Justin Beulah and Lisa Sandford, who say they have left the white supremacy movement. (Courtesy of The White Rose Society, Australia) Image by White Rose Society

By Ari Feldman May 24, 2019

A leak of online chat logs has exposed a faction of neo-Nazis in Australia who sought to hijack the youth division of the country’s National party, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The chats come a chat room on the video game chat platform Discord, called “Vibrant Diversity,” that was in fact a home for neo-Nazis, white supremacists and bigots of many varieties from around the world. The group connected far right figures from Australia with counterparts in the U.S. Last year, the anti-fascist group Unicorn Riot released leaked records from the chat room.

“They described it as an elite group,” said Chris Schiano, a member of Unicorn Riot. “There is a fair amount of influential people from the alt-right in it.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Justin Beulah and Lisa Sandford were among the people in the group. They flirted in chatrooms with jokes about killing non-whites and “swastika cupcakes.” They posted and commented on racist and violent memes. Beulah at one point noted that he was in a university class with “three Jews.”

Sandford attempted to infiltrate the Young Nationals, the National Party’s youth wing.

Beulah and Sandford were in the group with Elliot Kline, an American far right figure and one of the planners of the Charlottesville riots, that resulted in the death of Heather Heyer and the beatings of several anti-fascist counter-protesters by white supremacists at the rally.

Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aefeldman

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount