The neo-Nazi music enthusiasts behind white pride-touting music festival Hammered have found a loophole which will allow them to hold the 2012 event in Brisbane for the third consecutive year. The event -which according to The Courier Mail will attract white supremacists from around the world – is being held in a secret Brisbane location on private property, meaning the Queensland Police Service and the Brisbane City Council can’t prevent it from moving ahead.
Needless to say, Brisbane folks who don’t count Dog The Bounty Hunter among their personal heroes are less than enthusiastic about the idea of a pro-Nazi rally going down on their turf. The leader of Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies, Jason Steinberg, told Jewish publication J-Wire that this type of event is “not acceptable to any decent organisation or to any religious groups.”
Federal Race Discrimination Commissioner Dr Helen Szoke also spoke out against the event saying: “The theme of this music festival goes against Australia’s multicultural values. Any gathering that results in espousing hate and racism against any group is abhorrent to our community. There may be recourse for offended parties under the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA) to make a complaint about this event: the RDA makes unlawful acts that offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person on the basis of race, colour, national or ethnic origin.”
Naturally, the organisation behind the festival, The Hammerskins (a leaderless group of men and women who have adopted the White Power Skinhead lifestyle), have leaped straight to the ‘freedom of speech’ line of argument as their defence for extremist racism.
