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America’s home-grown fascists are still giddy that some of their own managed to stab a bunch of leftists during the miniature riot that broke out at the Traditionalist Worker Party rally in Sacramento on Sunday.
The Daily Stormer, everybody’s favorite neo-Nazi internet tabloid, has declared “‘The Battle of Sacramento’ … the first major battle of the dawning race war in America” and “a decisive victory for the forces of good.”
Despite being vastly outnumbered by antifa (antifascist) counterprotesters, the Daily Stormer’s Andrew Anglin writes, “the nationalists prevailed.”
And by that he means that even though they retreated in a big hurry when faced with a much larger group of counterprotesters, many of them armed with bats and rocks, they managed to stab a bunch of people in the process.
Claiming that the racist skinheads who joined the rally alongside the TWP “took the weapons that the communists and colored brought to attack them with and used them against them,” Anglin revels in what he sees as an impressive stabbing ratio:
Five of the terrorists ended up stabbed and are now in the hospital.
Only one of our guys was stabbed.
This is a monumental victory, both symbolically and literally.
Anglin thinks that the bloody skirmish, stabbings and all, brought his side “good publicity,” adding that
the enemy is disheartened, looking weak, and I’m sure more than a few young White kids are hearing this news and beginning the process that will lead them to eventually fighting on the streets alongside us.
Unfortunately, he’s probably right, at least about that last bit.
If the antifas had deliberately set out to boost the morale of their neo-Nazi foes — and recruit new members for them — they could hardly have done a better job of it than they inadvertently did in Sacramento on Sunday.
Antifas, how about leaving the bats at home next time? Don’t give the Nazis the fight they want.
I feel much the same way as you FrickleFrackle. My feelings about violence are complex- a long while ago I got harassed by six young men (and…their GIRLFRIENDS were present) who thought it would be funny to grab me and drag me to an alley while making rape threats.
I think now it was possibly a practical joke, at the time I was convinced I’d be killed. I was a teeny goth, and two mowhawked punks I had never met sprinted up the road, screaming “That’s OUR goth!” and started laying into them so I could get away.
I should feel bad about the head kicking my attackers got but…I don’t. And when I think of Neo Nazis, I’m pretty sure I would have a similar response. Sometimes the police just aren’t there.
I still don’t think the beating my rescuers delivered was ‘good’ or ‘right’ even, but the problem with events is that things can change so fast, way before authorities can move. I don’t think ignoring a fascist event is the right thing to do, but there’s no way of protesting that won’t escalate the situation unless you have the numbers or protection to be able to use comedy or ridicule.
Edited to add – I’ve been on the receiving end of police violence during an anti-8 summit protest with horses being ridden inyo the crowd AND a group illegally watercannoning me. I’ve been gassed. My views on police involvement tend to be that they often escalate a bad situation further UNLESS they have good training which they usually don’t.
My concern is that Trump even being in the electoral race is a slippery slope. What even a few years back was considered the ‘alternate right’ has now become the mainstream. I am hearing ugly, disturbing things here in my country, mostly from older men which shows how this ideology has propagated. You would think the men in their sixties and seventies now who witnessed the aftermath of WW2 would know better than to fall for the same old trick the Gemans did.
Whether Trump wins or not, we can expect fallout, just like we would have had generally bad feeling whether we left the EU or remained. The actual result is academic, but it has served to ‘divide and conquer’ the public. A colleague of mine, who I consider a friend despite his conspiracy ‘fringe’ views actually believes that Jo Cox was assassinated by David Cameron to get people to vote ‘remain’. You start to realise how deeply this (actually very inconsequential in the long run) event (the euro referendum I mean) has upset people and caused them to vent their anger at entirely the wrong targets. They should be angry at the tax dodging plutocrats and the government who facilitate them, not innocent victims, and Daily Mail targeted ‘bogeymen’. (Refugees, benefit claimants and migrant workers)
I can imagine, if Trump is defeated, there being armed hoards taking to the streets to slay the ‘Jews’ ‘cucks’ feminists, migrants and whoever they don’t like the look of who voted against their ideology. If on the other hand Trump is elected, he will open the door to a demagogue even worse than himself, once the floodgates are open, who knows?
I am not a person who enjoys violence of any form, and it worries me to see the actions of my comrades. I would not seek to go to a rally with the purpose of ‘nazi bashing’, but they do not feel the same way about us. I am a member of the IMT and we are dedicated to non violence. I think the best we can do is try to educate people against acting in a reactionary fashion, resorting to violence and picking up lethal weapons. But we cannot close our eyes to the spread of fascism across Europe and the USA, to do that would mean walking into the same trap Germany did, we need to do our best to nip this thing in the bud.
Oh, yeah, I’m sure Sacramento is already on the case to commemorate that time a bunch of fascist pieces of shit stabbed some people.
@mrex
Hi!
Good. I see you’ve read the wiki link. Awesome.
