Lawmakers have banned public displays of the Nazi salute, swastika and other hate symbols as Australia tries to get to grips with a spike in antisemitism.
Australian lawmakers have banned the performance of the Nazi salute in public and outlawed the display or sale of Nazi hate symbols such as the swastika in landmark legislation that went into effect in the country Monday. The new laws also make the act of glorifying OR praising acts of terrorism a criminal offense.
The crime of publicly performing the Nazi salute or displaying the Nazi swastika is punishable by up to 12 months in prison, according to the Reuters news agency.
Mark Dreyfus, Australia's Attorney-General, said in a press release Monday that the laws — the first of their kind in the country — sent "a clear message: there is no place in Australia for acts and symbols that glorify the horrors of the Holocaust and terrorist acts."
"No one in Australia will be allowed to glorify or profit from acts and symbols that celebrate the Nazis and their evil ideology," the press release said.
Glad to see someone mention the Profiting part.
I've always suspected a lot of this was due to grifters stoking these A-holes up to increase sales of the flags, shirts, hats, etc.
The Brandon thing was a big boon to the Maga grifters as it created more new things one needs to collect to show your true level of being a Patriot.
You could then change out your Trump flag curtains for the Brandon stuff. Some are brave enough to change them out for the Nazis stuff when the time is right too. It completes the set when combined with the Southern Surrender flags as your curtains or bath towel.
I suspect that is also why their memes are quite slow to cycle trough. A lot of prolific figures need to sell their stock of stupid tat before they can move on to new things.
The Brandon thing was a big boon to the Maga grifters
Here's a good one: I like to by small-time silver bullion, and ebay is actually a decent place for that. The first time I saw gimmick silver coins and bars with Trump's face on them, I was like wtf. And even to this day, there's some seriously wtf stuff out there all geared towards the maga persuasion.
It would be pretty comical, if it weren't so crazy how much he's being idolized. He's being elevated to the level of Reagan worship, even before he's been planted in the ground. I'm calling it now: After Trump croaks, the GOP is gonna try and pass a law to create a permanent federal Trump holiday.
While it would be really nice to have January 6th off of work every year, I unfortunately can't get behind the creation of this holiday.
Perhaps a compromise? We celebrate the day Trump lost the election. The right can celebrate it the way they celebrate the death and rebirth of Jesus, while the left can celebrate it more like Festivus.
I'm all for celebrating Trump's death as a federal holiday. We can even call it Trump day. The traditional celebration should of course be a mass exodus to go piss on his grave. Make effigies of him to burn for the folks that can't make the trip, and then piss on those to put them out.
What implications does this have on media using the swastika? I know that for games like Wolfenstein the swastika is everywhere and while it doesn't really retract from the experience by being absent, it would be really strange for that to suddenly not be OK, especially in the context of Wolfenstein where you're tearing the Nazis a new one
German and Austrian versions of the new Wolfenstein games have swastikas and such removed/replaced.
I remember being pissed off the version sold on Steam to Switzerland was the censored version for no reason other than Switzerland is often stuffed with German and Austrian markets. When I blast sci-fi Nazis to bits, I prefer they look authentic.
I find it even more irritating that it is banned in the German version of Bollywood movies. It looks different and more importantly has a different meaning.
German laws allow swastikas in media under freedom of art and/or education. So depending on the context, it is legal in games. Foreign video game companies just don't want to take any risk and have their game blocked because of nazi symbolism so they rather just remove it than hope the courts see their game for the form if art it may be.
The actual law bans using the swastika to "glorify or profit from Nazi idiology".
Wolfenstein would not be impacted by the ban because at the core of the gameplay, the Nazis are the bad guys. It does not glorify the Nazis or celebrate them.
Sure Bathesda is profiting from the game, but they aren't profiting from the glorification of Nazi idiology, they're profiting from people's desire to shoot zombie Nazis in the face.
Nah, it's easy to imagine that. Multiplayer. The Nazi team wins. Swastikas everywhere. Pretty sure it's why cod no longer has swastikas in multiplayer anymore (and if I'm remembering rightly, they kept it in the single player as they felt it wasn't offensive as it is given with a hell of a lot of context that multiplayer rounds simply don't have).
