How Australia became a flashpoint for the US far-right and anti-vax movement

[AZProgressive]

If you watched isolated footage of protesters marching down the streets of Melbourne and regional Victoria last weekend, carrying Donald Trump flags and wearing MAGA-branded hats and t-shirts, you could be forgiven for thinking the year was 2020.

One month shy of the one-year anniversary of the United States Capitol insurrection, Australian protesters are continuing to show support for the former US president - who claimed without credible evidence that the election had been stolen from him.

Last month, protesters in Melbourne carried gallows and nooses similar to the noose seized by the FBI after the attack on the US Capitol.

But it’s not just Australian protesters who are taking cues from the anti-vaccine movement roiling the US. For the past two years, far-right and anti-vaccine commentators in the US have been spinning elaborate tales of a dystopian pandemic reality unfolding in Australia.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/how-australia-became-a-flashpoint-for-the-us-far-right-and-anti-vax-movement/66526e2b-2009-4d44-b799-d7a64a694145

[LymphocyteLover]

1. I saw some of this on twitter-- righties here acting like Australia is some kind of police

state when reality they've controlled COVID really well and people are mostly living normal lives

[Mr.Bill]

3. They hate them for their

gun laws. Laws that have curtailed mass shootings greatly.

[LymphocyteLover]

4. yes, and now they are using the strict anti-pandemic measures to argue against their

gun policies. Sick.

[LymphocyteLover]

2. it's really fucked up that the Trump "movement" is fucking up Australian democracy too

[Mr.Bill]

5. Well, Fascism didn't only

happen in Germany.

[LymphocyteLover]

6. yes, indeed