Milwaukee coaliton builds anti-Nazi protest for Sept. 3

[Bolshy]

0
(http://www.workers.org/donate/)

[YSR]

Anybody got deets on what's actually going on with confrontation on this?

[Particles]

Good on them, why Nazi rally's are even allowed to be held is beyond me.

[Rusty Shackleford]

2000 showed up against 30 nazis.

[Nuvem]

I was there yesterday.
When I arrived in West Allis with a delegation from the Detroit WWP, it was clear that the police forces were in full mobilization. At about 11:30 as I sat in a local restaurant eating my lunch with 6 of my comrades, I saw more than a dozen squad cars and three armored police vans drive past. We finished eating, got our gear together and assigned jobs for the first rally, before the Nazi arrival; hand out leaflets, Workers World newspapers, hold banners, the usual business of doing outreach to the counter-demonstration crowd. The crowd was a strange one; many "peace and love" liberals, other liberals defending the "right" of the NSM members to hold this rally and to say whatever they please. The smell of marijuana drifted through spots of the crowd, but I never saw anyone in the act of smoking. Loudspeakers blared out Michael Buble's greatest hits and people danced in the street as it started to rain. The small city hall was surrounded by police officers on all sides, as was every street on the block- I would estimate somewhere between 200-300 police officers, but it's difficult to pin down. Most of the officers on the street were in full gear- body armor, helmets with shield, riot batons, sidearms, pepper spray. Those who were behind the barricade surrounding the city hall weren't armored, but had full-sized riot shields instead along with their batons, side arms and pepper spray, and several of them had riot guns. One had a full-sized six-cylinder rotating riot canon, others had single barrel versions. Friends took bets on whether they were rubber bullets or tear gas. There were somewhere around six to eight mounted units on location riding particularly large black horses. Officers on the roof of the city hall observed us with binoculars and took photos. The speakers took the stage for the counter-rally, and the messages of the day were clear: "peace and love", "defeat the darkness with light", the usual fare, until Chance Zombor of the FRSO took the stage and gave us a fiery speech about the hideous nature of fascism and the necessity to combat it energetically and uncompromisingly. There were more speakers to follow, but duty called; the Nazis were taking their place in the courtyard of the West Allis city hall, a spot behind the police barricade, two rows of shield and gun-toting officers and a seven foot tall chain link fence. There, they started to congregate and pin up NSM and traditional Nazi flags, as well as a couple of Confederate stars and bars and even a Polish national flag- there were more than a few American flags in their midst, more than the counter-demonstrators were carrying. The counter-demonstration kicked up and many more started to arrive, with the crowd swelling to somewhere probably in the range of 2000. Around two dozen Nazis filled the courtyard across from us, with around 6-7 more standing by a local gas station directly across the street. They reached the courtyard by going through the back door of the city hall and out so that they could pass unmolested- a kindness the local mayor afforded them.
By now, there was pouring rainfall and periodic strikes of lightning and thunder. I joked with a friend, "What is this, Lord of the Rings? Are we in Helm's Deep?"

The neo-Nazis hadn't yet taken the microphone when I positioned myself along the very edge of the police barricade and unfurled a burning red soviet flag. I held it high into the air and it waved there, the soaked cloth flicking water droplets each time the wind whipped it forward. Immediately cries of rage exploded from the crowd behind the fence and they collectively began flipping me off or throwing a straight hand salute in my direction. A man with a pair of blue camo pants and a blue t-shirt with a black hammer and sickle crossed out and circled waved a blackened version of the classic "Don't Tread on Me" flag threatened to kill me and threw me the bird- I enthusiastically encouraged him to come out from behind the fence and cross the police line. It wasn't until I saw the local news some 2 hours after the demonstration that I saw that the same man had a tattoo on his left elbow identical to the image on his shirt. Loud-voiced "activists" from the Nazi side of the divide started to shout something about "Jewish Communism", "Bolshevism", and so forth- a trend they continued for the remainder of the event, increasingly after they got on the microphone. They mentioned me specifically numerous times throughout their speeches- "THAT YOUNG MAN OUT THERE WITH THE COMMUNIST FLAG (something something something) JEWISH COLLABORATOR". Most of what they had to say was drowned out by the counter-demonstrating crowd.

http://www.bluecheddar.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/west-allis-counter-protesters.jpg

You can see in this photo the size of the counter-demonstration as well as some degree of the police presence. You can also spot my flag in the crowd down the way.

