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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 think people are legitimately afraid of neo-nazis gaining real political power in the US, in a way that hasn’t been a concern in decades.
“Don’t legitimize them with violence” is kind of a tough sell when there’s someone legitimizing them with a presidential campaign, and an entire subset of the internet legitimizing them with opinions and “facts”.
I think a lot of people, right or wrong, see this moment as a knife edge of history with one possible path bringing absolute disaster and are starting to take a harsher tone as a result.
Oh yes, the apocalyptic race war they so eagerly babble about. Umberto Echo wrote about 14 key features of fascism. One of them is especially relevant.
9. For Ur-Fascism there is no struggle for life but, rather, life is lived for struggle.
Thus pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. It is bad because life is permanent warfare. This, however, brings about an Armageddon complex. Since enemies have to be defeated, there must be a final battle, after which the movement will have control of the world. But such “final solutions” implies a further era of peace, a Golden Age, which contradicts the principle of permanent war. No fascist leader has ever succeeded in solving this predicament.
http://interglacial.com/pub/text/Umberto_Eco_-_Eternal_Fascism.html
David Futrelle.
Man these hate mongers are delusional. Thank goodness most people will not participate in their little race war.
“Antifas, how about leaving the bats at home next time? Don’t give the Nazis the fight they want.”
While I agree with the general sentiment, I fear that if Nazis want a fight they’ll get a fight. I’ve only got experience with the European ones, but they are perfectly happy to attack unarmed people without provocation, and are in fact are much more likely to attack the vulnerable and defenceless.
This group was clearly armed and out for a fight – the readiness to stab and the stupid home made shields and clubs show that. Obviously going armed to a protest is a stupid idea, but people who are protesting against violent fascists need to be careful about not getting isolated from their group. They should also be aware that Nazis are prone to beating up homeless people or other soft targets who happen to be in the vicinity of antifa demonstrations, so try and mitigate that. Extended and chaotic demonstrations where people want to prove their commitment by staying to the bitter end often end up releasing small groups of bored people roaming around looking for a fight.
Relevant:
…I can’t help but to feel someone took a bat for protection because nazis are scary shit and well, yeah. Sadly if they hadn’t been armed at all it might have been worse since well, these people are all about picking on and hurting those of us without a system to back us up.
The fatalist part of me sees it as inevitable and the logical conclusion of a corporatist media and the Narrativist takeover of the right wing. With more and more civil rights being defended across the board, and the undeniable fact that yes the capitalist powers within our lifetimes will gain the means of production, ultimately removing the human equation, the status and power of the middle class straight white man to them is starting to feel less secure.
This was always part of the us as part of the Right Wing propoganda machine, held in check by the rational actors who cynically uses hatred and bigotry to divide the masses to further their power and wealth. Over time though the people who bought into their propoganda found their way into the political sphere of influence and started taking over. The animals run the house, the corporatist democrats pay lip service while doing the bare minimum as to not offend their donors, and the media is already about by those same corporations.
Some of these extremists already know of these things, which are actual facts we live in a plutocracy where the rich get what they want and everyone else gets zilch. But instead of wanting to say get into the political sphere to help and benefit others or empower themselves to address the real problems of this country, they default back into Right Wing Rhetoric of blaming the flavor of the month minority to blame.
These nazis have made it clear that they’ll target a fan favorite of the fascists, whatever they deem to be communists. As we all know in this society a communist party of any sort even closely related to the EU is an impossibility, especially in a system where third parties are by design not allowed to breath.
It would be within my expectations to target the bankers read jews when they feel either particularly impulsive or when they deem the american people, or at least enough of the american people fall in line with their views.
We can look back at the entire Malheur incident and think to ourselves that was an incredibly frustrating time as right wing leaders wholeheartedly supported the sovcits and their literal acts of treasons, to the point of their utter humiliation at the Wildlife Observation Center, where they were revealed repeatedly to be an utter joke, and those right wingers who stopd for these bigots fled like the cowards they all are. I wonder how many times you can get away with that before everyone loses their peace of mind.
Of course no one other than Trump who regularly retweets inaccurate neonazi propoganda charts and graphs would support them and hesitate to outright be against the KKK. I would hardly believe that the Narrativists would ever allow themselves to bring their inner narrative out to the public in their collective ugliness. But I wouldn’t deny their increasing boldness, with “Make America White Today.”
After all say we do get more Malheur incidents where people can act like literal terrorists and so long as they are white, they get the literal privilege of being treated better by the corporate media. Even Dylan Rooth wasn’t labeled a racist bigot who is a horrid man, even up to the date of his execution.
And all the way back to my point of how this is all just to me is seeing a bunch of people bending the stick and seeing how far it’ll bend before it snaps, the people being those who wish to enact their bigotry like in previous years of US, the stick being the general media and politicians and the people subject to their actions, and the snapping being the general anarchy as people no longer feel safe.
