One of Australia’s most outspoken anti-Islam activists has turned Muslim, claiming the West has lost its way to alcohol, porn and drugs.
Shermon Burgess became a controversial national figure for his role in the far-right groups United Patriots Front (UPF), Reclaim Australia and the Australian Defense League over the past decade.
Burgess once compared Islam and Muslims to cancer and organized dozens of protests along with self-proclaimed neo-Nazis Blair Cottrell and Neil Erikson.
He was involved in anti-Muslim protests in 2015 against the construction of a mosque in Bendigo, Victoria.
Burgess regularly posted videos criticizing Islam to his 30,000 followers on the Australian Patriot’s Facebook page
Burgess’ meeting with Muslim Freedom Movement leader Youssra Rose (left) has given him a “clearer view of Islam.”
On LinkedIn he still describes himself as ‘national socialist’.
But the former far-right figure has since converted to Islam, claiming it is the only religion capable of countering the West’s so-called “awake” agenda.
“The west has lost its way, people are depressed and trying to solve all life’s problems with alcohol, drugs, porn, sleep,” he wrote on Facebook yesterday.
‘Islam frees you from all this and gives you meaning again.’
Burgess confirmed that Oh dear that he had taken his Shahadaan Arabic term for an Islamic oath, and had been welcomed by his local mosque.
“The Muslim community is so nice and wonderful, if you need help they are there,” he told the website.
Burgess, a former council worker from the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, was a member of the metal band Eureka Brigade, who wrote the violently anti-Muslim song Border Patrol, according to ABC News.
The lyrics called for burning mosques and called the Cronulla riots ‘Australia’s Islamic holocaust’. The band also had a song entitled ‘S*** on a Mosque’.
Burgess had a Facebook page called “Great Aussie Patriot” with nearly 30,000 followers, until he deleted it in 2015 after followers mocked him.
He once posted a video on the page comparing Muslims and Islam to cancer, according to the Online Institute for Hate Prevention.
“This is not an attack on our governments, this is an attack on us, the people,” he said of Islam.
‘She [Muslims] are already overly overrepresented in crime statistics in this country so we need to see if this is what we’re receiving now with 500,000 of them imagine we hit the million mark… we can’t afford to stay here stay put until the problem becomes uncontrollable and we can’t get over it.’
“When you find cancer, you attack it right away, you don’t let it grow.”
Burgess has now converted to Islam, claiming it is the only religion to counter the ‘degeneration’ of the West
In 2015, Burgess said the Muslim community has a duty to “clean up its mosques” and stop radicalization.
He reportedly left the UDF after members of his own movement mocked him.
Now he regularly extols the virtues of Islam, claiming that “Western values are degenerate and left-wing.”
Burgess told Crikey that after the witnessing the power of the Australian freedom movement – the anti-vaccine, anti-government, conspiracy-fuelled activism that has emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic.
His meeting with Muslim Freedom Movement leader Youssra Rose has given him a “clearer view of Islam.”
Ms. Rose, also known as Yosra Alyateem, is a candidate for the anti-vaccination Informed Medical Opinions Party in Bankstown, NSW, in the upcoming state election.
Burgess told the website that former UPF members attacked him online when they learned of his conversion.
“Many of them were heavy drinking alcoholics and degenerates,” he said. “I loved the health aspect of Islam, how they train hard and abstain from alcohol and drugs.”
Burgess captioned this recent photo: Allah has given me wings. Hard training and discipline in Islam has paid off
Burgess is sharp in his anti-LGBTQ views, describing homosexuality as “evil.”
He regularly shares videos of controversial YouTuber and former kickboxer Andrew Tate, the self-proclaimed “king of toxic masculinity.”
Tate, a self-proclaimed misogynist and men’s rights influencer, is currently being held in Romania on charges of rape and human trafficking.
Last night, Burgess posted a lengthy diatribe on Facebook complaining that people across the political spectrum were criticizing his conversion to Islam.
“The Nazis have gone mad calling me a traitor and angry because I don’t drink 24 beers on weekends and shouting that Australia is only for whites,” he said.
Burgess was a member of the Eureka Brigade band who had a song titled ‘S*** on a Mosque’
He has spoken out about his belief that Islam is the only religion capable of combating the sins of the West.
He recently posted on Facebook: ‘It’s not the Muslims you fear, it’s saying goodbye to Western degeneracy you fear.
“Islam is here to bring the west back to purity, bring back family values and healthy male brave male youth, female humble and beautiful female youth.”
Daily Mail Australia has approached Burgess for comment.