Wow. Steve the National Socialist (and Kitler — Sieg Miaow!) is a bona fide (local) celebrity.
Hitler stunt leaves Australia First cold
Mark O’Brien
St George & Sutherland Shire Leader
September 15, 2008Voters at several Sutherland and Cronulla booths were confronted with a Hitler lookalike on Saturday spruiking the Australia First Party.
“Steve the national socialist” was the creation of a Sutherland Shire resident who visited at least three polling places clutching a poster of “Kitler”, a black and white cat with markings reminiscent of the dictator’s moustache.
“Steve” also wore a narrow moustache and a red armband featuring a swastika.
A satirical video of the visits was posted on YouTube late on Sunday night.
But the party’s Sydney branch chairman Jim Saleam wasn’t laughing about the stunt yesterday.
“There will be a complaint lodged regarding two men with a video camera who visited several voting places on Saturday,” he said.
“They have committed a series of electoral breaches, including handing out false and misleading information to voters.”
Mr Saleam said the complaint would include at least two websites the party believed were connected to the incident.
“There are a number of standard lines people tend to trot out when they want to oppose us,” he said.
“This Nazi rubbish is one of them.
“They went down like a lead balloon at most booths anyway, but it is actually quite a serious incident and we will be following through with a complaint.”
“Steve” said he had been inspired to make his video after reading about the party in the media and on the internet.
“Most people took it with a smile and a laugh,” he said.
“You can see from the video we approached it in a polite, non-threatening way.
“Some people were a little surprised at first but it was very clear we were being humorous about the whole thing and that was generally the spirit in which it was received.”
Check out Steve’s satirical video and tell us what you think. WARNING: The video contains images which may offend some people.
See also : Cats That Look Like Hitler! | Kitler sighting ar Petco!, reverie, September 7, 2008
Does your cat look like Adolf Hitler? Do you wake up in a cold sweat every night wondering if he’s going to up and invade Poland? Does he keep putting his right paw in the air while making a noise that sounds suspiciously like “Sieg Miaow”? If so, this is the website for you.
For many years, Saleam has struggled to distance himself from his past and to recast Australian fascism as simple, unadulterated ‘patriotism’. In fact, the bulk of Saleam’s political activity is dedicated to just this mission: giving fascism a respectable face. Unfortunately for Saleam, his long history of involvement with neo-Nazi groups and individuals, criminal record in its cause, and total failure to repudiate racism and fascism, makes this a very difficult — in reality, impossible — task. Nevertheless, Saleam tries. Below is a list of his complaints to the Australian Press Council. All of which, needless to say, he lost. In December 2005, a not terribly good article by John Huxley (‘Armed, dangerous but shocking organisers’, Sydney Morning Herald) featured a profile of Saleam. Just a few days prior to its appearance, the APC dismissed a complaint brought by Dr James Saleam against The Australian for its description of the complainant as a ‘prominent neo-Nazi’ in two articles published by the paper!
Mr James Saleam for himself and on behalf of National Action complains to the Australian Press Council concerning three articles which appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on 18 November, 1988: “Masked hate bears a fiery necklace” on page 1, and “Thugs use terror to back apartheid” and “Hairdresser is a target of hate” on page 20. The article on page 1 draws the reader’s attention to the two articles on page 20.
All articles report violence or threats of violence on racist grounds… The complaint is dismissed.
Adjudication No. 401 (April 1989)
The Australian Press Council has dismissed complaints arising from the publication of a feature article by the (then) Daily Telegraph Mirror titled “LOOSE cannons” on 11 November, 1995.
In the immediate aftermath of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and a public speech of the dangers posed by “right wing militia groups” by the Deputy Director General of ASIO, the feature article examined “political extremism and religious fanaticism”, with a focus on the 2000 Olympics.
It canvassed the views of journalists, police and some of the self-professed extremists, with an emphasis in illustration and text on one David J Palmer, of the National Socialist Defence of Australian Peoples, depicted in military-style uniform upon which swastikas were prominent.
Mentioned in passing was the complainant James Saleam for the fact that, when chairman of Australian National Action Group, he was sentenced to three and a half years jail in 1991 for organising a shotgun attack on the home of Eddie Funde, Australian representative of the African National Congress.
[snip]
Mr Saleam states that he regards this a libel upon him and complains about the article on nine detailed points. His central complaint is that the article gives undue prominence to Mr Palmer’s views as representative of the extreme right, and the very prominent photograph of Mr Palmer tends to identify others mentioned in the article with “Nazi doctrine or similar doctrine”.
[snip]
The article was not about Mr Saleam; he was mentioned only briefly and was not credited with the views of anyone else mentioned. He disputes the view of the right wing organisations and people identified in the article and is entitled to do so. He submitted a letter to the editor for publication which the newspaper declined to publish due to its length…
Adjudication No. 853 (May 1996)
The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint against The Sydney Morning Herald by James Saleam about a report on a campaign that stirred-up racial discontent over Afghan refugees working in Young, NSW.
Dr Saleam was referred to in the article as being a member of the Australia First Party, which had distributed a pamphlet about the refugees. It also said that he was a former head of an extremist political group, National Action. It recorded as background that he had been convicted of firearm offences, and was “caught up in - though never charged” over the murder in 1991 of a National Action member.
Adjudication No. 1177 (September 2002)
The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint by Dr James Saleam against New Idea concerning a “Special Report” by Debi Marshall in its 23 March edition.
The report referred to the activities of David Palmer, described as head of the National Socialist Defenders Aryan People and as “Wizard” of an Australian chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, and his use of the Internet to recruit people to his organisations.
Adjudication No. 1183 (November 2002)
The Press Council has dismissed a complaint brought by Dr James Saleam against The Australian for its description of the complainant as a ‘prominent neo-Nazi’ in two articles published by the paper. The complainant felt he had been unfairly labelled by the newspaper.
Adjudication No. 1303 (December 2005)
In 1984, Saleam also managed to lose an election. Badly.
BONUS!
Adjudication No. 1370 (adjudicated October 2007)
The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint brought by Dr James Saleam against the Daily Telegraph arising from an article published on 3 March under the headline Bikini nazis hit the beach and stir the pot.
The report referred to a video advertisement posted on the website of the Australia First party which showed a woman in a burqa and a bikini being harassed on the beach by an unidentified man of “Middle Eastern appearance”.
When asked about the video, Dr Saleam, who is head of the Australia First party, refused to comment but later wrote a letter to the editor about the report.The letter was not published.
Dr Saleam objected to the description of him in the article as a “former neo-Nazi” and of his party as “white supremacist”. He further complained that the headline was incorrect as the only “Nazi” cited in the article seemed to be him; that it was wrong to say that Australia First wanted to use Cronulla riots to spark a wave of white nationalism; and that the paper had misrepresented or suppressed relevant facts in its reference to him as being “convicted of organising a shotgun attack on a black politician”.
There has been a series of complaints brought by Dr Saleam against various publications dating back to 1996 that have been adjudicated by the Press Council concerning his politics and his criminal conviction and the Council has previously ruled that the press is entitled to report on his activities. It can find nothing in the report that breaches its principles.
Following this latest complaint the Daily Telegraph composed a clarification that included Dr Saleam’s denial that he was a “former neo-Nazi” and a “white supremacist.” Dr Saleam agreed to the wording of the clarification but three months later the paper withdrew the offer to publish it. It is regrettable that the paper did not give Dr Saleam an opportunity to respond.
