Man jailed for a year after endorsing neo-Nazi views and making antisemitic speech at Sydney rally on Australia Day
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/feb/18/brandan-koschel-jail-neo-nazi-views-antisemitic-speech-sydney-march-for-australia-ntwnfb
84 points · 37 comments · view on lemmy.world
37 Comments
SanctimoniousApe@lemmings.world · 15 pts · 206d
Do they just jail those convicted of this, or do they also require undergoing significant therapy during the sentence? Because if they don't, they're only going to ensure increased levels of the anger & resentment which led to those extremist views to begin with.
DavidDoesLemmy@aussie.zone · 2 pts · 206d
I year in prison seems excessive to me for a 40 second speech. I could imagine a few hundred hours of community service.
People kill cyclists and get less punishment than this idiot.
trajekolus@piefed.social · 9 pts · 206d
As time passed, and History got devalued as a subject in favour of technology subjects, I guess it was always inevitable that people would lose awareness of what Fascism is, and why it should not be allowed to return.
DavidDoesLemmy@aussie.zone · 1 pts · 205d
Techlos@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 205d
This man was an active member of the NSN and quite literally a Nazi intent on furthering genocide.
DavidDoesLemmy@aussie.zone · 3 pts · 205d
Charge him with planning a terrorist act then, if that's what he was doing.
I think he should be punished for the speech but I don't think the punishment fits the crime.
FireWire400@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 206d
Being jailed for a year surely will make him change his mind about being a nazi /s
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 206d
He'll just move to America, where we'll probably make him a mayor or some shit.
Guys.....it's bad here.
NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone · 11 pts · 206d
Why? What’s happening? I never hear anything from over there.
GeeDubHayduke@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 206d
I would like to relocate to wherever you are, please. I'm so very tired of being here in bangbangshootyland.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 7 pts · 206d
considering australia has neo-nazis that went to US, murdoch, and nick adams.
hanrahan@piefed.social · 2 pts · 206d
He cant, he won't be allowed in with a criminal conviction :)
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · -9 pts · 206d
Just gotta wait til the democrats are back in power then they’ll roll out the red carpet.
SanctimoniousApe@lemmings.world · 7 pts · 206d
You must work as a projectionist.
Chais@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 206d
Bet it was the antisemitism that got him time.
SanctimoniousApe@lemmings.world · -4 pts · 206d
Yep. Pretty sure the magistrate's last name is Germanic, too. Went to German elementary school for a couple years as a child decades ago, and they really tended to make the kids feel guilty for the sins of their fathers.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · -1 pts · 206d
Jailed for “inciting hatred”….. Jesus Christ we’re a joke of a country.
The guys a racist fucking moron, but jailing people for voicing their opinions is terrifying and authoritarian. I hope anyone celebrating this remembers their reaction when people with opposing views to them are in power throwing people in jail over words.
finallymadeanaccount@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 206d
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/queensland/crisafulli-insists-his-hate-speech-laws-will-stand-the-test-of-time-20260218-p5o3d2.html
Crisafulli in QLD wants up to 2 years in prison for anyone saying 'from the river to the sea' as well as 'globalise the intifada'.
Also: "The ban will also apply to any phrases, spoken or written, decided by the attorney-general of the day".
decided by the attorney-general of the day
EDIT: I hope everywhere he goes, someone plays 'Two Strong Hearts' by John Farnham.
Lodespawn@aussie.zone · 7 pts · 206d
It's wild that pro-Palestine/anti-israel protestors are being lumped in with neo Nazis. Particularly when Israelis and neo Nazis have so many common opinions ..
fizzle@quokk.au · 2 pts · 206d
Context is really important.
I agree that the QLD legislation is scary - it's bullshit that their legislation is going to "proscribe" that specific phrase, so if one utters it then that's an offense regardless of intent or context.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · 1 pts · 205d
Bingo. Once you start policing words it’s a slippery slope to full on government authoritarian control.
Seagoon_@aussie.zone · 0 pts · 205d
I heard a rally organiser on the steps of the Melbourne State Library yell From the River to the Sea and people in the crowd yell back, Kill Them. This was on October 8th 2023.
Other instances where freedom of speech does not apply is planning a crime, making plans for a bank robbery is just words, right?
jacksilver@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 205d
I mean, I'd hope you'd have to prove intent to commit a crime, which would be the crime. Saying the words alone shouldn't be a crime.
TheLunatickle@lemmy.zip · 0 pts · 206d
Paradox of tolerance.
spartanatreyu@programming.dev · 1 pts · 205d
Tolerance is only paradoxical when you go out of your way to not view it as a social contact.
When tolerance is the social contact, then everyone is protected by it except those who go out of their way to not be protected by it.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · -3 pts · 206d
That concept is, pardon my French, complete bullshit.
Remember - you’re being intolerant of people who hold views you don’t like. Think what these laws mean when, not if, people with opposing views to you get in power.
TheLunatickle@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 206d
It's not about being intolerant of views you "don't like" it's about being intolerant of intolerant views, that's why it's a paradox. Personal feelings aren't involved only whether the view seeks to persecute another.
The fact you're assuming anyone calling out intolerance is doing it from an emotional position implies some rather distressing things about your world view tbh.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · 0 pts · 205d
And who decides what views are “intolerant”?
TheLunatickle@lemmy.zip · 0 pts · 205d
It's not an arbitrary decision, Intolerance is the opposite of tolerance. I don't know how to make this any clearer.
Intolerance is defined as:
unwillingness to accept views, beliefs, or behaviour that differ from one's own.
You'll note that this definition is entirely internal, it is a behaviour based solely on your own actions, not an outside forces opinion of your actions. A man alone on an island could act just as intolerant of an arbitrary opinion as someone immersed in society.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · 1 pts · 204d
So you agree that jailing someone for voicing their beliefs because you disagree with them is being intolerant?
TheLunatickle@lemmy.zip · 0 pts · 204d
Now we are back to the paradox of tolerance, which you would realise if you actually tried.
Seagoon_@aussie.zone · 1 pts · 205d
there is a difference between holding views and using words to commit crimes
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · 1 pts · 205d
Using words should almost never be a crime. That’s the point. These are fascist, authoritarian laws.
TheLunatickle@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 204d
There are DEFINITELY times when using words should be a crime, to take it to an extreme since that's the realm you live in, Should someone not be persecuted for screaming obscenities at strangers? Or using words to drive someone to suicide? Or using words to lie and incriminate? If someone says to you they truly plan to kill you have they committed a crime?
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · 1 pts · 202d
No, they absolutely should not lol. Why should they?
No, they should not because the words didn’t kill anyone.
This is one of the few times they should be, and that’s because you’re legitimately causing direct negative consequences to someone else with said words.
Unless they actually attempt it then no, I don’t think that should be a crime.
Words are not violence. Words can’t hurt you. Anyone thinking they are and they can needs to toughen up.
fizzle@quokk.au · -1 pts · 206d
It really is.
The thing is it has very strong im-15-and-this-is-deep energy and it has it's own wikipedia page and it's something that every idiot on lemmy and reddit has heard of and it makes them feel superior to trot it out at every opportunity.
The irony is, as you say, every time someone references the paradox of intolerance they're literally invoking it in order to justify being intolerant.
Yes, it's true that some opinions and behaviors should not be tolerated. However, the things which we as a society choose not to tolerate need to be very carefully considered in each and every instance.
The paradox of intolerance allows one to merely brand a person or group of people you don't like as being "intolerant" and then you're free to exclude them from your circle of tolerance.
kurikai@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 206d
good. but not long enough