent anti-lockdown/anti-union/anti-vaccine protests but doesn’t even attend! He is the very definition of keyboard warrior.
In public, “McLean has previously denied being involved in the far right. ‘I am not Far-Right. I am a Libertarian Populist, and I support Freedom of Speech,’ McLean posted under his pseudonym Dominic D, in one forum.”
But in private, he has engaged with the National Socialist Network, the neo-Nazi group who were recently exposed via a 60 Minutes investigation. McLean is happy to associate with these proud fascists.
Further, in his own words: “We have a LOT of very NORMIE people coming in from banners and [Facebook] groups that are not ready for the JQ (Jewish Question) yet, and may attack us as highly anti-semitic and stop promoting us all together to their friends and family,” he wrote.
“We start at ‘Dan Bad’ and go right through to ‘No Coercive Vaccines’ and get into the ‘Pedo suppression orders’ and NWO agenda and One World Government as a concept to be opposed,” McLean wrote, echoing a laundry list of anti-semitic conspiracy theories for which he is trying to find a fresh audience out of the pandemic.
Racism is central to fascist ideology as is lying for political gains. McLean plays on the fears of emotionally and financially vulnerable people to further racial hatred.
Pauline Hanson, One Nation
Pauline Hanson and her party One Nation are well-known for their extreme racism, including calling for bans on Muslim immigration.
In 2021, Hanson has been railing against public health measures like vaccines, insisting on the "right" of people to die from COVID and backing the anti-vax protests that ransacked the CFMEU office in Melbourne. She has recently introduced a bill attempting to ban vaccine mandates.
National Socialist Network
This bona fide Nazi organisation hit the headlines earlier this year when at a training camp in Victoria their members were filmed doing the Nazi salute. They worship Hitler and support the Christchurch massacre. The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes infiltrated the organisation and discovered that the National Socialist Network regularly attended and attempted to influence the Victorian rallies against the lockdowns. Video depicts one of its members, Brendan Maher, disguised under a mask at a recent anti-lockdown protest in Melbourne, screaming anti-Semitic abuse.
The Proud Boys
Australia’s Proud Boys are an offshoot of the American neo fascist outfit. The Proud Boys came to prominence as some of the most vehement Trump supporters around. Their statement of principles lists them as proud “Western Chauvinists” and they promote an extremely sexist and masculinist worldview. In Australia they have positioned themselves as warriors against COVID health measures. One of their members in NSW, Jarrad Searby, was arrested in July for refusing to comply with the border restrictions. In court it was revealed that he told police that “Covid-19 was fake and the legislation is unlawful”. Such a ‘patriotic’ stand vaulted Searby to prominence in Australia’s fascist circles. On podcasts with the Unshackled, Searby has appeared with the likes of Andrew Nolch, who was found guilty of criminal damage in 2018 after he painted a 25-metre-long penis at the memorial of Eurydice Dixon, the comedian who was murdered in Melbourne, as “a statement for men’s rights”.
He has also appeared with David Hiscox, the editor of another far-right website who wrote a series of antisemitic articles last year which claimed that Covid-19 had been planned to “destroy people’s lives and livelihoods so we beg for the vaccine”. In one podcast appearance, when Hiscox said the Holocaust was “a psyop”, Searby replied that he didn’t know “if I hate the Jews or not because I haven’t got the information on either side to make that call In saying that … I do have some questions about the Holocaust and whether the numbers we were given were legitimate,” Searby said.