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Extremism is on the rise
OHPI tackles growing extremism from the far right, ISIS hackers, and more
Dear Supporter,
Extremism is rising in Australia. One far-right right group recently registered themselves a political party, another far-right group filmed a video in which they burried a pigs head in Bendigo and announced a rally there this coming weekend. At OHPI we have published a briefing on one far-right Facebook page and have seen a network of these pages target us with false reporting. We've also had the hate and threats from the far-right come in via e-mail.
This month has also had some successes. The page "Waleed Aly is an Islamic Turd" was closed. Two campaigns on hate against Indigenous Australians, the second targeting Adam Goodes, and one focused on the LGBTIQ community were launched. You can still get involved in these campaigns.
We've also been creating resources to help keep people safe. Following the release of personal information by the "ISIS hacking division", we shared what likely happened and how people can imrpove their online safety. We also put together new resources for people fighting online racism, cyberbullying, misogyny and serious trolling. Please share these resources with friends and family.
Online, support for our Facebook page just crossed the 18,000 supporter mark. With your support we hope we can soon across the 20,000 threshold. Offline, we have been meeting with many communities, including at a recent Community Leadership Conference where we met Jewish, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh community leaders as well as representatives from many ethnic communities. We also hope to soon meet a few of our Melbuorne based supporters when we visit the Anne Frank Exhibition on the evening of Thursday September 3rd.
It has been a crazy month for us and we thank you all for your support. We're particularly thankful to those who have been donating to us, which has given us the extra boost we need to meet the challenge. Resources are still very tight, so if you haven't donated to us recently and are able to make a donation it would be very much appreciated.
Best regards,
Dr Andre Oboler
CEO, Online Hate Prevention Institute
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If you received this e-mail from a friend, please join our mailing list. If you have not already done so, please join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
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The Danger of Australian Far Right
OHPI examines the uniqueness of Australia's Far Right, which claims to supports multiculturalism provided certain groups are left out.
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The registration of Australian Liberty Alliance, an anti-Islamic political party, has officially brought the Far Right into the political spectrum of Australia.
In this briefing, OHPI discusses what sets the Far Right of Australia apart from its predecessors in Europe. Given that Australia has been built on waves of immigration, the Australian Far Right ostensibly supports multiculturalism provided certain groups are left out of the equation. For the moment, that group is the Muslim community of Australia.
Our briefing points out how the fact that members of many minority groups belong to Australia's far right does not make its ideology more acceptable. It merely reflects the diverse Australian demographic. Being from a minority does make one automatically immune to being racist or bigoted.
We also look at how social media plays a critical role in promoting the agenda of far right groups. We discuss some of the most popular social media accounts run by such groups. We also illustrate, using examples from the accounts, how they use misleading statements and messages to drum up hate against the Muslim community.
The large and growing following of such social media accounts is a cause of concern. Especially as we can now see the hate spill on to our streets in the form of rallies and the formation of anti-Muslim political parties.
The briefing also highlighted three items of Holocaust denial to report along with instructions on how to do it.
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ISIS Terror Hacking
OHPI explains why the recent hacking of government email accounts by ISIS is not as dangerous as it seems.
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Earlier in the month, a group calling itself the Islamic State hacking division published the names, e-mail addresses, phone numbers and passwords of 1400 people from around the world, including eight Australian government employees. The incident led to a mediastorm with many experts calling it a significant security breach and drumming up fears of the capabilities of Daesh (ISIS).
In a briefing in response to the incident, we argued that the incident was a lot less threatening than it appeared. The data released was more likely to be a compilation of publicly available information combined with some data gathered through phishing. Phishing occurs when users are tricked into giving their username and password to an unauthorised party who may pretend to be a service they trust. The incident reflected tricking of random individual accounts into releasing information rather the large-scale hacking of government servers.
Our briefing discussed four main points
- Why the incident wasn't as much a physical threat as made out by the media.
- How spreading exaggerated fear was a terror tactic of Daesh
- How the data was likely collected
- How people can stay safe online.
Please read the article and share it with your friends and family to help them stay safe online.
