Last night I attended a Nigel Farage event in Sydney. I was the only member of the media there, as far as I could see. There were a grand total of 2 protestors. I spent about 3 hours talking to the attendees. It was very interesting. A thread.
3 rough camps there. People who were there to have fun and listen to someone a bit different. People who like Alan Jones (who was there, btw) and his ilk and therefore like Nigel. And people who are very angry about stuff and looking for an outlet.
I spoke with several dozen folks. Most were very polite. A few were aggro. These are the things I kept hearing: we need to take back control (I asked from whom, most common answers were the United Nations, the Paris Climate Agreement and the political establishment)
I asked people why they felt Paris Agreement and UN threatened our sovereignty, given we choose what we ratify. The general vibe was that political elites choose to ratify these things, but it's the working class folk who pay with their job security and living standards
People kept asking me whether I was going to go in, or if I was just going to talk to people outside. When I told them that of course I'd be going in, they seemed much more relaxed.
There was a lot of love for Trump, but you know who got the biggest cheers? Viktor Orban. There were boos for Merkel, the ABC, BBC & CNN, but you know who got the biggest heckling? George Soros.
At one point, Farage mentioned Hillary and the crowd broke out info "lock her up". That was pretty unexpected, given we were in Sydney.
Loads traveled from really far away to be there. From Wagga, from Newcastle, from all over regional NSW. One woman asked how the working class could get politicos to pay attention to them. Everyone was furious with both Labor and the Libs. Much contempt for career politicians
These people were hungry for change. They don't trust the political establishment. They don't believe it's working in their best interests and they don't think it cares about their struggles. And they're looking for someone who will. The end.
