Links between a Tasmanian man and neo-fascist group the Proud Boys have emerged ahead of the 21-year-old's second run for Burnie City Council.
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A former bouncer at Launceston Showgirls, Jarrod Boys announced his intention to once again run for the Burnie City Council in April. Four years earlier, aged just 18, Mr Boys drew statewide attention when he first ran for the seat.
He was narrowly defeated, losing in first preferences by a small margin. Since announcing his second run, Mr Boys has been actively campaigning through community groups and social media, promoting himself through charity and community work in the region.
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Alongside fellow Burnie man Dillon Roberts, Mr Boys recently delivered a speech at the Waratah-Wynyard Rotary Club after attending the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards earlier this year. Mr Roberts and Mr Boys have also been actively promoted online through their work with Australian Red Cross and the Railton community. Earlier this month, the two were elected to the Table Cape Rotaract Club, with Mr Boys acting as treasurer.
There is no suggestion that Dillon Roberts or any of the groups listed above have any connection with the Proud Boys movement.
In the intervening years between his two runs for council, Mr Boys worked as the security at the Green's Hotel and Hoota's Bar and at the Pub Rock Diner while also doing freelance crowd control before moving for a stint working at Launceston Showgirls earlier this year. He also spent some years working on campaigns for the state Liberal party.
His promotional posts can attract dozens of comments and likes online, and - given the slim margin by which he lost in 2018 - he seems a likely early frontrunner ahead of the council elections in October.
LINKS EMERGE
Until the information uncovered during the investigation was brought to light, Mr Boys had not disclosed during either of his campaigns any affiliation with the Proud Boys movement, a neo-fascist group which began in the US around 2016 and has since opened chapters around the globe.
Following revelations this month in the US about the American Proud Boys' involvement in the Capitol Hill Riots of January 2021, the New Zealand government recently joined with other nations in classifying the US group as a terrorist organisation. Globally, the group is estimated to have thousands of members spread through an international network of ideologically similar but individually operated chapters.
Initiates join the PB movement by publicly reciting their name and location followed by a pre-written oath.
A video from 2018 obtained by ACM shows Mr Boys reciting the oath. The video - sourced through anti-fascist researchers The White Rose Society - was posted to a private Facebook group called the "Proud Boys Vetting Page".
In the video, Mr Boys says "I'm Jarrod from Tasmania. I'm a proud Western chauvinist, and I refuse to apologise for creating the modern world".
The video was posted using the same personal Facebook account Mr Boys uses today but was removed when the vetting page shut down in the intervening years. Today, Mr Boys' personal Facebook page only dates back to late 2019 and no posts from before then are publicly available online.
After widespread negative attention following the Capitol Hill Riots, the American Proud Boys and many of their affiliate chapters ceased posting publicly on mainstream social networks, instead flocking to private group message chains on encrypted messaging services.
Since the move to encrypted messaging, the identities of Proud Boys' members as well as the location and size of affiliate chapters has been difficult to track.
In 2020, a user on encrypted messaging app Telegram with the username "Jarrod Boyss" and bearing a photo of Mr Boys as an avatar sent the following message:
"Hi mate, I'm Jarrod. Tassie Proud Boys President. Send me a video of your first-degree oath and we can get started. If you aren't aware of the first degree, it's just a video of you stating your name and where from, followed by 'I am a proud western chauvinist and I refuse to apologise for creating the modern world'."
It should be noted the pledge to join the "Tassie Proud Boys" is identical to the one Mr Boys can be heard saying in his own pledge video, two years earlier.
HIDDEN MESSAGES
Mr Boys' connection to the group - evidenced in the video - adds further weight to the growing list of iconography and insignias associated with the Proud Boys movement, which Mr Boys has been seen displaying.
A Terrorism Suppression Act submission put together by the New Zealand authorities, ahead of listing the American branch of the Proud Boys as a terrorist organisation, characterised the oath as the first of several levels of membership to the group. The TSA paper tracks the rise of the PB movement over the last six years and provides one of the most up-to-date dossiers of the practices and beliefs of the American Proud Boys and its affiliate chapters. Second-level membership involves a hazing ritual in which one member is beaten up by other Proud Boys members. To become a third-level member, initiates must get an associated PB tattoo.
A picture posted to Mr Boys' social media account and associated with a mixed martial arts training centre in Burnie shows him with a large shoulder tattoo which reads "PB TAS '' atop a wreath and a Tasmanian devil crest.
A second photo shows another shoulder tattoo opposite shoulder depicting two high-powered machine guns and a Spartan-style military helmet in a coat-of-arms formation. Underneath the tattoo it reads "MOLON LABE" in a modified script - which translates loosely to "come and take them". The phrase has been closely tied to the gun rights movement in the US.
Mr Boys is often pictured wearing a black polo shirt with yellow trim. The shirt bears a similar wreath symbol to the wreath tattoo on his shoulder. The colours black and yellow and the wreath symbol - popularised by the clothing brand Fred Perry - are listed as markers for American Proud Boys members in the New Zealand authorities' TSA submission. In September 2020, the brand Fred Perry released a statement about the adoption of black and yellow-trimmed jumpers by the Proud Boys.