But then again such an apocalyptic scenario wouldn’t happen yet. Sure we live in 1984 with militaristic propoganda, less rights to privacy and the NSA, but to have our leaders embrace naked fascism is something I sincerely believe the general public is not willing to allow.
Take a nice heavy walking staff. Looks innocent, doesn’t tend to escalate conflict, powerful for self-defense.
I tend to agree with the Wicked Witch of Whatever. It’s pretty difficult to protest neo-nazis pacifically. Got the living shit beat out of me several times by groups of four or five, who weren’t rallying, while I was alone and not counter-protesting, for so much as looking at them sideways. Granted, my appearance alone brands me as “the enemy” to them, so they never picked the fight randomly… but I wasn’t exactly looking for trouble. Not built for fighting either, and that’s how they pick their targets. Just a few months ago I almost got stabbed by a drunk asshole with a swastika tattooed on his neck because… because I dunno, really. Guess he didn’t like my t-shirt.
TL;DR if you’re going anywhere near those assholes, you’re faced with a choice : bring something to defend yourself and you’re definitely gonna have to use it, don’t bring anything and you might find yourself in a bad situation. Sure they’re “defending their free speech” but let’s be honest : they usually strike first.
Three choices then : beat them (they go into full victim mode), be beaten (they call it a victory), or stay away (also a victory). What do you do then ?
Oh and by the way. This is like the 404th “first major victory” they’ve had this year. Pretty much everything that’s happened since January was dubbed that. Get your shit straight, nazis.
My advice with these Neo-Nazis, blow them out of their fucking socks.
When a bully threatens you, punch him in the nose as hard as you can. Then threaten to cut their nuts off if they so much as look at you the wrong way.
You don’t deal with a coward and a bully peacefully, they’ll interpret that as a sign of weakness. Fight back and they’ll bolt like scared rabbits and later rage wank online to all their fucking coward friends.
Maybe I say this because I had family in Greece who fought actual fascists in WW2 and with Nazi sympathizers in the aftermath. These guys rode around made the fascists dig their own graves.
And I one hundred percent approve of bringing bats and rocks. That these Neo Nazi vermin aren’t languishing in a maximum security prison right now indicates a big bias in the part of the law and order system.
And these fascists plan to provide “protection” at the Republican National Convention. There’s no possible way that could turn bad.
Sinkable John,
Sorry you’ve been targeted by these fascist assholes. That sounds terrifying.
Hugs if you want them.
@weirwoodtreehugger
I’ll take all the hugs, ALL OF THEM, because life doth suck.
Incidentally, I live near Vichy. Yes, THAT Vichy. Town drove me into a psychiatric hospital last year. For entirely different reasons, sure, but it being a pilgrimage spot for nazis doesn’t help.
What about this term, “antifas,” ? A contraction, like Brexit, ScarJo, and Bennifer?
I’m no pacifist but I like the sentiment above about the walking stick. Be prepared for the worst.
On the other hand, knife-fighting went out with the Sharks and the Jets in West Side Story. If this is these mooncalves’ Lexington and Concord, it’s pretty evident we have little to fear in the long run.
@Moggie – These guys will be really super good at telling the two sides apart, defusing situations, and not reacting with hair trigger anger to imaginary slights and people who don’t “look right”.
Violent self-appointed biker security worked really well at Altamont.
I feel sorry for the Secret Service agents who’ll be working the GOP convention.
Buttercup Q. Skullpants:
That’s exactly the parallel that struck me when I read the story. I suppose one difference is that, this time, the security is “unsolicited”. The GOP could still say no.
George Nixon Shuler:
Jesus wept.
Random thought: we’ve had three tragedies in three weeks, and I think I see a pattern:
Orlando: One guy with a semi-automatic, several others with other guns, 50 dead (including the killer).
Britain: one guy with a homemade pistol and a knife: one dead, a couple wounded.
Sacramento: bunch of guys with knives, rocks, and homemade shields: 6 wounded. NO DEAD.
Sounds like a major victory for California’s gun control laws to me.
“Unfortunately, he’s probably right, at least about that last bit.”
Far be it from me to commit the niaiserie of being an optimist, but I’m not certain that’s so. OTOH, I couldn’t swear that you’re wrong, but I’m not sure that white nationalist extremists are all that attractive to young people or that white Millennial kids are going to line up to join their cause.
Anecdotes are not data, so I invite you to take this with a pound or two of salt…but nevertheless, here goes. Okay, so. I live in a part of the country which really is country and which lurks in the far West. Maybe about fifteen years or so ago it was one of the methamphetamine hubs of the world, and at about the same time, the Nazis/white extremists had a certain amount of capital out here, in all the senses of that phrase. Up to a point they had currency and respect, and there were some people who looked up to them. But it didn’t last: what happened is that the cops came in and busted up the meth business (thank God) and after that the White Power stuff went away.
