Croation neo-Nazi band “Thompson“, who praise and laud the work of various Nazi (WWII era) groups such as the “Ustashe“, have been cleared to enter Australia to play at Festival Hall Melbourne, on the 29th of December – but also in Sydney on New Year’s Eve at the Croatian Centre, Adelaide on January 5th and Perth on January 6th.
The Ustashe was involved in the murder of 10’s of thousands of people during and after the Nazi era, many of whom were Jews (but not exclusively) and still represent the far-right of Croatian politics. During the second World war, the Ustashe ran concentration camps, which were involved in the extermination of thousands of innocent civilians.
How the Rudd government can consider it acceptable for people such as these, who the Bnai Brith Anti-Defamation Commission consider “beacons” to the racists and far-right movements acceptable, to come here to spread their message of hate, is simply beyond me.
The lead singer of the band, Marko Perkovic, wears Nazi insignia on stage, while crowds perform Nazi-salutes during the songs and in a 2003 interview with a Croatian newspaper, reportedly laid all the problems with his country at, of course, our feet, with his comment “It is all to blame on the Jews“.
In his homeland, Perkovic is seen as a national hero, where has has huge popularity. His rise in popularity has been noted to coincide with a rise in anti-Semitic violence.
Here, a youtube video shows some of the fans and music in action:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jh5j_mmB8Y[/youtube]