Jewish groups disagree over pro-Nazi band

[Kiwi]

From the AJN:

Leaders divided over pro-Nazi rock band tour
NAOMI LEVIN

JEWISH leaders are divided over how to deal with the impending Australian tour of Croatian rock band Thompson.

While Manny Waks, executive director of the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC), has met with the immigration minister to request that Thompson band members be refused entry visas, Anton Block, president of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV), has said the band had a right to perform in Australia providing it does not break any laws.

Thompson is a nationalist band that openly supports the Ustashe – a pro-Nazi regime responsible for thousands of deaths – and its concerts around the world have been attended by audiences who wear Nazi insignia on their shirts. Reports also allege that Thompson crowds give Nazi salutes in response to some of the band’s more provocative songs.

With a sold-out Sydney concert on New Year’s Eve and concerts in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth commanding up to $100 per ticket, Thompson has a loyal following among Australia’s Croatian community.

Block said that Thompson does attract a controversial following, but providing it adheres to vilification and offensive behaviour laws, the band, which performed here in 2005, should be permitted to play.

“Thompson has in the past attracted a pro-fascist following who glorify in the symbolism of the dreaded World War II Balkan paramilitary group the Ustashe,” Block said.

“Thompson has a right to perform their music in Melbourne. However, we ask that they respect our laws and recognise that Nazi-era symbols are treated in Australia with the contempt and abhorrence that they deserve.”

Last week Waks met Immigration Minister Senator Chris Evans and Parliamentary Secretary Laurie Ferguson to discuss the issue. Evans told Waks he was personally looking into the matter of granting Marko Perkovic, lead singer of Thompson, a visa, and had requested a briefing from his department on the issue.

Waks said that despite the eventual outcome, the ADC was concerned that the Croatian community had invited the band and supported the tour.

The Geelong-based Australian Croatian Association is sponsoring the Melbourne leg of Thompson’s tour. A spokesperson for the club told a local Croatian community website that the concert is “definitely going ahead and we are very pleased that everything has been confirmed”.

News of Thompson’s tour comes less than a month after a function by neo-Nazi group Blood and Honour was held at the Melbourne Croatia Community Club.

Representatives from that club said they “regrettably” hired out their hall to Blood and Honour, but that “not a single member of the Croatian community” was at the concert.

After hiring its venue to Blood and Honour, the club representatives said they would be more diligent in checking the backgrounds of parties using their facility.