Main Edition
US
FR
March 22, 2023 - 1:30pm
Melbourne
Last weekend demonstrated that the trans wars are raging just as fiercely down under. The women’s rights campaigner Posie Parker — otherwise known as Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshell — has this month brought her Let Women Speak tour to Australia, aiming to provide a public space for discussion of the conflict of interest between trans rights activism and gender-critical feminists. The fifth leg of the tour, unfortunately, played host to some extremely unsavoury visitors.
At Saturday’s event in Melbourne, black-clad members of the far-Right National Socialist Movement crashed the feminist gathering, performing Nazi salutes and displaying signs which accused trans people of being child abusers. They clashed with the Socialist Alliance, who were protesting the event, and hogged the media limelight at the expense of Parker and the other speakers.
On social media and in the press, however, these two groups — women seeking a platform to discuss their rights and neo-Nazi provocateurs — were conflated into one evil entity. Victorian state premier Daniel Andrews issued a statement, saying that “Nazis aren’t welcome”. He continued, “They were there to say the trans community don’t deserve rights, safety or dignity. That’s what Nazis do. Their evil ideology is to scapegoat minorities – and it’s got no place here. And those who stand with them don’t, either.”
Leader of the Australian Greens Adam Bandt went so far as to state, “I’m disgusted by the anti-trans rally in Melbourne yesterday, protected by their allies: saluting neo-Nazis”, defaming the women present by suggesting that they were in cahoots with out-and-out fascists. This, despite even the Australian Jewish Council recognising that the neo-Nazis were opportunistic gate-crashers.
In reality, this was a melting pot of conflicting ideologies coming together in protest, counter-protest, parallel protest and unabashed opportunism. Many at the LWS event, including local Liberal Party MP Moira Deeming, were initially unaware of the neo-Nazi presence given they were facing away from the steps of Parliament where the National Socialist Movement performed their Sieg Heil salute. When she did become aware of their presence, a frightened Deeming assumed that — in all-black and with their faces hidden — they were militant protestors.
Similarly, the organiser of the Melbourne event, Angie Jones, told radio host Richard King that the neo-Nazis made clear their disdain for feminists beforehand: “They had nothing to do with us. We find their views abhorrent, and they find us abhorrent. On Twitter they said they despised us and that we were trying to turn people into lesbians.”
Join the discussion
Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber
To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.
Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.
SubscribeI am tempted to think that those Nazis were a false flag.
Exactly the same thought went through my head.
Perhaps they are the same thespians that attended the “Covid protests in Melbourne”
It’s an effective way to get MANY people to distance themselves from an idea or discussion.
False flag indeed.
Either that or extraordinarily stupid if real Nazis and they care about the trans issue.
They’re real nazis, alright. Many already have form. They’ve been active down here for a while now and are finding recruits among young men.
Exactly the same thought went through my head.
Perhaps they are the same thespians that attended the “Covid protests in Melbourne”
It’s an effective way to get MANY people to distance themselves from an idea or discussion.
False flag indeed.
Either that or extraordinarily stupid if real Nazis and they care about the trans issue.
They’re real nazis, alright. Many already have form. They’ve been active down here for a while now and are finding recruits among young men.
I am tempted to think that those Nazis were a false flag.
Some people would love it if KJK had to spend all her time distancing herself from every loony who crashes a Let Women Speak event.
That would then guarantee that every event is crashed by increasing numbers of extremists as they sensed their tactics were working.
I think she’s absolutely correct to ignore the distractions and focus on her core message.
Some people would love it if KJK had to spend all her time distancing herself from every loony who crashes a Let Women Speak event.
That would then guarantee that every event is crashed by increasing numbers of extremists as they sensed their tactics were working.
I think she’s absolutely correct to ignore the distractions and focus on her core message.
