'Be careful about going outside today,' I messaged my sister. The news rolled in on my Twitter feed faster than I could process. Most shocking was footage of people with SS regalia, videos of so called 'anti-immigration' protestors giving the Nazi salute.

One video gave me pause. It was of a man holding his arm up in a Nazi salute and marching in a partition of protestors. Immediately I was transported back to my childhood, sitting in class during Holocaust Remembrance Days, watching black and white documentaries or listening to Holocaust survivors who spoke at school assemblies. Now, in colour, images of neo-Nazis marching not in Germany but here, in my home, and what can we do? What can I do, other than feel afraid?

Days before the fascist protest in St Kilda beach, a Jewish elderly care facility, housing Holocaust survivors, was defaced with swastikas. Recently, the Report on Antisemitism in Australia reported an increase in antisemitic incidents across Australia in 2018, compared to 2017. We should be alarmed at this report, considering 2017 saw an increase in antisemitism incidents too. The 2018 report also 'identified an increase in overtly neo-Nazi activity by groups like Antipodean Resistance, who describe themselves as "the Hitlers you've been waiting for"', the ABC provides.

In the wake of the fascist St Kilda rally, I noticed people argue that we should starve fascists from attention, as if protestors were unruly children acting up, and not legitimately dangerous individuals who thrive on hate and advocate violence. In his insightful analysis of the rally, Jason Wilson writes: 'As recent experience in the United States and elsewhere has shown, these ideas are delusions. Attention is precisely what leads these groups to come apart. Nadine von Cohen also wrote a polemic response to those who claim we should not call the neo Nazi fascists by their name, saying: 'If we admit they're Nazis, we might actually have to do something about it.'

I'm not here to debate whether we should call fascists by their name (we absolutely should). I'm writing because, when I previously cautioned about Australia's antisemitism problem, I never imagined Australia's contemporary political climate would see neo-Nazis so emboldened.

We cannot dismiss the rise in racial violence as a fringe problem; not when an Australian Senator stood alongside the openly racist, sexist convicted criminal organisers while attendees made Nazi salutes. Not when the Australian Prime Minister condemns 'ugly racial protests', as if those standing against fascists are somehow equivalent to them (reminiscent of Trump blaming 'both sides' after a neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, which saw an anti-fascist protestor, Heather Heyer, killed by a neo-Nazi).

To be clear, the primary targets of Erickson, Cottrell, and their group, the United Patriot Front (associated with nationalist and neo-Nazi ideology) are Africans and Muslims. The danger is legitimate — even ASIO have the United Patriot Front under watch. Fascists don't pick and choose the groups they target. While presently their targets are Muslims, Africans, and refugees, Jews also on their radar.

"I wonder what motivated Morrison to go into politics in the first instance, if he so easily forgets the public he serves."

Blaire Cottrell once said 'I consider the Jews of today to be a much deadlier enemy than the violent Islamic pillagers.' The so called 'alt-right' hatred cycles from Jews to Muslims, immigrants to refugees. There's a dangerous process of othering, which serves to objectify a people in order to justify violence. Society breeds racism to give justifications to privilege; this is not a uniquely Australian phenomenon.

And yet, watching the St Kilda protests, seeing neo-Nazis give the Nazi salute in a suburb that has one of the highest rates of Jewish residents, the place where my Holocaust survivor grandfather met and married my grandmother, my throat swells. This is my home. Anning is a Senator in my Senate, Morrison is my Prime Minister. Such politicians have shirked responsibility for public service in order to amplify voices of violence and hate.

In his 1919 lecture 'Politics as a Vocation', which is concerned with social action and identifying the motivation of individuals who go into politics, Sociologist Max Weber developed the concept of the 'ideal type politician'. Weber is curious: What motivates someone to become a politician? He asks: 'What can politics as a vocation offer in the way of inner satisfaction, and which personal qualities does it presuppose in anyone who devotes himself to it?'

Vocation, as I remind my students, carries a double meaning. It refers to a job, a career, but its etymological root is vocare — 'to call'. A vocation is a calling in the religious sense. Something you live for, that you cannot live without. For Weber, two types of people are driven to go into politics: career politicians who enter politics for the love of power, and people who are motivated by true desire for change. In other words, one type goes into politics to live off politics, to live off power for power's sake, while the other type lives for politics. Such people possess a sense of responsibility, realistic passion, and the capacity for measured and thoughtful judgment.

When I think of Morrison's anaemic response to the fascist protest, I'm reminded of Weber's politicians. I wonder what motivated Morrison to go into politics in the first instance, if he so easily forgets the public he serves.

Weber's discussion carries relevance for us today, as we see fascism normalised and rising the world over. It isn't a coincidence that the politician who lives off politics facilitates fascist tendencies (even if they do so by remaining silent): holding on to power for power's sake has dire consequences as politicians align themselves with the most vocal and lucrative voters.

Outside of Israel, Australia is home to the largest number of Holocaust survivors per capita. Of Jews in Australia, a majority live in Melbourne. It is extremely likely that Melbourne is home to a large portion of Holocaust survivors. While I sit petrified, third generation to Holocaust survivors, I can't stop thinking about my grandfather, who survived, who lived, and came to Australia.

In the wake of the St Kilda riots, I sat and re-read my grandfather's memoirs. He survived the Holocaust, saved by the kindertransport. His mother, his father, did not. I sit and read their testimonies. I read the final letter he receives from his mother, the last words she wrote to her children: 'G.d will help us and we shall meet again in joy ... I close with my heartiest regards and kisses. I embrace you in my thoughts.'

This year, in the country that provided my Holocaust surviving grandfather a new life, I think of neo-Nazis taking over the streets, and I read my grandfather's words: 'we sat and watched', and I despair.

Na'ama Carlin holds a PhD in Sociology. A dual Israeli-Australian citizen, she writes about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ethics, identity, and violence. Follow her @derridalicious