Online war against intolerance

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Danny Webster's grandfather fought for freedom in World War II.

Now Webster is waging his own war on intolerance, but his battlefield is online.

Right Wing Resistance is a New Zealand-wide white supremacist group run by Kyle Chapman, former leader of the National Front.

The group's recent recruitment campaign in Christchurch included Stop the Asian Invasion pamphlets.

Conveniently, Webster says, the group's blogspot advertising this campaign, included cellphone numbers and email addresses, which prompted him to fight back with a Facebook campaign, Spam A Nazi, launched this weekend.

Webster advocates spamming the group with texts and YouTube links to the Chinese National Anthem and songs such as I think I'm Turning Japanese, and People Are People.

"My flatmates and I found this racist pamphlet in our letterbox and we came up with the idea of sending them a message back," Webster said.

"Now we have 140 members on Spam A Nazi. I think the Right Wing Resistance campaign is more to intimidate than recruit.

"My grandfather died from war-related injuries when my dad was eight. It's sad to think that this intolerance still exists two generations on.

"After all we've been through in Christchurch, I wanted to send a clear message that this hatred won't be tolerated. I'm not sure of the legalities around spamming but I'm sure few will have any sympathy for them."

When contacted yesterday, a spokesman for the Right Wing Resistance, who did not wish to be identified, said they had received spam from "gay porn" to "foreign" texts.

"I didn't understand what they said, they're just wasting their time. I just delete them. It's like squashing an annoying bug to me, I don't even think about it."

- © Fairfax NZ News