eExtremists

Extremism is characterized by dogmatic intolerance, expressed mildly or violently, and inclines toward an inflexible obedience to an excepted authority, shaped by a common ideology or sense of group unity (Gardener, 1997).

Extremist groups are commonly driven by factors such as:

• Racial Purity
• Anti-Semitism
• Political Hegemony
• Anti-Liberal sentiments
• Anti-Government sentiments (Conspiracy theorists)

‘eExtremists’ can be defined as extremist groups who have a strong online presence. Many extremists groups do in fact have websites (see list provided by Southern Poverty Law Centre); websites are easy to create and update, and offer power to spread views on a world scale. As it stands “extremist groups were among the very early users of electronic communication networks that eventually evolved into the Internet (Gestenfield, Grant and Chiang, 2003:1).”

Given the definition of extremists groups (provided above) the Australia First Party could, by way of classification, be deemed an extremist group utilizing the internet to spread messages and recruit new members.

The Australia First Party is registered political party in Australia. It is known to have very strong views against multiculturalism and a desire to limited immigration into Australia.

Why do I classify the party as an eExtremist group?

The Australia First group promotes views, opinions and policies embedded with aspects of Racial Purity. For example, one of the eight core policies of the Australia First Party is to ‘Abolish Multiculturalism’. The simple fact that the Australia First Party this as one of their core policies demonstrates their extreme and narrow-minded (even fanatical) hegemony and lays bare the core of their extreme views.

In addition to what the group promotes via the internet they do also recruit members. The official website for the Australia First Party advertises they are “Fighting for the future of Australia” and asks views to “Make a difference. Join us now!”

While I do not claim to place the Australia First Party in the same category as eExtremists such as Stormfront or Aryan Nations, they do still encompass qualities of an extremist group (as per the definition provided above) and as such I stand by my assertion that it is an eExtremist group that uses the internet to spread messages and recruit new members.