Here on OLO we regularly discuss the big players: the major political parties, the large religions, big business and relations between major international powers.

In this thread I’d like to talk about the various fringe and minority groups which populate the Australian landscape, and consider their impact on our society.

I’ll kick off with a personal favourite: the Citizens Electoral Council.

You may have encountered the CEC. Its members lurk in Australian CBDs distributing the CEC’s newsletter, the New Citizen. They also had five minutes of fame in 2007, when Lateline demolished the mockumentary “The Great Climate Change Swindle”. The Q&A that followed consisted of a battery of bizarre non-sequiturs about the Nazis, eugenics and carbon 14 from CEC members who were in the audience.

Put simply, the CEC is the Australian wing of an international personality cult – a sort of economic Scientology – revolving around the economist Lyndon LaRouche. LaRouchians, and hence the CEC, agitate for a range of economic reforms, but are also committed to a range of highly…original conspiracy theories. For example, they believe that the British Royal Family secretly controls the world through a complex network of spies and traitors, and that Martin Bryant carried out the Port Arthur massacre on direct orders from Queen Elizabeth II.

Interestingly, the CEC is notable for its political activism: it stands for state elections, down with the Shooters Party and Natural Law Party. Any number of small cults operate in this country, but none that I know of have the motivation and conviction to register a political party.

Organisations like the CEC raise on obvious question: who does this appeal to? Who reads the CEC’s material and thinks “Aha! I always knew Prince Phillip was the puppet-master controlling the Pentagon! At last, someone is brave enough to tell the truth!”?

As for the influence of the CEC, I’m pessimistic. I think Australia’s paranoid schizophrenics are too divided in their beliefs to rally behind one ideology. But then, if they can get the religious crazies to convert to economic craziness, the CEC may become a viable political entity

Lyndon LaRouche is a very smart man.There is a lot of substance in what he espouses.George Bush senior had him jailed under false charges and this has made him very bitter.He is too confrontationist in his approach because of this.One thing is certain,our monetary system owned by these global reserve banksters is totally dysfunctional.Their reign must end soon.

Question answered

Dear Sancho,

I was under the impression that the CEC was
only registered as a party in 2007. That
they were only a minor contender in the
political arena.

How strongly did they poll in the last election?

That should be an indication of their popularity.

There are some very basic conditions for a new party to succied.
Does it express the needs, benefits, interests, hopes, of a group of people or not ?
How big is the group of people? where they live, what is their financial, professional, social status?
What is their relation with the mass media? What is their relation with other social, political, religious etc groups?
How is this party organized , is open or closed to people, in local or national level, has it clear goals, clear tactics, is its leadership respectfull with good name or not?
Is it ready to cooperate with major parties to promote its interests or it only is a protest party.
If it is ready to cooperate with a major party with which one and on which base?
ETC...
If a new party does not have clear goals, does not express the needs of group of people, if it is not open to people, if.. if...if then this party has no future, then it can not play any role in the political or social arena.
I never heard about the parties you wrote.
Antonios Symeonakis
Adelaid

Bugsy

ROFL

Arjay

Sometimes silence is a wise choice.

The CEC on the Swine flu: <LaRouche, who in his international webcast the day before called for a global economic mobilization to confront this disease and the British Empire's genocide policy which has fostered it, ...">

What is his obsession with that dysfunctional British family? They're hardly able to keep private their mobile phone conversations, global conspiracy would be a real big ask.

Sancho, it can be scary how many of our fellow humans desparately want to completely believe EVERYTHING a person says they put into a position of authority. The capacity to verify for themselves whether a statement is rational on the available facts is too hard.

Once someone handed me some pamphlets on CEC and i glanced through them and then binned them.

Some years back i googled up 'The Greens' policies and found some bizzare policies that i do not think many really know about. Here are some I found.

Legalize all drugs

Government assistance to Gay and Lesbian festivals

Equal numbers of males and females on all boards and committees

Lower voting age to 16

Employment. Guaranteed Adequate Income for everyone
Work only if one wants to

Reintroduce death duties

Conscientious objectors should not have to pay tax

Disallow advertising, legal fees and vehicle expenses as business tax deductions

Phrase out use of animals for medical research

Cancel plans for any new water storage dams

Further extend gun control

Defense Peace and disarmament
Demilitarisation of Asia Pacific area.
Do away with armed forces but establish coast watch
Australia not to produce weaponry
People to be educated in ways of non-violent resistanceif we are invaded
Universities to conduct research into peace

Release all asylum seekers into community

Make rodeos illegal

Education to focus on sense of community and to enrich personal relationships

Government to garrantee adequate income for everyone

Work only if one wants to

Remember this is 'The Greens' You don't have to look for other fringe groups for weird policies.

