Press Release:-
Germany’s NPD chairman denied entry to Australia
Bizarre Claims Of 'Weapons Of Mass Destruction' Link: Foreign
Minister's Refusal Of A Visa To Udo Voigt To Be Subject Of
Campaign
The Foreign Minister, Mr. Downer, has refused a
visa to the chairman of the National Democratic Party of Germany,
Mr. Udo Voigt, to enter Australia to address a meeting on free
speech issues in Germany. The first report of this occurrence in
The Australian newspaper for April 26,has been the signal
for action to reverse the decision. However, the report scarcely
did justice to the comedy performance of the Foreign Minister.
There is no doubt the visa matter was settled at the highest level,
after briefings by the Australian Security Intelligence
Organisation.
The terms of the visa-refusal (issued by the
Australian Embassy in Berlin) were:
"Specifically you failed to meet Public
Interest Criterion 4003, which states:
The applicant is determined by the Foreign
Minister, or a person authorised by the Foreign Minister, to be a
person whose presence in Australia -
(a) is, or would be, prejudicial to relations
between Australia and a foreign country,
or,
(b) may be directly or indirectly associated
with the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."
Mr. Voigt had been invited to Australia to speak
at the third Sydney Forum, scheduled for July 2003. The
proposition that Mr. Voigt is linked to the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction can only be a reflex of his party's
vocal opposition to the US invasion of Iraq, rather than any
connection to the deployment of weapons held by Iraq. However, the
matter has now moved into the theatre of the absurd: for the
Australian Foreign Minister is yet to prove Iraq had weapons of
mass destruction, let alone that any German citizen was involved
in their proliferation.
Mr. Welf Herfurth, co-convenor of the Sydney Forum
said today:
"It is a matter of public knowledge that the NPD
opposed the war against Iraq. But then, so did all political
parties in Germany. To refuse a visa to Mr. Voigt sets a dangerous
precedent because members of parties such as the Social Democrats,
the Party of Democratic Socialism and The Greens, could also be
refused an Australian visa on the basis of a statement more
appropriate to a Monty Python skit than an Australian Minister.
The damage of Australian-German relations has been
done, not by any remarks Mr. Voigt could make in this country, but
by the Foreign Minister. Mr. Voigt will apply for a review of the
decision."
The NPD is a legal German political party.
Attempts by the German government to ban it failed in March 2003
in the Constitutional Court. Germany's judges decided that the
government's evidence supposedly linking the NPD to the activities
of neo-nazis and anti-semitic conduct was tainted by the
secret-police agents who may have fabricated the so-called
evidence. The case also showed the inter-relationship of German
security organs and the neo-nazis and the ideological gulf which
separated the NPD from the neo-nazi 'ideology'.
Mr. Herfurth continued:
"There is to be a campaign to highlight this
absurdity in both Australia and Germany. Mr. Horst Mahler, who
defended the NPD in the Constitutional Court, is to apply for a
visa shortly. I expect that within days, this visa-rejection story
for Voigt will be the laughing stock of German public humour. And
if Mr. Downer refuses Mahler, then someone else will apply, and so
on and so on. There's going to be a lot of Germans linked to
Saddam's weapons to mass destruction."
Mr. Mahler, although once a founder of the leftist
terrorist movement, the Red Army Fraction, was permitted into
Australia some years ago, but before his relationship with the NPD
began. Mr. Mahler of course, rejects political violence, but was
an energetic opponent of any German involvement in the imperialist
aggression against Iraq.
Mr. Herfurth concluded:
"The Australian government has a long history of
refusing visas to people it doesn't like, and this must stop.
Thought-policing is alive in Australia and if Australia was a
strong democracy it could deal with dissenting opinions; obviously,
it has taken the dictatorial road. Obviously, it is Mr. Voigt's
message that constitutes the supposed damage that may be caused to
the German-Australian relationship. After all, despite their
differences over Iraq, the Foreign Minister could only have
sympathised with the attempt to ban a legal party which opposes
the New World Order, open door immigration and the loss of
national identities. The use of the terrorist bogy is one attack
point on civil liberties, but to say a citizen of Germany, a
lieutenant in that country's army reserves with no criminal
history, is linked to weapons of mass destruction, goes way over
the top. Should not free speech be the chief factor of
consideration? "
Information:
Sydney Forum:
herfurth@nettrade.com.au
Welf Herfurth: O411 669 181
P.O. Box N291
Grosvenor Place 1220
Australia