Thank you, thank you, thank you Petra Bueskens! A concise summary of what is going on in Australia. As an older woman I am feeling increasingly worried about where this will all end, especially since I saw the livestream video of the large crowd of young people loudly booing and abusing a small group of older women who had come to speak in Hobart on Tuesday.
It’s much easier to boo than it is to listen deeply and try to understand someone’s point of view.
Both sides of this divide need to hear each other out. They will all have more in common than they would like to believe.
Caroline, how do you dialogue with people who say, “No debate” and are willing only to do one of two things, either stay away so they won’t hear you or bang drums and blow whistles to drown out your words?
By being nice, apparently.
By being nice, apparently.
They have indoctrinated and not educated the young, it’s an age old practice of totalitarians and it’s been going on for so long now. These younger people truly believe they are being kind and open hearted.
The ‘both sides’ complaint is simply not appropriate in this instance.
Adopting the ‘both sides’ argument implies that the two perspectives have an equal claim to consideration. For example, the scientific evidence that climate change is real is overwhelming, so should we be giving equal time to conspiracy theorists who want us to believe that it’s all a left-wing lie designed to destroy the oil business? Whenever anybody dares to mention evolution, should we be obliged to endure an equal period of religious fundamentalists telling us how man (sic) was created, fully formed, on the sixth day?
There is not a single shred of scientific evidence that gender identity even exists, let alone a means of detecting what it might be in any particular person at any particular time. And yet this impossibly vague notion is superseding sex – the body of scientific evidence for which is huge and incontrovertible – in prescribing everything about how we live, up to and including our laws.
There is no common ground. The two positions are mutually exclusive. There is sex, or there is gender identity. There is science, or there is woo-woo. That the woo-woo is retrograde and deeply misogynistic only makes it worse. So enough of the ‘both sides need to hear each other out’, it’s time to pick one.
n/a
n/a
n/a
Caroline, how do you dialogue with people who say, “No debate” and are willing only to do one of two things, either stay away so they won’t hear you or bang drums and blow whistles to drown out your words?
They have indoctrinated and not educated the young, it’s an age old practice of totalitarians and it’s been going on for so long now. These younger people truly believe they are being kind and open hearted.
The ‘both sides’ complaint is simply not appropriate in this instance.
Adopting the ‘both sides’ argument implies that the two perspectives have an equal claim to consideration. For example, the scientific evidence that climate change is real is overwhelming, so should we be giving equal time to conspiracy theorists who want us to believe that it’s all a left-wing lie designed to destroy the oil business? Whenever anybody dares to mention evolution, should we be obliged to endure an equal period of religious fundamentalists telling us how man (sic) was created, fully formed, on the sixth day?
There is not a single shred of scientific evidence that gender identity even exists, let alone a means of detecting what it might be in any particular person at any particular time. And yet this impossibly vague notion is superseding sex – the body of scientific evidence for which is huge and incontrovertible – in prescribing everything about how we live, up to and including our laws.
There is no common ground. The two positions are mutually exclusive. There is sex, or there is gender identity. There is science, or there is woo-woo. That the woo-woo is retrograde and deeply misogynistic only makes it worse. So enough of the ‘both sides need to hear each other out’, it’s time to pick one.
n/a
n/a
n/a
It’s much easier to boo than it is to listen deeply and try to understand someone’s point of view.
Both sides of this divide need to hear each other out. They will all have more in common than they would like to believe.
Thank you, thank you, thank you Petra Bueskens! A concise summary of what is going on in Australia. As an older woman I am feeling increasingly worried about where this will all end, especially since I saw the livestream video of the large crowd of young people loudly booing and abusing a small group of older women who had come to speak in Hobart on Tuesday.
Typically lazy reportage by the Australian MSM, or worse: deliberate misrepresentation. I think the same would happen in the UK and the US in similar circumstances, and the author is right to call this out.
Just one thing though: she refers to “mothers worried about gender confused teens”. Shouldn’t that be worried parents?
