bcbm
15th October 2009, 18:43
On Sunday, October 11 at the Embassy Suites hotel in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, antifascists mobilized to confront Holocaust-denier David Irving with the aim and intent of disrupting or shutting down his book-signing tour and speaking event.
Irving is a notorious pro-Nazi antisemitic historian who concentrates on downplaying or denying the Holocaust while attempting to absolve Hitler of responsibility for the Third Reich's genocide. He has associated or publicly agreed with ultra-right, fascist or neo-Nazi ideas and organizations for almost half a century. He has been deported or refused entry into numerous countries and was imprisoned in Austria for “glorifying and identifying with the German Nazi Party”, a punishable crime there.
He is currently on a countrywide tour here in the United States, attracting various sized crowds of white supremacists, anti-immigrant xenophobes, and 9/11 conspiracy theorists in a variety of venues which include churches, hotels and diners.
We in Iowa became aware of Irving’s arrival about a week beforehand, thanks to the call out by Trenton Anti Racist Action on Infoshop.
Due to a number of prior disruptions and shutdowns, the venues where his events occur are not announced until 30 minutes beforehand and are announced only to people who have preregistered and prepaid to attend. In the past, different forms of redirect points have been used, but despite these security measures, all it takes is a little work to discover the location.
Shortly prior to the start of his event, we learned that it would take place at the Embassy Suites hotel in downtown Des Moines. We spread the phone number of the hotel throughout our phone network and internet. Others reposted the request to call the hotel and let the business know what we thought about them allowing someone like David Irving to hold events at their establishment. This tactic frustrated and seemingly overwhelmed the phone lines, blocking them up and creating busy signals.
We entered the hotel and immediately began looking for possible meeting places and areas. Thanks to a Phoenix New Times article, we knew what Irving's personal assistant, Jaenelle Antas, looked like. Unfortunately, while clearly looking for a place in the lobby to hold the event, she spotted us and got spooked. She talked to the front desk, then jumped into an elevator. We saw which floor she got off on and all headed up there, temporarily avoiding security/management walking towards us. We lost her and then split up, circling different floors of the eight story building.
The hotel was sparsely populated. Nearly every room with lights on was either being cleaned out or clearly empty. It seemed to be the case that, frightened, Irving, Antas and whoever else was with them turned off the lights in their room to make it appear unoccupied.
The hotel security/management had been alerted to our presence, and soon caught up with some of us and said we needed to leave. Several of us split off while some were escorted out of the building. Those of us who were still left played a multifloor and elevator game of cat & mouse, continuing our search for Irving while evading the security/management.
As five police vehicles and a K9 unit arrived, we decided to regroup outside and discuss our next move. Six police officers eventually walked over to us and asked what was going on. When we told them who Irving was and what he represented, the cop talking to us eye's widened. Despite this surprise, they, of course, relayed to us that the hotel was private property and we were not paying customers. Two of us walked back in with a police escort and attempted to rent a room, but the hotel refused our money.
Embassy Suites will rent rooms to Holocaust deniers but not to the antifascists opposing them.
Eventually, because of the nearly deserted downtown and the prospect of guaranteed arrest if we re-entered the building, we decided to leave. Despite the lack of a real confrontation, we declared our intervention a success. Their meeting was confined to a hotel room, with one attendee, who's vehicle apparently became angry and forcefully burst the air out of its own tires.
We showed Irving that there are people in Iowa that will make it as difficult as possible for him and his ilk to operate openly. We crashed his party, and the handful of misguided fools who showed up to hear him speak were forced to settle for a mere 'stop and chat' with Irving in a private hotel room with the lights off instead of meeting in a public area. We hope that communities and assorted antifascists across the country will greet him as warmly as we did for the remainder of his tour.
Signed,
Iowa Antifascists
Irving is a notorious pro-Nazi antisemitic historian who concentrates on downplaying or denying the Holocaust while attempting to absolve Hitler of responsibility for the Third Reich's genocide. He has associated or publicly agreed with ultra-right, fascist or neo-Nazi ideas and organizations for almost half a century. He has been deported or refused entry into numerous countries and was imprisoned in Austria for “glorifying and identifying with the German Nazi Party”, a punishable crime there.
He is currently on a countrywide tour here in the United States, attracting various sized crowds of white supremacists, anti-immigrant xenophobes, and 9/11 conspiracy theorists in a variety of venues which include churches, hotels and diners.
We in Iowa became aware of Irving’s arrival about a week beforehand, thanks to the call out by Trenton Anti Racist Action on Infoshop.
Due to a number of prior disruptions and shutdowns, the venues where his events occur are not announced until 30 minutes beforehand and are announced only to people who have preregistered and prepaid to attend. In the past, different forms of redirect points have been used, but despite these security measures, all it takes is a little work to discover the location.
Shortly prior to the start of his event, we learned that it would take place at the Embassy Suites hotel in downtown Des Moines. We spread the phone number of the hotel throughout our phone network and internet. Others reposted the request to call the hotel and let the business know what we thought about them allowing someone like David Irving to hold events at their establishment. This tactic frustrated and seemingly overwhelmed the phone lines, blocking them up and creating busy signals.
We entered the hotel and immediately began looking for possible meeting places and areas. Thanks to a Phoenix New Times article, we knew what Irving's personal assistant, Jaenelle Antas, looked like. Unfortunately, while clearly looking for a place in the lobby to hold the event, she spotted us and got spooked. She talked to the front desk, then jumped into an elevator. We saw which floor she got off on and all headed up there, temporarily avoiding security/management walking towards us. We lost her and then split up, circling different floors of the eight story building.
The hotel was sparsely populated. Nearly every room with lights on was either being cleaned out or clearly empty. It seemed to be the case that, frightened, Irving, Antas and whoever else was with them turned off the lights in their room to make it appear unoccupied.
The hotel security/management had been alerted to our presence, and soon caught up with some of us and said we needed to leave. Several of us split off while some were escorted out of the building. Those of us who were still left played a multifloor and elevator game of cat & mouse, continuing our search for Irving while evading the security/management.
As five police vehicles and a K9 unit arrived, we decided to regroup outside and discuss our next move. Six police officers eventually walked over to us and asked what was going on. When we told them who Irving was and what he represented, the cop talking to us eye's widened. Despite this surprise, they, of course, relayed to us that the hotel was private property and we were not paying customers. Two of us walked back in with a police escort and attempted to rent a room, but the hotel refused our money.
Embassy Suites will rent rooms to Holocaust deniers but not to the antifascists opposing them.
Eventually, because of the nearly deserted downtown and the prospect of guaranteed arrest if we re-entered the building, we decided to leave. Despite the lack of a real confrontation, we declared our intervention a success. Their meeting was confined to a hotel room, with one attendee, who's vehicle apparently became angry and forcefully burst the air out of its own tires.
We showed Irving that there are people in Iowa that will make it as difficult as possible for him and his ilk to operate openly. We crashed his party, and the handful of misguided fools who showed up to hear him speak were forced to settle for a mere 'stop and chat' with Irving in a private hotel room with the lights off instead of meeting in a public area. We hope that communities and assorted antifascists across the country will greet him as warmly as we did for the remainder of his tour.
Signed,
Iowa Antifascists