(Nasty as the meth business is, it has to be said that, during the time they were busting it up, the cops didn’t do much killing nor did they even go in, in any major way, for the destruction or confiscation of property, and it’s hard to believe that it wasn’t because the meth business is conducted mostly by white people, with some native-Americans mixed in. Compare that with the demeanor the police assume toward the black community, where people get shot for petty theft or driving infractions or just for being in the way, and the contrast is severe — but that’s another issue.)
The White Power stuff didn’t go away all at once: it took a few years to fade. All the same, it’s pretty much gone now. Now, being a Nazi or holding ideas similar to theirs is no longer cool (to the extent that it ever was). It has about it the flavor of being a tweaker; you’re messed-up and twitchy and the cops are after you; and you stand a decent chance of having been to prison or of being headed that way. Not good. Worse, the cops are after you, not only the local police but their Federal counterparts. As a plan for the future, that’s just not attractive. Life threatens to be challenging enough for the kids who are coming up just now and I don’t know if they want to sign on for all of that. (JMO.0
“Unfortunately, he’s probably right, at least about that last bit.”
Far be it from me to commit the niaiserie of being an optimist, but I’m not certain that’s so. OTOH, I couldn’t swear that you’re wrong, but I’m not sure that white nationalist extremists are all that attractive to young people or that white Millennial kids are going to line up to join their cause.
Anecdotes are not data, so I invite you to take this with a pound or two of salt…but nevertheless, here goes. Okay, so. I live in a part of the country which really is country and which lurks in the far West. Maybe about fifteen years or so ago it was one of the methamphetamine hubs of the world, and at about the same time, the Nazis/white extremists had a certain amount of capital out here, in all the senses of that phrase. Up to a point they had currency and respect, and there were some people who looked up to them. But it didn’t last: what happened is that the cops came in and busted up the meth business (thank God) and after that the White Power stuff went away.
(Nasty as the meth business is, it has to be said that, during the time they were busting it up, the cops didn’t do much killing nor did they even go in, in any major way, for the destruction or confiscation of property, and it’s hard to believe that it wasn’t because the meth business is conducted mostly by white people, with some native-Americans mixed in. Compare that with the demeanor the police assume toward the black community, where people get shot for petty theft or driving infractions or just for being in the way, and the contrast is severe — but that’s another issue.)
The White Power stuff didn’t go away all at once: it took a few years to fade. All the same, it’s pretty much gone now. Now, being a Nazi or holding ideas similar to theirs is no longer cool (to the extent that it ever was). It has about it the flavor of being a tweaker; you’re messed-up and twitchy and the cops are after you; and you stand a decent chance of having been to prison or of being headed that way. Not good. Worse, the cops are after you, not only the local police but their Federal counterparts. As a plan for the future, that’s just not attractive. Life threatens to be challenging enough for the kids who are coming up just now and I don’t know if they want to sign onto that program. Personally, I doubt it.(JMO.)
Hmmmm. Not sure if I agree with this. Take the bats but don’t use them first, would be my advice. I don’t believe that antifas don’t have the right to counter protest. If they attack first, they’re wrong and should face consequences. However, one of those Nazis is already on film pushing and physically assaulting a Black woman at a Trump rally. He suffered zero consequences for that assault. Counter protesters don’t have to tolerate being assaulted for exercising their First Amendment rights. So they are free to take weapons with them to defend themselves against any attacks from Nazis.
Just my 2 cents.
That’s an interesting correlation there between drug dealing and white supremacists – it’s not the first one I’ve heard of either, and here in France I’ve seen more than correlation.
Dunno what their stance is in the US, but here they’re the same people who call for “death penalty for drug dealers” (never mind that we’ve abolished the death penalty, they want it back). Of course they’ve only ever heard of “colored dealers corrupting the white youth with marijuana”. Now our laws prevent us from making “ethnic statistics” which means I don’t have cold hard numbers to back this up, but I’m pretty sure the american reality is somewhat similar : young colored people are much more often the victims of much nastier drugs which they supposedly “corrupt whites” with. As far as France goes, those are the same nasty drugs which I’ve seen handled and sold by… white supremacists.
The irony is so thick you could scoop it up and heat it in a spoon…
As an old goth and expunk I gradually watched my subculture fade from relevance. Gatherings petered out, we got old. Raging against the machine is hard when the machine lacks a face and we have kids.
This is not how we expected to become relevant again, but…
At least here, the punk movement was always antifascist.
It is indeed a contraction, for “anti-fascist”, or in this case, “decent human being”.
And I agree with others here: Take the weapons, but don’t use them first. These cowards are gleeful for a fight, but I say let them start it.
Off topic. Negging totally works on female dogs*. I was watching someone about to get rejected from The Bachelorette and said “no rose for you.’ This caused Bailey to come running over and nuzzle me. Frame; held. I suspect that it would not have such an effect on cats. Will file a field report later.
* Not really. It was getting to be dinner time and the slightest little movement or sound was getting her in a tizzy.