The writer claims that “the press” conflated Parker’s lot and the neo-Nazis, but offers no evidence. The only media reporting she refers to specifically is the event organiser distancing herself from the neo-Nazis on Melbourne radio.
Plenty on twitter!
Trans activists must be rubbing their hands with glee. Conflating biological women’s rights with Nazism is just what they want.
Trans activists must be rubbing their hands with glee. Conflating biological women’s rights with Nazism is just what they want.
Geoff Wilkes, I don’t know where you live, but the Australian mainstream media has repeated the claims by politicians that the women and the Nazis were as one. Perhaps you could go look for yourself
It’s in all the Australian media – ABC, The Age, Guardian Australia, Daily Mail Australia, The Australian – all describing KJK as “anti-trans”, “transphobic” and “linked to far right” etc – it’s easy enough to find. It’s also easy to watch the replayed livestream – the black-clad “Nazis” , seemingly escorted by the police (!), marched in behind KJK and Moira Deeming, made a Sieg Heil gesture for the press photographers who got their shot and that was that evening’s headline – nothing about women speaking but along the lines of “Nazis at Transphobe rally”.
Give over Geoff. Moura Deeming’s Liberal Party Leader also conflated the two, hence his intent to expel her.
Yes, Dictator Dan puts John Pesutto in a tight spot and rubs his hands with glee as Pesutto falls for it.
Pesutto’s pathetic stance makes it much easier to understand how Dan remains in power. Is that the best opposition Victoria can muster?
Pesutto’s pathetic stance makes it much easier to understand how Dan remains in power. Is that the best opposition Victoria can muster?
Yes, Dictator Dan puts John Pesutto in a tight spot and rubs his hands with glee as Pesutto falls for it.
Plenty on twitter!
Geoff Wilkes, I don’t know where you live, but the Australian mainstream media has repeated the claims by politicians that the women and the Nazis were as one. Perhaps you could go look for yourself
It’s in all the Australian media – ABC, The Age, Guardian Australia, Daily Mail Australia, The Australian – all describing KJK as “anti-trans”, “transphobic” and “linked to far right” etc – it’s easy enough to find. It’s also easy to watch the replayed livestream – the black-clad “Nazis” , seemingly escorted by the police (!), marched in behind KJK and Moira Deeming, made a Sieg Heil gesture for the press photographers who got their shot and that was that evening’s headline – nothing about women speaking but along the lines of “Nazis at Transphobe rally”.
Give over Geoff. Moura Deeming’s Liberal Party Leader also conflated the two, hence his intent to expel her.
The writer claims that “the press” conflated Parker’s lot and the neo-Nazis, but offers no evidence. The only media reporting she refers to specifically is the event organiser distancing herself from the neo-Nazis on Melbourne radio.
Typically lazy reportage by the Australian MSM, or worse: deliberate misrepresentation. I think the same would happen in the UK and the US in similar circumstances, and the author is right to call this out.
Just one thing though: she refers to “mothers worried about gender confused teens”. Shouldn’t that be worried parents?
KJK in The New Zealand Herald on Nazis who crash her events: “they’re absolutely not associated with me whatsoever. I absolutely abhor anything to do with Nazis. It’s preposterous they even exist in 2023.”
Sounds like unequivocal distancing to me.
KJK in The New Zealand Herald on Nazis who crash her events: “they’re absolutely not associated with me whatsoever. I absolutely abhor anything to do with Nazis. It’s preposterous they even exist in 2023.”
Sounds like unequivocal distancing to me.
It’s bit rich of Dan Andrews especially given his stellar performance of a fascist dictator over the hapless residents of Victoria during the covid madness. Frankly, I have lost all trust and wouldn’t put it past the enemies of so called gender-critical feminists to hire people to act as Nazis in order to bring disrepute to the movement. If the pandemic didn’t teach us that nothing is as it seems then nothing will.