"We have seen that the Black/Yellow/Yellow twin tipped shirt is taking on a new and very different meaning in North America as a result of its association with the Proud Boys," the statement read.
The company ceased selling that general style of polo shirt in Canada and America. That policy remains in place.
Mr Boys has been pictured multiple times wearing a black-and-yellow-trimmed polo shirt with a stitched wreath symbol. He has also been photographed with prominent Liberal and Labor politicians, such as Eric Abetz and Helen Polley, while wearing the shirt.
It should be noted that - while similar - the polo shirt Mr Boys wears is not identical to those traditionally worn by PB members. That said, modified or ''knock-off'' shirts are not uncommon among those worn by the group.
DECODING HATE
While some of the iconography connected to the PB movement may seem innocuous in isolation, independent Tasmanian researcher Dr Kaz Ross, who studies far and alt-right groups in Australia, explained how the hidden symbology practised by the group is part of a wider effort known as ''dog whistling''.
"It's a strategy adopted by the far-right and alt-right. You make a joke, a meme or a symbol, which could be one thing, or it could be another thing," she said.
Dr Ross said by hiding in plain sight through coded symbols, PB members can hide behind a veil of "plausible deniability".
"Particularly around racism and anti-Semitism, they [far-right and alt-right groups] have really specialised in having hidden references that only those in the know can recognise. Others might suspect what the symbol means but as soon as it's challenged, [the group] say, 'Oh, no, you're just overreading it'."
In this way, alt-right and far-right groups are also able to telegraph membership to a particular group without alerting the public. Dr Ross's characterisation of the coded messaging and symbolism in the Proud Boys is further supported by the TSA submission.
"In contrast to other extremist groups currently active in the US, and consistent with the 'slippery' nature of fascism, the APB [American Proud Boys] do not have a single ideological framework of reference point," the submission states.
"Instead, they deploy a mosaic of overlapping ideological components intended to obscure the group's fascism and thereby increase their appeal to a broader audience of American men."
In doing so, the submission claims the American Proud Boys are able to "evade and/or minimise detection by 'normal' people and authorities", "minimise the severity of the repercussions of a group's actions", and "provide plausible deniability to members".
A GROWING PRESENCE
The TSA submission notes the Australian PB chapters are considered to be ideologically linked but otherwise separate entities to the American Proud Boys and have not been listed as terrorist organisation. However, Australian chapter members have been connected to disruptive protests and counter-protests on the mainland.
Australian PB protesters - identified by their black-and-yellow-trimmed uniform - were connected to a string of riots during the anti-lockdown protests in Melbourne in 2021. Earlier this month, members of a PB chapter were among those removed by police when an abortion rally in Perth became heated.
In an interview with an ACM newspaper in April - before his connection to the Proud Boys emerged - Mr Boys said if elected he hoped to bring in a leadership program to "mentor" young people.
Alongside his work as a bouncer, Mr Boys also lists himself as the "Grandmaster" of a new group called the "Knights of David". On the organisation's website, the Knights of David are described as a "Christian Church Order" based out of North-West Tasmania, with an office in Burnie.
The group's website states "The KOD is made of 'Mighty Men of God', men who can be called upon to protect and solve problems in our community".
When first asked by ACM Mr Boys denied any affiliation with the Proud Boys movement. After the Telegram message and pledge video were brought forward, Mr Boys confirmed he had been the president of the chapter after joining in 2018, but claimed he had since dissolved the group after "abandoning and denouncing" the Proud Boys organisation in 2020. He claims during that period he was "unaware of any racist, fecist [sic], ect. influence with the Proud Boys'', stating he believed it was "essentially a 'free speech movement'."
Mr Boys said he had fallen "victim to the unhealthy online political radicalisation that many young men fall victim to while exploring political issues in the online world", while recovering from a motorcycle accident in 2020.
"I do not align myself with the views of racists or fascist-leaning individuals," the statement read.
Speaking to his involvement with the "Knights of David", Mr Boys characterised the group as "non-political" and "simply a group of local volunteers who have a calling to provide for the safety and welfare of the community".
Mr Boys did not answer direct questions about the meaning of his tattoos. He also did not answer direct questions regarding the similarity of his polo shirt - which he was photographed wearing in April - to those worn by other Proud Boys members.
Mr Boys said the Tasmanian Proud Boys chapter had a "handful of members" before he allegedly dissolved the group "thanks to the realisation I had in 2020".
ACM also obtained a second message from a "Jarrod Boyss" Telegram account which is dated March 26, 2021. It reads as follows:
"Hi mate, I'm the Tasmanian Proud Boys state president. Tell me a bit about yourself and why you'd like to join the Proud Boys".
When asked about the discrepancy between the two dates, Mr Boys said "it may have been early 2021, not the end of 2020".