The Council of International Students Australia has condemned the appearance of signs bearing a white supremacist-linked slogan on university campuses, and warned that some may be rigged to injure anyone attempting to remove them.
“[Multiculturalism] is one of the biggest assets Australia has”
The posters, which have been confirmed at Adelaide and Brisbane-based universities, include the slogan “It’s Okay to be white”, which has been associated with alt-right groups.
According to a message from CISA on Facebook, some of the posters “are potentially dangerous and may contain razor blades”, allegedly inserted to prevent their removal.
“We’re against such kind of racist acts which are meant to divide the society rather than unite,” said CISA national president Bijay Sapkota.
“Acts like this could be really dangerous.
“Australia is a multicultural country, and this is one of the major reasons why international students chose to come to Australia to study.”
Speaking with The PIE News, Sapkota said his group was still collecting more information and called on authorities to find and prosecute those responsible.
“[Multiculturalism] is one of the biggest assets Australia as a country has. Probably in the future, Australia could have the potential to be recognised as the multicultural capital of the world,” he said.
Several posters have been found in Australian cities, and follow a similarly titled Senate motion by Pauline Hanson, who claimed there was a “deplorable rise of anti-white racism and attacks on Western civilisation”.
The motion was narrowly defeated, however coalition senators voted in support, including former education minister Simon Birmingham and former international education minister Richard Colbeck.
The government later apologised, claiming their support was a mistake due to an administrative error and recommitted the motion the following day to unanimously defeat it.
Similar posters have also been reported on university campuses in Canada.
A series of anti-Chinese signs were found on Melbourne-based campuses in 2017.
