- An extremist group in Australia is taking inspiration from the South African town of Orania as it prepares for a coming "race war", Guardian Australia reports.
- The Guardian saw internal videos of the Lads Society group, which is associated with former Australian group the United Patriots Front, in which organisers speak about using fitness as a front for creating a radical organisation.
- Lads Society wants whites-only enclaves – and is looking to Orania as an example.
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A far-right group in Australia is looking to the Northern Cape town of Orania as inspiration for a plan to set up "Anglo-European" enclaves in Australian cities.
In videos intended for internal use leaders of the Lads Society group explicitly cite Orania as an example of how whites-only areas can be created in Australia, Guardian Australia reported on Tuesday.
The proto-homeland for Afrikaners has for years pushed against the perception that it is formed on the basis of race, instead casting itself as an effort at cultural self-determination and an experiment in creating a viable rural economy.
But in Australia, it seems, some think Orania points to a method of carving out a space from which black people can be excluded. The leaked videos show that Lads Society plans to start "colonising suburbs", with the ultimate aim of creating a physical whites-only space, journalist Michael McGowan reported.
The videos also reportedly show a leader predicting a "race war", and discussing Lads Society's aim of speeding up the decay of society.
Taken collectively, the videos "paint a troubling picture of the group’s ambition amid increasing concern among security agencies about the role of far-right organisations in fomenting violent extremism," wrote McGowan.
Lads Society is associated with the now-defunct United Patriots Front, a group perhaps best known for a protest against plans to build a mosque that saw its leader convicted for inciting racial hatred in Australia.
That leader, Blair Cottrell, promoted the opening of Lads Society clubhouses in Melbourne and Sydney in 2018. The men-only clubs had the stated objective of instilling the values of "courage, strength, nobility, resourcefulness and loyalty" – which could be used to the benefit of a troubled society.
But the leaked videos show the organisation had been intended only as a place holder and recruitment channel before the creation of a more openly white-nationalist organisation, the Guardian said.