I think that would be many years back, Banjo. Besides which, many of those policies are eminently sensible, even if an equal number are silly.

The policies have changed because the Greens are no longer on the fringe, and hence not under the purview of this thread.

This doesn't have to be all about the CEC. I'd like to hear what people have to say about The Exclusive Brethren, Hillsong, Sukyo Mahikari, the Australian Natural Law Party, or any of the other myriad small political/cultish/ideological groups that call this continent home.

Sancho

Hillsong & Ex-Brethren both scare me for different reasons.

Hillsong: Basically a clever ruse to raise money and avoid taxes, feel-good message for the gullible. Does anyone know if they have a connection to the Family First Party, if so they are potentially a threat to a secular democracy.

E.B.'s - any fringe group that does not participate fully in the responsibilities of a nation, as in not voting but still lobbying is highly suspect.

The Natural Law Party, appear harmless enough, in fact quite funny really. One of their stated goals is to create a psychic defence wall around nations using 7000 meditating yogis. Instead of talking about it why don't they just go ahead and create world peace? The 7000 yogis don't have to be elected to do that.

"Defence: Natural Law Party government will create an invincible armour of positivity for the nation by establishing a Prevention Wing of the military - a group of Yogic Flyers - whose daily drills will neutralise all negative tendencies coming from both inside and outside the country and radiate peace and harmony to the world ...."
http://lachlan.bluehaze.com.au/natlaw/index.html

Banjo

Sancho is correct, the Greens have come a long way in from the fringe, check out their current policies - very reasonable, organised and realistic and their success reflects their credibility.

http://greens.org.au/policies

Sancho and Fractelle,
I disagree, The Greens are a fringe group. Those policies I quoted are only 7-8 years old. Point is not many people know about them as the Greens do not talk about them much.

Any group that has, or had, such stupid and radical policies is a fringe group and this is reflected in their low primary vote. They only get the odd seat in the Senate because of Labor preferences. This does not say much for our compulsory preferential voting system.

It has to be only due to ignorance that they get as many votes as they do.

I will not bother to update my record of the Greens policies as such are not worthy of any more of my time. Even today I read in the press that the Greens are advocating a 40% reduction in emissions by 2020.

Just what sort of stuff are they smoking? Or do they eat the mushrooms at the bottom of the garden?

Banjo
"Any group that has, or had, such stupid and radical policies is a fringe group"
Banjo woke up! when a party like greens takes 7-8% of the national votes can not be a fringe group.
If you think green's policies are stupid this is your opinion, I think liberarl's policies are stupid and my friend B thinks ALP's policies are stupid! This is an other story!
You are very hard in your coments, think the 8% of Australians (about)who voted greens!
"It has to be only due to ignorance that they get as many votes as they do."
The truth is that green voters are well educated, they belong to middle class, they have high environment and social sensitivity, they are good human rights supporters, their role for our future, for the future of our planet is many times bigger than their voting base.
I always voted ALP for parliament and GREENS for senate.

Sancho
If you find a new party with new ideas, new solutions to new and old problems and if it promotes the interests from non privilaged people as migrants, aged people, low income people, women, minorities etc, and if IT IS A TRUE DEMOCRATIC, OPEN PARTY, PLEASE sent me a form to become member of this party.
I prefer its leadership to be credible with a history in non government Organizations as human rights, workers rights, women rights, etc
I do not care at all if any one of you call it a fringe party!
I am sure, it will grow up, very soon !
PEOPLE ARE SICK FROM THE POLITICAL ESTABLISHMENT AND THERE ARE SOME STRONG GROUPS WITHOUHT ANY VOICE!
Antonios Symeonakis
Adelaide

Sancho, I am more optimistic regarding the potential popularity of CEC.

Not all, but many of the religious crazies are also paranoid schizophrenics and generally more focussed on flying saucers and UFOs, the CIA, human micro-chipping, laser beams or God's wrath in the form of any bushfire, earthquake or any disaster that might occur at any time.

I am not being flippant but factual. In the past, I dealt with homeless, drug-affected and disadvantaged people, many suffering from mental illness which can take various forms and vary in severity. It is very sad and unfortunately not many resources allocated to this growing problem.

Speaking of fringe groups, it was with some amusement that Canberra's Sun Ripened Warm Tomato Party, standing in the first Territory elections in 1989 gained 1.17% of the vote.

From memory I don't think they actually had any policies other than a protest against self-government after two referendums voted against the proposal and the the government went ahead and did it anyway.

I imagine the votes were also a protest against that undemocratic decision.