Ignoring the flamebait “hang up”, yes, there are an abundance of otherwise educated people who believe Hitler was elected. Not that the Nazis at over 30% of the vote forced Hindenburg to acknowledge them–they aren’t that informed. They just say “It’s the German’s fault, they elected Hitler!” And it’s a problem because Hitler had to work damn hard to seize power and only by understanding how someone who wasn’t even German did that, over years, can we watch for modern parallels with fascists trying to manipulate their way into power. And your phraseology implies you still believe Hitler was elected? Darn, I thought you read the wiki link….
Er, that was MY entire point of the comment you are ham-handedly replying to. Allow me to quote myself:
“But if you study the rise of fascism and specifically the Third Reich, there was something missing for the Bush administration to achieve all the scariness of a fascist state, a private army willing to do violence in his name. ”
“It’s not exactly like the protofascism rising now, but the parallels should awaken you to a fact: it’s not about elections: it’s about building a power base that makes elections irrelevant.”
(hint: ‘proto-fascism’ is a direct reference to the precursors of fascism, aka “these things come in steps”)
I guess I’m a little baffled. Can’t fathom why you’d bother replying to my comment as if you misunderstood it, while at the same time making my exact points, implying you understood it fine. Weird.
And then there’s this…..
Mmmmm
And vice et versa ? Ever been on the “police side” ?
Police (and Gendarmerie) suffer a big deficit of love (from the population in general, i mean), and nothing is done to fill it up. Media do not really help, neither some extremists in the ranks of policemen do, and for politicians, it is Police as a tool, not Police as the sum of various personnalities.
I know what is ratonnade (for those who have no time to search, it is combination of “raton”, which is a slur for persons who look and/or are from arab origin, and “bastonnade”, which is originally the action of beating something or someone with a staff/stick (a “bâton”). And i guess you know the “Mort aux vaches” yell, which is far more older.
Anyway, when police do its job, it is hardly tell. When there is a police blunder, it is almost immediatly presented, and media, with delight, are the first to help people remember of other blunders.
This is for the news, but if you look/hear at other media, it is not all glory for police too. From Guignol who beat the gendarme, to songs who suggest to kill policemen, from Zorro to Robinhood, from 1984 to Minority Report, it does not lack examples where police is either the butt of the joke or some kind of evil entity. Of course, there are also some movies where police is not always presented as all bad, but it is often centered on some kind of special units/characters, hardly men of the rank. The one in Lethal Weapon (forget his name, sorry), Dirty Harry, and so on (note that they are often characters a bit limit in term of respect of the law, when they are not simply stomping on it). The picture which result in general is not a good one, and media have maybe at least a small influence on the way people may percieve others (thus this is also relevant for racism, sexism, and all the awful behaviors which are often discussed here).
Yes, police is requested to escort some marches/demos, especially when there are risks (and not only facists), if the march/demo has been declared, and if police presence has been asked (if it seems really risky, this point is not mandatory). And it is easier, and more visible, if the target group is small, because, strangely, there is not an unlimited pool of policemen/gendarmes. And they escort not because they support the ideas of the ones they accompany (even if it is possible, individually), but because it is an order.
Corruption in police ? Of course. Like in almost any group, the bigger the group, the more the chance corruption occurs somewhere in it. And unless someone successfully insert an hivemind in every policeman, there will always be. And this is possible for any other group too, as long as there is something to win individually.
TL:DR : Usual vicious circle : People do not like police => Some people speak/act against police to show their dislike => Police react harshly, and sometimes act against people not involved in the former acts => More people do not like police… And so on.
Hard to jump out of the circle : either you transform police in a tool, with mindless and emotionless policemen, to be sure of impartiality ; or you try to make people remember the police is many persons, human thus fallible, with feeling, opinions and such, that they have to be respected as representants of the law. That does not say they are free of -ists (racists, sexists, extremists…) and can not blunder, but attributing those both parts to the whole is not a good nor accurate generalization in my opinon.
I’m really surprised to see more than one person suggesting “let the police handle the violence” as well as your defense of police in general, occasional reader. Surely most people here are aware that police violence globally is disproportionately directed at people (so often children) of colour, as well as members of other marginalized groups.
I’ve been staying out of this thread because the idea of any kind of violence makes me sick. I want to defeat fascism with ideas, not push it underground with fists. But my opinions on the subject aren’t helpful. I’m a middle-class white woman in Canada. I’m not a sex worker, I’m not a drug user, and I’m not schizophrenic. I know that, if I’m threatened with violence, the police will come to my aid. That’s simply not true for most of the people who are targeted by fascists. The police are often their enemy just as much as the fascists are.
I hope there is a non-violent way to defeat the rising tide of fascism. But “let the police quell the fascist violence and then we’ll all be fine” is no solution.
Here’s an idea – don’t fucking let these groups assemble on public property. Take a stand as a society and say no, you cannot spew your hate speech here. Stop pretending that all opinions are equally valid and that agitating for all Mexicans to go back where they came from is the same as agitating for a living wage or protesting police brutality.
Especially considering this thread is regarding people in the US. The police here kill with impunity. That’s not even hyperbole. It’s several hundred a year.
@Alan
Two heroes! One on the bus, one in front of the library.
Thank goodness for them.