Here we see the opposite side of the city hall building, and an example of the gear of the officers who were outside of the barricade. The chain link fence in the background enclosed the Nazi rally, though this was taken before it began.

http://www.bluecheddar.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/copsATneonaziRALLY-WEST-ALLIS.jpg

Some of the Nazi crowd:
http://www.trust.org/resize_image?path=/dotAsset/8ae631b7-1757-4768-8a7f-8412ba59501f.jpg&w=649

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0dxecYQ8dCaPN/610x.jpg

The first Nazi we saw yesterday, for some reason my friends and I believe he looks incredibly familiar- interesting, considering much of their delegation yesterday was from Detroit. He wore that flag as a kilt for most of the demonstration.

Physical fights almost broke out on several occasions, especially between Nazi sympathizers on the counter side of the barricades and near the gas station across the street where white pride advocates stood openly in pro-fascist T-shirts and shouted derogatory remarks at black youth in attendance. They were guarded by a mounted unit and a van full of riot police for the whole affair, and when violence loomed they were cut off and we were shoved backwards by almost a dozen riot police and 4 mounted units on very large horses. The fascists on the opposite side of the police blockade clapped and laughed at us. Tempers flared in this manner several times, but physical violence never broke out; there were simply too many police who were too well organized and outfitted. Even ANA didn't dare to break the barricade.

After two hours of the Nazis trying their hardest to get their message heard, raving about Jews and Communists, they finally packed up and went home. We took our last chance to heckle them as they exited the city hall through the side door and made their way to the parking lot under strong police protection.

"HEY, I'm from Detroit too! What's your address there?!"

"Where's your Detroit office?!"

"Hey sweetheart, what's your office address? Watch your window for my molotov!"

They threw us the bird, shouted at us under our own derision. After a few minutes they'd all hauled their corpses back to their cars and back towards home.

Overall the event was a victory for the counter-demonstration. The Nazis were relegated to a very small area, were mostly drowned out, and their ultimate goal of recruiting more to their cause was a failure. No marching, no message, just swastikas- lots of swastikas, which serve in this period only to alienate the majority of the common population. Five people were arrested in all, two for having weapons and three for disorderly conduct. I didn't witness any of these arrests.

[Nuvem]

Ho22Txs6NwM

Chance Zombor of the FRSO speaks just before the Nazi demonstrators arrive.

[Nuvem]

Some more photos of the event courtesy of my good friend Comrade Cavanaugh.

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/296157_281097495240933_100000220539213_1352704_141 6905_n.jpg

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/302491_281097638574252_100000220539213_1352707_779 5116_n.jpg

In the above photo you can see my good friend in blue holding the blackened "don't tread on me" flag.

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/319641_281098211907528_100000220539213_1352726_831 8824_n.jpg

Throughout the entire demonstration, the Nazi crowd claimed that whites were being victimized by the "marauding black hordes" of the Milwaukee area and claimed to be a "white civil rights group".

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/314860_281099088574107_100000220539213_1352751_447 3243_n.jpg

Pro-Nazi elements standing across the street from the fenced-in demonstration openly wearing white pride clothing. This crowd was harassing minorities throughout the affair and some time after this photo was taken fights would almost break out 3-4 times in this spot, each time intercepted by the nearby mounted and riot police.

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/309387_281096405241042_100000220539213_1352693_182 3985_n.jpg

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s720x720/305311_281096141907735_100000220539213_1352688_580 7735_n.jpg

Nothing angers Nazis more.

[Rusty Shackleford]

how cute, they have banners that are chain-link mountable.

[Leftsolidarity]

T'was a fun day indeed, I'll get up some more footage soon Nuvem. Noth found some good pictures and in an article we were referred to as weirdos with hammer and sickle flags and shirts.

[Jose Gracchus]

Ho22Txs6NwM

Chance Zombor of the FRSO speaks just before the Nazi demonstrators arrive.

