Jim Saleam

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James Saleam in the 1970s

Dr. James "Jim" Saleam (b. 18 September 1955 in Queensland) is a leading Australian nationalist, political activist and philosopher whose activities have spanned four decades. Saleam attended universities in Brisbane and Sydney and in 2001 was awarded a doctorate in political science.

Life

Background

The paternal grandfather of Saleam was George Saleam, who arrived at Maryborough, Queensland with his brother Davis Saleam in 1901. The family were members of the Greek Orthodox minority in Ras Baalbek, what is today Lebanon. They considered their nationality to be Syrian. The area was controlled by the Ottoman Empire at the time. The question of ethnicity is sometimes used by his opponents in Australian nationalism (as well as anti-Australian cultural Marxists) to try and discredit him. However, this is a complex issue. Many of the Orthodox in the Levant have ethnic Greek ancestry from Byzantine times and for instance, figures such as Antun Saadeh who founded the SSNP prefered a Syrian identity to Arab. Saleam's mother is of European heritage, specifically, English.

Politics

Having started his political interest with eclectic connections, including even Leftist ones, Saleam’s activism was thereafter devoted to Australian nationalism, his first such group being the Radical Nationalists, which he formed at the University of Queensland in 1974, subsequently, he helped to form with other students, National Resistance in the 1970s; National Alliance and the political party National Action in the 1980s, with Saleam as chairman, which brought him to national attention.

Saleam is now a director of the Australia First Party, founded in 1996 by Graeme Campbell, an ex-Australian Labor Party Member of Parliament. Saleam is also a co-organiser of the annual Sydney Forum, which provides a platform for patriotic speakers from a variety of backgrounds.

There’s this idea that a lot of the world as we know it rests on the continuing development of globalism, the avoidance of war and never-ending economic growth. We don’t think that happy vision will turn out. We want to take Australia out of the global system. We want to acquire the resources of the country for our own use. We think it’s possible that the global economy is heading to a major smash-up, and endlessly they shuffle the money, find a new country to rob, maybe some poor bastards in the Third World whose minerals get monetised. And if the people don’t like the deal they cause a civil war, like in Sudan. Our view is that the only influence we can have on a mass scale is in extraordinary circumstances. Consequently, we have to plan the organisation for those circumstances. In the short term we work in the present to do little things, but our goals don’t belong to the present. We don’t wish to be a government in the usual sense of the term. We wish to be a state power. That means that we seek to reorder the country in an entirely different way. [...] Yes, and other countries can be free to do as they choose. Although I don’t agree with things like Sharia law… that’s not an issue for Australia. If Afghanistan wants to say that women can be clitorally sterilised or gays can be stoned, I don’t agree with that, but that’s their culture. It’s up to them if they want things to change. [...] An internal market, protected industry, domestic consumption, expansion of personal wealth… housing, hospitals, roads, libraries — all the things that people need. And a type of direct democracy. We think that there should be citizens’ initiated referendums and also delegated democracy where you send people to an assembly to get things done.[1]

Writings (excerpt)

External links

References