It’s bit rich of Dan Andrews especially given his stellar performance of a fascist dictator over the hapless residents of Victoria during the covid madness. Frankly, I have lost all trust and wouldn’t put it past the enemies of so called gender-critical feminists to hire people to act as Nazis in order to bring disrepute to the movement. If the pandemic didn’t teach us that nothing is as it seems then nothing will.
“Some local feminist groups have rightly pointed out that Parker has failed to distance herself from the far-Right at times.”
Stop distorting the truth, which is that she has legitimately refused to distance herself from the Centre-Right.
However, a lot of ordinary women in Australia who have always been on the left, are now moving to the right because they feel entirely let down by the left.
I’m sure you’re right, and don’t blame them one bit.
I’m sure you’re right, and don’t blame them one bit.
She is a housewife. Housewives cannot be feminists. Whilst the violence against her and others was despicable, as was the inactivity of the police, many UK feminists have issues with her ‘wife and mother’ image and her occasional forays into homophobia. We agree on certain issues but not on others. That doesn’t mean that we condone violence against people that we disagree with. Trans rights activists obviously do.
‘Housewives cannot be feminists.’
Why not? There was a time when many women had little other choice, yet women within that very demographic played a significant role in the birth of modern feminism. Anyway, isn’t feminism about women having freedom of choice? It’s certainly not about dictating to women what they can or can’t be or do.
Besides, the existence of this story alone demonstrates that she is clearly much, much more than a ‘housewife’.
Women ‘within that demographic’ contributed to modern feminism because they wanted to escape from being housewives and to give younger women the opportunity never to have to be housewives. With equality comes responsibility, and that means working and paying taxes. Women who choose not to do that are not equal contributors to society and are not only not feminists, but should not be entitled to the rights enjoyed by working women, such as the vote. Their husbands should also be required to pay double tax and NI to compensate for their idleness.
Women ‘within that demographic’ contributed to modern feminism because they wanted to escape from being housewives and to give younger women the opportunity never to have to be housewives. With equality comes responsibility, and that means working and paying taxes. Women who choose not to do that are not equal contributors to society and are not only not feminists, but should not be entitled to the rights enjoyed by working women, such as the vote. Their husbands should also be required to pay double tax and NI to compensate for their idleness.
‘Housewives cannot be feminists.’
Why not? There was a time when many women had little other choice, yet women within that very demographic played a significant role in the birth of modern feminism. Anyway, isn’t feminism about women having freedom of choice? It’s certainly not about dictating to women what they can or can’t be or do.
Besides, the existence of this story alone demonstrates that she is clearly much, much more than a ‘housewife’.
However, a lot of ordinary women in Australia who have always been on the left, are now moving to the right because they feel entirely let down by the left.
She is a housewife. Housewives cannot be feminists. Whilst the violence against her and others was despicable, as was the inactivity of the police, many UK feminists have issues with her ‘wife and mother’ image and her occasional forays into homophobia. We agree on certain issues but not on others. That doesn’t mean that we condone violence against people that we disagree with. Trans rights activists obviously do.
“Some local feminist groups have rightly pointed out that Parker has failed to distance herself from the far-Right at times.”
Stop distorting the truth, which is that she has legitimately refused to distance herself from the Centre-Right.
Hello Ms Bueskens, thanks for this article: I saw the news conflating the Let Women Speak rally and neo-Nazis in the media and knew something was amiss. I live in Australia and was quite disappointed at the media’s distorted framing and ignorance. 🙁
Hello Ms Bueskens, thanks for this article: I saw the news conflating the Let Women Speak rally and neo-Nazis in the media and knew something was amiss. I live in Australia and was quite disappointed at the media’s distorted framing and ignorance. 🙁
KJK & JKR are absolutely right and should be supported.
Well said.
Well said.
KJK & JKR are absolutely right and should be supported.
Gender critical feminists need all the help they can get. Who better to protect them from being beaten up at protests by six foot activists with adam’s apples than beer-bellied, angry blackshirts? At least it’d be entertaining.
