Despite recent decisions by major platforms to boot far-right content, the movement continues to gain momentum in baffling and concerning ways. This week, footage has emerged of Northern Queensland MP Bob Katter reciting the infamous pledge of allegiance to notorious far-right group, The Proud Boys.
Katter can be seen and heard reciting the pledge verbatim, which plays out as “I am Bob Katter and I am a proud western chauvinist. And it is us who brought civilisation to the world and we won’t be apologising for it.” Katter adds, “Stay out of our way.”
The footage was allegedly filmed last year; however, it was provided to The Guardian (via anti-fascist group The White Rose Society) for publish this week.
Katter has attempted to distance himself from the footage, playing down to SBS, explaining he had no prior knowledge of The Proud Boys, and he was, essentially, trying to please the crowd.
“My irresponsible larrikinism often gets me into trouble…Young blokes always come up to me on the street, at venues, so I think you’ll probably find 4,000 examples of me mixing with irresponsible people…I don’t know who this group is or anything about it.”
Standing beside Katter in the footage is Ben Shand, known in the digital realm as far-right foghorn The Dusty Bogan.
The Proud Boys is a far-right group cultivated in the US, but franchised through to other countries, including Australia albeit it a dwindling presence Down Under. The Australian-focused ‘group chat’ for Proud Boys vetting boasts 24 members.
The US based The Southern Poverty Law Centre, an organisation challenging all forms of bigotry, has labeled The Proud Boys a hate group.
It was created by far-right provocateur Gavin McInnes, who was denied access to Australia ahead of a speaking tour in 2018 after failing the visa character test.
Since The Guardian reported the footage, Katter has come out on Monday to “tenaciously” back the government’s decision to deny McInnes’s visa, stating “We separate ourselves from extremist groups and we consider extremist groups to be very dangerous and have always backed any measures without curtailing freedom of expression. You can laugh at extremists but you want to keep your foot on their throat.”
That said, here is Katter below, smiling with aforementioned far-right members.
Check out the footage of Bob Katter reciting The Proud Boys’ Pledge:
https://youtu.be/_E7BU2z8-a0