@ kat
Ooh, I’m only familiar with the chap who got stabbed; what happened on the bus? But yes, we owe gratitude and admiration to anyone who intervenes in circumstances like this. It’s a cliche that ‘Hero’ is an overused word; but when you take on someone with a gun and a knife it’s wholly appropriate.
@Alan
Ha, ha! I think that it was you who posted the article about the former US Marine who told some young men on a London bus not to swear. They turned on him and called him racist names. He stuck to his position, and later lots of people sent him messages of support. The guy seemed unfazed by the whole thing, although I’m sure it got under his skin. And he had no way of knowing whether those young men had knives or other weapons on them.
@ kat
Ah, right. Sorry, was conflating it with the Jo Cox killing.
Yeah, he was a real hero too; especially when you remember that it all started when he reprimanded the yobbos for abuse they were directing at other people.
It wasn’t a bus though, it was a tram. Mancunians are strangely proud of their trams; a transport system most other cities abandoned back in the 40s 😉
(Not that I can talk, Bradford was the last place in the UK to get rid of trolley buses)
@Cyberwulf
IMHO this is exactly the source of the problem.
In the States “free speech” is given so much worshipful lip service it’s meaning gets lost: it means the State can’t arbitrarily jail you for some non-criminal thing you say.
How it got stretched to include marching in the streets looking like literal Nazis, trying to literally intimidate people like historical Nazis…boggles. (At least we can pretend the Trump fan is a lone actor…but how about detain him for hate speech? A citation?) The very idea that “free speech” for Nazis/KKK/etc should include organizing racists for any reason should be a nonstarter: racist organizing by definition leads to violence and hate crimes. There is a reason giving speeches on Holocaust denial is illegal in Germany and other European countries: they recognize it is solely use to organize fascists.
All that said, fascism seems to be on the rise even in countries that literally lived through it, so something isn’t working across the board.
Antifa are dangerous thugs who are just looking to fight, they are not rightous , they are there just to start riots and they dont care if other people get hurt.
Yes neo nazis are scum of the earth but starting riots that dangers everybody is not the way to go.
@Viscaria
All too often they are the same actual people. There is a huge white supremacist contingent in American policing.
(And elsewhere in emergency services; I know someone from another forum who’s friends with one of the Sacramento victims, and one of her nurses was openly white supremacist.)
@polygunlucy
“I am calling out the liberals on this website for criticizing people of colour and their allies for using violence as a tactic when dealing with nazis. I am accusing you of being blinded by your privilege and of being racist.”
Sure, I’m privilege blind. So is David. As I said, I was all with you in your first post.
“THAT IS ALL. I am not instigating racial violence, I am defending the use of violence when dealing with nazis. Note that unless all white people are nazis, you cannot possibly arrive at the conclusion you are arriving at.”
Ok, got it. Not everybody, just Nazis.
Just so we’re clear; you’re in favor of instigating violence against Nazis. We’re not talking about responding to violence with violence, we’re talking about actually going out and instigating violence.
My opinion is that POC deserve to be able to defend themselves from violence using whatever means necessary. And POC who use violence to protect themselves are often viewed as the aggressors, which is a view that’s total bullshit and needs to change. I’m sure we all agree here. 🙂
@WWTH
“I don’t know if it’s your intent but you’re coming off as weirdly hostile.”
Not exactly my intent, but I certainly was feeling hostile and halfway towards giving no shits. Regardless, point taken. I was out of line.
For you, my intent is mostly to suss out your arguments, as I don’t think you’re saying what I think you’re saying.
“I’m aware that fascist ideology and misogyny go together and they’re perfectly capable of violence against women. That doesn’t mean they roam around looking for mainstream looking white women to beat up.
I don’t know. I don’t share your sentiments.
I’m not claiming to have it as bad, or worse than, POC, but I think that violence happy Nazis look for any opportunity to commit violence against people who they see as “less than”. Violence against women may not be “honorable”, but that’s the same as society at large anyway.
Maybe I just have more to lose from Neonazis than you do? I don’t think I even consistantly pass as “white” with them. It’s my “hidden racist” red flag when someone asks me what race I am when the rest of the time I’m “white”.
@BVH I’ll get to you later.
Elected officials and community leaders: Violence doesn’t reflect Sacramento
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article86957712.html
That just kind of proves my point that I have a lot of racial privilege and am not likely, compared to others to be a victim of neo-Nazi violence. I’m very, very white. Not as white as some people in my very Scandinavian and Germanic state because I’m not a blue eyed blonde. But pretty damn white. If someone gets my ethnicity wrong it’s because I often wear my hear red and people think I have more Irish ancestry than I actually do. So I’m confused a to why you were feeling hostile towards to me for trying to be aware that as a privileged person I don’t have the same experiences that a lot of people do and it’d be all to easy for me to be judgmental.
Completely agree on the racial privilege argument, which is why I’ve stayed out of this one (that, and I don’t really have enough time to get in internet arguments anymore).
@wwth: Is there significant anti-irish sentiment where you are? That’s played a (small) part in the history of the English speaking world, but I hadn’t realized it was still a thing.