Social Democracy Now

A poll currently running on the Sydney Morning Herald website (here), asks readers "What's most to blame?" for the Cronulla 'race' riots of the last few days. All the possible answers are mere abstractions (e.g., 'Racism,' 'Poor parenting/schooling'). A more concrete option that ought to be present on the list, surely, is 'as yet unidentified agents provocateurs.'

What the mainstream media is missing in its shallow and sensationalistic reporting of the beachplace clashes in North Cronulla, Sydney, is that the riots were scarcely spontaneous. According to the World Socialist Web Site, which is one of the few sources of reliable reporting about Australian politics these days, the massed gathering on Cronulla beach was a response to a text message sent a few days earlier: 'On December 7, a racist text message was sent to local residents, calling on every “Aussie” to get to the beach on Sunday, “to support Leb and wog bashing day.* Bring your mates and let’s show them that this is our beach and they are never welcome ... let’s kill these boys.”' (SOURCE)

Curiously, this inflammatory message was received by a great many people. A co-worker of mine says that two of his friends received the message, neither of whom, he insists, are connected in any way with any racist or 'neo-Nazi' groups. Clearly, the message was relayed to a great many people, not just a small circle of persons sharing an extreme political outlook. It's as if someone was trawling far and wide for hotheads who might respond to the message's outrageous invitation to violence.

Another possible source of provocation were members of a small ethnic nationalist political organization, the Australia First Party, who handed out leaflets calling for a 'crackdown on "refugees, contract labour, overseas students and illegals".' Interestingly enough, the group - whose total membership apparently totals no more than fifty - admits to having beaten a quick retreat as soon as the troubles began: 'The league's spokesman, Luke Connors, admitted that its flyers demanding an end to multiculturalism were distributed by members in Cronulla. "But we only had 15 people there, of which 10 were girls and three their boyfriends. They joined in the chanting, but as soon as the scuffles began, they got out and went to the pub," said Mr Connors, 21.' Whether or not the group was wittingly involved in fomenting violence, the SMH asks us to dismiss Australia First as 'a dangerous organisation, dedicated to promoting race hatred.' (SOURCE)

No one seems to be asking the obvious question, which is who sent out the text message that led to the attacks (and why don't the police seem interested in finding out)? Are we to believe that, despite the passage of countless anti-terror laws since the late 1970s, the authorities have no means of establishing the origin of a text message?

The more one thinks about the riots, the less they make sense. Does it make sense to you, for example, that the rioters would attack the patrons of a pizzeria or a middle-aged Thai woman walking down a street? Or that a group of around 200 men who allegedly assembled outside Lakemba mosque included a number of persons allegedly armed with 'Glock pistols'?(SOURCE) Why would these purported racists just attack targets of opportunity, in particular, defenceless females, which is just about the lowest thing to do in most everybody's book? And where did these alleged racists get their police-issue Glocks from?

None of this makes any sense and the public is being asked to believe that, while the violence was deplorable, it was pretty much spontaneous. But in fact, the violence betrays indications of considerable co-ordination, not least because it bears an uncanny resemblance to the French riots of the last few weeks. It's as if someone got a hold of the blueprint for the French riots and hurriedly adapted it to Australian conditions. We are supposed to believe that simply getting an inflammatory text message is enough to persuade hundreds of people to drive from all over Australia - duly armed with crowbars - to beat up a few Lebanese? I just don't buy it.

Those with whom I shared my views at work today admitted the possibility that there could be more to the riots than meets the eye. Yet they failed to discern a possible motive. I confidently asserted that there was one motive for virtually everything strange that happens these days - the expansion of police powers. It therefore surprised me not at all when, a few hours later, I learned that, yes indeed, the sequel to the Cronulla beach riots is to be a marked intensification of police powers. According to the SMH, 'Tough new police powers aimed at halting Sydney's tit-for-tat racial violence will be passed at an emergency session of NSW parliament on Thursday. ... Under the new measures to be introduced in parliament, police will have the power to:
- declare lock-down zones
- confiscate vehicles
- shut down licensed premises
- impose temporary alcohol-free zones
- remove the presumption of bail for the offences of riot
- increase the penalty for riot by five years to 15 years in jail
- double the penalty for affray to 10 years jail.' (SOURCE)

Doesn't anyone else see a familiar pattern here? Provocation leading to violence leading to anti-Muslim sentiment and stronger police powers? Interesting, also, is that the riots seem to be leading to the demonization of a group opposed to 'contract labour' and other elements of the multicultural society that prop up the Australian neoliberal state. In short, the riots did relatively little real damage, either to persons or property, but they have inflamed anti-Muslim sentiment, demonized a nationalist group opposing key elements of the neoliberal order, and led to a dramatic escalation of police powers in an entirely uncritical atmosphere. What I see is a plot to immobilize the leftwing response to the loss of our traditional civil liberties by getting leftwingers to foam and froth at the mouth at the possibility that (shock horror) there may be racism in Australia. I ask you, whose interests does this dumbing down of the left advance?

PS: For those who don't have many ideas on the latter subject, the following allegation seems as plausible as any: 'Some in the crowds where identified as israeli mossad agents provoking and directing the attacks the mossad operation began with a staged attack last week on two beach lifeguards, while the mossad agents where posing as men of Arab origin. Since then, jewish infested local radio talk shows have broadcast lies to instigate unrest and have carried out a cell-phone text-message campaign calling for violence.' (SOURCE)

* Non-Australians need to be made aware that 'Leb' is short for Lebanese and 'wog' for people from the Mediterranean region, including, in addition to Arabs, Greeks, Turks, Italians, Spanish and Portuguese.