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1/4 A NZ soldier has been exposed as the fuhrer of a white supremacist group, & is on trial for espionage. Journalists have presented the soldier as a product of the alt-right, Trumpist atmosphere of our age. But he could equally be inspired by NZ military tradition.
2 A century ago the Returned Services Association could have been considered NZ's largest & most influential white supremacist group. The RSA adopted a 'White NZ' policy at its 1920 national conference; this policy was reaffirmed at the group's 1926 conference.
3 When the White NZ League was formed in 1925 it was quickly endorsed by the RSA. The RSA's relentless warmings about the evils of Asian migration pushed the Massey government into enacting the draconian & openly racist Immigration Restriction Amendment Act.
4 Some of NZ's military men hated Jews as well as Asians. During & immediately after World War Two, the RSA repeatedly criticised the Jewish refugees in NZ. At its 1945 conference the RSA called for the deportation of the refugees. Jews protested, & PM Fraser was enraged.
5 The work of the Maori Battalion & the liberalisation of postwar NZ meant that the RSA's hardline white supremacism eventually became untenable. But change was slow. In 1948 the RSA's president bravely criticised All Black tours to South Africa. RSA branches rebelled.
6 In the '70s & '80s NZers became alarmed by the 'God Squad', a Canterbury cult led by the messianic racist Douglas Metcalf. Cult members formed a militia & trained for a civil war. Cops raids on their fort netted scores of guns. Key God Squadders belonged to NZ's air force.
7 The white supremacist leanings some NZ soldiers have felt is unsurprising, given the origins of the NZ armed forces in a series of 19th C race wars against Maori, & forces' deployment in a series of racially charged conflicts in the 20th C. The soldier on trial is no aberration