This guy openly talks about black and brown workers being better-off collaborating with their 'own' shopkeepers and business owners. He's an ethnic nationalist, not a communist.

[Leftsolidarity]

This guy openly talks about black and brown workers being better-off collaborating with their 'own' shopkeepers and business owners. He's an ethnic nationalist, not a communist.

I took that video and have had the chance to talk with him. He is a good and valuable comrade.

It's amazing how fast armchair revolutionaries decend upon any comrade actually doing something.

[Jose Gracchus]

I'm talking about things I've actually seen him write, ut whatever. I guess so long as you perform some social work or 'do something' then automatically your politics becomes principled and favorably subject to some simple questions of fact, such as "what is communist politics"? And I'm pretty sure no class-collaboration between the workers and bourgeois is at the top of the list.

[Killer Enigma]

That's why you're on revleft and Chance is leading a rally. I'd be careful talking so much garbage about people on the left who you supposedly know because a significant number of people on here know who you are too and what you (don't) do. For someone who talks about class struggle, your resume is rail-thin.

[Jose Gracchus]

So do you think 'brown' workers should be obliged to sacrifice their political independence to 'their' shopkeepers and business owners?

[Killer Enigma]

I think you should get some experience organizing anything before anyone will take you and your imperious opinions seriously. You can't come on here, talk the trash that you do, and expect no one to notice. Some of the stuff you write borders on cognitive dissonance, as if you're completely oblivious to the fact that you're the archetype armchair revolutionary.

[thriller]

Fuck that! Holding my Wisconsin flag? Assholes. Anyhoot, wish I had more notice of this, would've gotten over to Milwaukee with my comrades asap.

[Nuvem]

how cute, they have banners that are chain-link mountable.

I guess it follows naturally for a group that would get kicked shitless if it dared to demonstrate without a barricade, 7 foot fence and 300+ riot police.

[Leftsolidarity]

I'm just upset at how peaceful it all was. I was more physical and got in more confrontations with the annoying pacifists playing police than the actual racists and neo-Nazis.

[Leftsolidarity]

These are all the videos I have from the rally. I know at least one of these videos have been posted already but now it is all in one spot. The last video is my personal favorite of when I got over into the white pride area.

JWumKU1eGeo

pQQ8WaODMMw

mHl6oo4MHlw

QCRRz81VNfY

N9-PlHKDLC0

Ho22Txs6NwM

B34jaPxkUbY


Ok, now you can post your comments of "Oh Leftsolidarity, you are such an awesome video taker, handsomely mysterious with that bandana on your face, and so extremely brave for standing up to those Nazis. Lets make love and make revolutionary babies together."

[Leftsolidarity]

fuck how do i make the video embbed?

[Madslatter]

fuck how do i make the video embbed?
embed with the video number

such as: [YOUTUBE]pQQ8WaODMMw[/ YOUTUBE] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQQ8WaODMMw)

Great vids LeftSolidarity and nice writeup Nuvem!

Wish I had been able to make it.

[Leftsolidarity]

I need to have an article about the rally written and turned in for the school newspaper by tomorrow. I'm trying to stay "un-biased" but it's so hard to not just be like "They are simply racist reactionary trash that are pushing an extreme right-wing agenda that benefits the white upper capitalist class of the country. None of them deserve the fucking air they breathe."

I have a feeling that wouldn't get published though.

[black magick hustla]

I think you should get some experience organizing anything before anyone will take you and your imperious opinions seriously. You can't come on here, talk the trash that you do, and expect no one to notice. Some of the stuff you write borders on cognitive dissonance, as if you're completely oblivious to the fact that you're the archetype armchair revolutionary.

lol ur mad. why not try address what he says? "the worst product of fascism is antifascism".

anyway whatevs the FRSO are a bunch of nerds and dweebs that still live in the cold war continue doing what you are doing, nobody gives a fuck about you anyhow

[black magick hustla]

btw i once organized an antinazi march too everyone hates nazis. it didn't change one bit anything but made me feel important. continue the historical roleplaying game guys i just got myself a nice new monitor

[Sasha]

@ black magick hustla; i have asked you enough times too either debate respectfully or stay away from this section,

infracted