The briefing also highlighted three items of Holocaust denial to report along with instructions on how to do it.
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Bigots Target OHPI
In this briefing, we call out the hate page "Left Wing Bigots and Extremists Exposed" which is coordinating reporting against anyone opposing racism and bigotry on Facebook, including OHPI.
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Over 18,000 people now support us
OHPI's Facebook following has crossed 18,000. Despite the lack of marketing resources, OHPI's following has been steadily rising. It shows support of everyday Australians for the work we do.
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Win! Anti-Muslim page removed
OHPI helped get removed a virulently anti-Muslim Facebook page "Waleed Aly is an Islamic Turd". Read more.
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Report "Restore Australia" Page
This briefing campaigned for the reporting and removal of the anti-Muslim hate page "Restore Australia" The page is still online. Please report it.
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Report "Noonga Talk" YouTube video
This briefing campaigned for the reporting and removal of the anti-Aboriginal YouTube video "Noonga Talk". The video is still online. Please report it.
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Report Anti-Indigenous Hate
In this briefing, we highlighted how the Facebook page "Adam Goodes for the Flog of the Year" encouraged hate against Indigenous Australians. The page is still online. Please report it.
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Report "Stop the Straight Hate" Page
In a briefing, OHPI campaigned for the removal of the Facebook page "Stop the Straight Hate" which promoted hate against the LGBTIQ community. Please report it as it is still online.
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Facebook's Free Speech
This briefing explains why reporting hate speech on Facebook doesn't amount to curtailing people's right to free speech.
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Online Vigilantism & its Perils
This briefing looks at why online vigilantism is problematic and what care should be taken by members of the public who carry out online investigations to assist the police.
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Virality on the Internet and OHPI
This briefing discusses why virality of social media is what makes hate speech on the platforms more problematic than mere existence of hate speech on the Internet.
because Jews were the original “other”, at least in Western culture - See more at: http://ohpi.org.au/the-why-of-rising-antisemitism/#sthash.1NIzi3I1.dpuf
Jews were the original “other”, at least in Western culture - See more at: http://ohpi.org.au/the-why-of-rising-antisemitism/#sthash.1NIzi3I1.dpuf
Jews were the original “other”, at least in Western culture - See more at: http://ohpi.org.au/the-why-of-rising-antisemitism/#sthash.1NIzi3I1.dpuf
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How to respond to Online Racism
This briefing discusses the different ways to respond to online racism without putting your personal safety at risk.
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Email with a Reclaimer
This briefing shares some of the racist messages we have received in response to our last newsletter, and how we responded to them.
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NGO Governance seminar
On August 12, OHPI attended a conference on Governance of NGOs. We learnt how to ensure accountability towards government agencies, members and community at large. Read more.
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Community Leadership Conference
On August 9, OHPI attended the Community Leadership Conference and met with leaders of many ethnic and religious communities in Victoria. Read more.
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Online Hate talk at B'nai B'rith
On August 4, Dr Andre Oboler spoke before the B'nai B'rith's Raoul Wallenburg Unit on the impact online hate has on individuals and in shaping the values of society. Read more more.
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Resources on Cyberbullying
This briefing compiles all the online news, opinions and resources on cyberbullying that we have shared with our Facebook supporters.
because Jews were the original “other”, at least in Western culture - See more at: http://ohpi.org.au/the-why-of-rising-antisemitism/#sthash.1NIzi3I1.dpuf
Jews were the original “other”, at least in Western culture - See more at: http://ohpi.org.au/the-why-of-rising-antisemitism/#sthash.1NIzi3I1.dpuf
Jews were the original “other”, at least in Western culture - See more at: http://ohpi.org.au/the-why-of-rising-antisemitism/#sthash.1NIzi3I1.dpuf
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Resources on Serious Trolling
This briefing compiles all the online news, opinions and resources on serious trolling that we have shared with our Facebook supporters.
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External Resources on Online Misogyny
This briefing compiles all the online news, opinions and resources on serious trolling that we have shared with our Facebook supporters.
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