Gender critical feminists need all the help they can get. Who better to protect them from being beaten up at protests by six foot activists with adam’s apples than beer-bellied, angry blackshirts? At least it’d be entertaining.
I am an American and don’t know that much about where, exactly, New Zealand politics is at. But, if this happened in the USA in 2023 I would assume the government was behind the presence of Neo-Nazis at the rally, in order to discredit the women rights people and agenda.
And observing the political statements made before and after the event, I begin to suspect that NZ’s government is no better or more honest than the USA,
I am an American and don’t know that much about where, exactly, New Zealand politics is at. But, if this happened in the USA in 2023 I would assume the government was behind the presence of Neo-Nazis at the rally, in order to discredit the women rights people and agenda.
And observing the political statements made before and after the event, I begin to suspect that NZ’s government is no better or more honest than the USA,
Most likely just a comedy of misunderstandings. The block-headed nazis figure the feminists/”witches” must be friends of the trans(es). They didn’t bother reading the signs. The twitter haunted progressives figure that the feminists-who-refuse-to-toe-the-line must be facist. And the news media follow the progressives around like a sad dog.
The Socialist Alliance might have just gotten the wrong address.
Actually, come to think of it, it probably was a false flag. Horribly successful.
Or a premier playing clever games? He might be chuckling but the rest of us are not.
Or a premier playing clever games? He might be chuckling but the rest of us are not.
Most likely just a comedy of misunderstandings. The block-headed nazis figure the feminists/”witches” must be friends of the trans(es). They didn’t bother reading the signs. The twitter haunted progressives figure that the feminists-who-refuse-to-toe-the-line must be facist. And the news media follow the progressives around like a sad dog.
The Socialist Alliance might have just gotten the wrong address.
Actually, come to think of it, it probably was a false flag. Horribly successful.
For a fuller and better version of this piece see https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/03/guilt-by-association-2/
She repeats her claim that KJK didn’t do enough to distance herself from “far right” protestors. How about the media do their job and investigate?
One wonders if she’s simply sniffy about KJK not coming from the bien pensant academic/political classes.
We’ve heard very similar to this before. Whenever al-qaeda committed an atrocity, there was a small but vocal and determined faction who chose to target muslims elsewhere in the world, berating them for not criticising al-qaeda enough. We knew what it was then, and we know what it is now.
We’ve heard very similar to this before. Whenever al-qaeda committed an atrocity, there was a small but vocal and determined faction who chose to target muslims elsewhere in the world, berating them for not criticising al-qaeda enough. We knew what it was then, and we know what it is now.
She repeats her claim that KJK didn’t do enough to distance herself from “far right” protestors. How about the media do their job and investigate?
One wonders if she’s simply sniffy about KJK not coming from the bien pensant academic/political classes.
For a fuller and better version of this piece see https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/03/guilt-by-association-2/
I’m shocked I tell ya. I’m shocked.
I’m shocked I tell ya. I’m shocked.
Storms in media and political teacups. Our Australian media seeks out opportunities to make itself the news and politicians take the bait, edging ad gaslighting both Posie and Deeming to grab or make headlines before the next crisis or scandal breaks. We do have a growing problem with neo-nazis, but. They and their far left counterparts take advantage of such “gotcha” moments.
Storms in media and political teacups. Our Australian media seeks out opportunities to make itself the news and politicians take the bait, edging ad gaslighting both Posie and Deeming to grab or make headlines before the next crisis or scandal breaks. We do have a growing problem with neo-nazis, but. They and their far left counterparts take advantage of such “gotcha” moments.
Thank you.
Thank you.
My comment on this is awaiting ‘approval’ I honestly cannot see why that is.
My comment on this is awaiting ‘approval’ I honestly cannot see why that is.
Australia? Then it is of no interest, importance or consequence anyway.
Australia? Then it is of no interest, importance or consequence anyway.