Over the course of the pandemic we saw a sudden and dramatic rise in new political movements.

Anti-lockdown protesters joined anti-vaxxers to regularly march in capital cities. Week after week, people met on the streets, shared their “research” online trying to make sense of what was happening in the world.

Thousands of people converged on Canberra for weeks in 2022.

The doors of old Parliament House were set on fire. Sovereign citizens challenged police enforcing road rules and clogged the courts.

This week, we saw the anti-vaccination movement re-emerge, with many of them blaming the vaccine for the sudden death of MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo. The same happened when Shane Warne died, and also when other celebrities have died unexpectedly.

Of course, there is no evidence to say any of these deaths were vaccine-related.

Over time, the concerns of this hodgepodge movement has broadened beyond COVID restrictions and mandates to include a grab bag of issues: 5G, chemtrails, global paedophile networks, the World Economic Forum, digital IDs, digital currency, climate change as a hoax, geo-engineering of natural disasters, and so on.

Borrowing from the QAnon movement, the “freedom” movement predicted that a political storm would soon erupt and all politicians would be arrested or even executed.

It didn’t happen

The pandemic subsided, mask and vaccine mandates were lifted, and freedom of movement was re-established. State and federal elections gave the population a say on who should be in government. But the conspiracy ridden “freedom movement ” didn’t go away. In fact, it has found new targets and allies and is again building up steam, as we have seen with the tragic deaths of Zonfrillo and Warne.

Sovereign-citizen pseudo law beliefs are now the bedrock of the movement. It’s widely accepted in the movement that the Australian government is illegal and that both the Constitution and the flag have been tampered with. They also believe that a thinly veiled anti-semitic conspiracy framework explains everything: A global cabal of powerful paedophiles is not only exploiting children but enslaving the world’s population.

Those in the movement feel vindicated by post-COVID excess deaths (caused by vaccines, in their opinion). There’s a strong sense of community and a sense of purpose. Seeing themselves as truth-tellers and freedom fighters, they still want to “wake the rest of us up”. In an alarming reprise of the 1980s “satanic panic”, they most urgently want to “save the children”.

They have new allies

Conservative Christians, neo-Nazis and “gender critical” feminists find common ground around the so-called dangers of the LGBTIQ+ community which they see exemplified by the trans rights movement.

These groups are prepared to do whatever they can to “save the kids” including threatening and harassing council workers, and assaulting vulnerable gay people (as we saw recently in western Sydney).

“Drag story hour” in public libraries has become a main focus.

For the “freedom” movement this has an added bonus: They don’t believe that local councils are legitimate. In fact, the newly organised My Place movement (which has hundreds of chapters across Australia) intends to take these over and replace them with people’s councils (aka mob rule).

And councils implementing sustainability measures such as smart cities or liveable “15 minute” cities are particularly dangerous, according to the movement. It is widely believed that 15 minute cities is a euphemism for 15 minute open air prisons.

So what’s to be done?

Arguing using facts is usually ineffective.

The movement is powered by moral conviction, Youtube “research” and a strong foundational belief that any disagreeing opinion is global propaganda put out by a lying media.

In their own minds, movement adherents are noble, virtuous and bravely “protecting kids” even as they yell abuse outside local libraries.

What we can do is show up as allies and supporters of targeted vulnerable groups.

We can make sure our local councils know they have our support in running inclusive events for diverse communities.

We can send a clear message that violence – including hate speech – is not acceptable in modern and progressive Australia.

Dr Kaz Ross is an independent researcher into the far right and conspiracies.