Does it require the public display be offensive, or just that it be a public display? If the latter, then playing Wolfenstein on your laptop anywhere but a private residence is punishable by up to a year in prison.
I wonder if those chants are actually anti-semitic or if they are just trying to trigger the people from Israel.
I feel if people are pro-Palestine, they are against discrimination and abuse of power, which would make it pretty strange if they actually want to do the same to jews.
Germany is not doing that at all. Germans are just aware of their past and almost all will therefore be careful what they say and also point that out to other Germans. It is not forbidden to criticise Israel though and probably it never will be. Most Germans will just be the last to do it on their own individual initiative.
In Germany, debate rages over a state policy to support Israel, no matter what
As Gaza is bombarded by Israeli forces, a polemic is raging in Germany over a state policy that makes criticism of Israel blasphemous because it's seen as antisemitic.
In Germany, debate rages over a state policy to support Israel, no matter what
As Gaza is bombarded by Israeli forces, a polemic is raging in Germany over a state policy that makes criticism of Israel blasphemous because it's seen as antisemitic.
It's a common "official" response from Western governments in light of justified criticism of the State of Israel's policies on Palestinians. The idea is that Israel is perfect because it was founded by Holocaust survivors and they can do no wrong and anybody that questions that is a Nazi.
"No one in Australia will be allowed to glorify or profit from acts and symbols that celebrate the Nazis and their evil ideology," the press release said.
The landmark new laws were introduced as Australia tries to get to grips with a spike in antisemitism in the country as the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza rages.
Preliminary data released by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry showed a rise in antisemitic incidents in the wake of the bloody Oct. 7 terror attack on southern Israel by Hamas militants, which the Israeli government says left more than 1,400 people dead.
Israel launched an immediate war on Hamas in response, which health officials in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip say has killed nearly 23,000 people.
In October, unverified video went viral online showing a small group of people appearing to chant antisemitic slogans at a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside the Sydney Opera House.
A video posted on social media on Oct. 8 by the conservative Australian Jewish Association group purportedly showed protesters launching flares and chanting "Gas the Jews" and other antisemitic refrains.
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Immediately following the war and for a few decades after no one would have thought that Nazis were ok. Either your brother or neighbor or father fought them or died fighting them. By the time the 80s were coming around though the younger generations were forgetting or uncaring of what granddad or the old man in the barbershop did 40 years ago. Now it’s so far back that the youth have almost no connection to the heroes who fought against the nazis and so believe the disinformation spewed by modern Nazis.
such as? am I going to prison for owning a black flag?
The new laws also make the act of glorifying OR praising acts of terrorism a criminal offense.
I will not stop praising or glorifying climate protestors laying across lanes of traffic. you being a little bit late to your soul sucking 9 to 5 isn't an act of terrorism.
The word Terrorist is already used as a truncheon against dissidents. Convicted Terrorist is about to become the 3rd gender in Australia.
On the internet words like terrorist, fascist, and genocide seemingly has lost all meaning. It's just an expression of dumb emotions.
But in a court of law these words do have defined meanings. The internet != real life.
And yeah a law in which the intent is to reduce antisemitism by banning symbols carried by antisemitic people may result in it being illegal for you to display your black flag in public if that same flag as carried by people who promote violence against Jews.
This might trigger some introspection in some people about why they're in possession of symbols that are also carried by people that promote racist violence. Is there is significant difference between your black flag and a swastika in terms of how those symbols affect people?
While blocking roads isn't terrorism, being late can have serious consequences for people. Not everyone has the ability to show up late with no consequences. Trivializing people getting fired, getting smaller raises, being late/ missing medical appointments,... is not going to help your cause.
Lol really touched a nerve there didn’t I? Boomer rapidly losing all meaning, those guys love tucking in their tees while rocking some white new balance.
This can only work if they change their neuliberal ideology and the myth of the free market regulating. They have to answer the issues of the inequalities. Otherwise, they banned symbols and profits. But, the ideology will still be present. And this one, you have to address social and systemic issues to fight it.
And the USSR was a state capitalism regime. I personally prefer extrem capitalism to define it.
The human was seen as a machine and health care as the repair shop for them. Breaks were provided to let the machine "cool down". And the capital was in the hand of a handful of people.