Alison Bevege is many things: freelance journalist, committed liberal and self-proclaimed crusader against “Islamic fascism”.

Last year she happened upon (well, manufactured) her big break. Bevege attended a meeting of Sydney-based Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir. She provoked the meeting a number of times (four, by her count) by asking the speaker about the penalty for Muslims who abandon their faith.

As she later made clear, she had been hoping to goad him into “admitting” that Islam demands death for apostasy. Never mind the fact that the Bible demands death for cursing your mother and father, adultery, homosexuality and being a spiritual medium, amongst other things (Leviticus 20:9-27).

At any rate, Bevege’s disappointment found consolation when she was asked to sit at the back of the room, in the section reserved for women. She had struck journalistic gold. Of course, this experience left her “heartbroken” and “annoyed” and able to sympathise with “Mississippi blacks in the 1950s sent to the back of the bus for the colour of their skin”.

Bravely, Bevege found it in herself to stand up to this KKK-esque reign of terror. Channelling Rosa Parks, leader of the Montgomery bus boycott (Montgomery is in Alabama, but never mind that) she marched to the Anti-Discrimination Board and lodged a $100,000 claim against Hizb ut-Tahrir.

To everyone’s dismay, mediation failed. So, on 4 June this year, her complaint was heard by a tribunal. But she’s not in it for the money: she wants an apology. And if she does get her $100,000, she will give it to charities, including the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science.

Alison Bevege sees herself as a crusading defender of civil rights. But in reality, she is a racist. Moreover, she is one of the most dangerous types of racist. She has learned the none-too-subtle art of using liberal causes (in this case, women’s rights) to give cover to her anti-Islamic bigotry.

This is part of an established pattern in which liberal values are cited to justify racism and the destruction of freedom of speech. Take a recent case in New York, where two Latino men were arrested for “manspreading” – that is, for taking up too much space on public transport. Call me cynical, but my gut tells me that the NYPD cares less about feminism and more about finding new and innovative ways of practising racial discrimination.

But I digress. Predictably, Bevege pre-empted this accusation of racism. In a submission made last year to a parliamentary committee, she wheeled out the cliché that Islam is not a race.

You know what else isn’t a race? Refugees. I guess there is no racism towards them either, then!

Funnily enough, though, “Islam isn’t a race!” is the same line used by the racists of Reclaim Australia. The similarities don’t stop there. Members of the United Patriots Front, a hard right, neo-Nazi splinter from Reclaim Australia, claim that their freedom of speech is under attack when they get labelled racist.

So does Bevege. They claim that our culture and our way of life are being destroyed by Islamic colonisation. So does Bevege. She writes: “The Islamists are here, colonising us. Islamists want holy men to dictate what you can eat, what you can wear, and when you will be lashed or stoned to death. They want any criticism of their political and religious ideology outlawed. And they are winning”.

If this sounds familiar, it should. The conspiracy theory that Western civilisation is being infiltrated and undermined from within, as a result of its own weakness (in this case, multiculturalism) is a hallmark of far-right thinking. Hitler mobilised this trope against Jews in the 1920s and 1930s. And now it is being used by Bevege and Reclaim Australia. It’s like a racist united front between liberals and neo-Nazis.

Bevege’s submission to parliament (quoted above) leaves no room for doubt. She endorses Peter Leahy’s call for a 100-year war against Islam. She criticises multiculturalism and the left for being too tolerant. She demands that Muslim prisoners be denied prayer rooms, Korans and visits from imams. She calls for the introduction of a licensing system for imams and sheikhs who want to preach in Australia.

Her rhetoric parallels that of Reclaim Australia and the UPF perfectly. Maybe it’s easier to hate the far right. But to really fight racism, we need to recognise liberal racism too, and regard the likes of Alison Bevege with equal contempt.