and punt

Jo Bartosch has new (to me at least) information about the presence of Nazis at last Saturday’s Let Women Speak.

Politicians from across the spectrum have rushed to tar Keen, a women’s rights activist, as a ‘Nazi’. This is because a group of extreme right-wing thugs from the National Socialist Network were spotted near one of Keen’s rallies in Melbourne, Victoria last weekend. The black-clad men, who had no identifying insignia, were led by police to the steps of Melbourne’s Parliament House, where they proceeded to give a Nazi salute. These fascists had nothing to do with Keen’s rally. As Victoria Police have since made clear, the neo-Nazis were one of six groups to be holding protests at the same time as Keen’s. ‘Officers were required to form many lines between the different groups to protect the safety of all involved, stop breaches of the peace and prevent any physical violence’, a police statement said.

Ah, it was a sort of farmer’s market of groups. That clarifies things.

One of those attending Keen’s rally was newly elected Liberal MP Moira Deeming. Incredibly, she is now facing a vote on whether she should be expelled from the Liberal Party for the crime of ‘organising, promoting and attending’ the rally in Melbourne. In a statement, Deeming, who is herself Māori, explained that Keen’s rally was attended by women of all political affiliations, backgrounds and faiths. She added that those in attendance were unaware the group of men were fascists until they raised ‘their hands in a Hitler salute’. Deeming explained that she, ‘along with the few others who were facing them from the front, were horrified’. She said that her fellow protesters then called on the police to have the neo-Nazis removed, but their calls went unheeded.

Yeah yeah yeah never mind all that, she still has to be expelled so that the people expelling her can get a little glow of righteousitude.

It seems other politicians also wanted to join in the Keen-bashing. On Thursday, Tasmanian Green Party senator Nick McKim referred to Keen ‘and her ilk’ as ‘trans-exclusionary right-wing dropkicks’. The phrase ‘dropkick and punt’ is Aussie rhyming slang for women’s genitalia. 

Oh, dropkick and punt. The one I saw the other day was just dropkick. No wonder it made no sense.

Perhaps the most bizarre attempt to smear Keen came from New Zealand television station Discovery. On Wednesday, producers honed-in on a still from a video of Keen where she momentarily joined her forefinger and thumb in what Discovery described as a ‘hand signal linked to white supremacists’. To prevent offence, or arguably scrutiny, her ‘gesture’ was blurred out. To a sane eye, she was clearly idly gesticulating.

It wasn’t even momentarily, it was for a split second, as part of general random gesticulating while talking. People have lost their damn minds.

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