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Any reports in English, comrades? Very interested in hearing how Anti-fascists resisted this.
Never say, you weren't warned
When they come to drag you away
To silence the dissident hiding in us all
They clench the fist of ordained might
From which side of the barbed wire
Do you want to see your life pass by?
I don't know if there's any english stuff written on the matter, but some of the more important things:
- The nazis were fewer than ever, around 500. They've been shrinking since the early 00s, when they were around 2000. In the meantime, their other big manifestation on the swedish national day (6th of july) isn't arranged any more, at least not in the center of Stockholm.
- A couple of hundred people disturbed the nazis with vuvuzelas and other loud things when they held their speaches. A lot of firecrackers was thrown at them. Later, smaller and bigger groups of antifascists was around their march, and while the police managed to keep the two sides from each other, the nazis seems to have been pretty afraid. There's a video of them (on youtube) screaming and mostly sounding extremely stressed out.
- Two groups of nazis accidently attacked each other, instead of the "commies". Great job...
- The after talk from them on their pages seems to indicate that a lot of people are disappointed, both with the dwindling numbers, but also with the police not being able to stop things thrown at them, and their own inability to do anything (except beat each other)
- Numbers for our side (this is somewhat guessing, as i was 600 km away when it all happened...): 1500 in the "We are the 94 %"-demonstration, arranged by the non-parlamentarian left; 500 in the LO (the dominant social democrat union) and VP (the only big ex-communist party) demonstration, which was arranged a couple of hours later; 500+ making noise and protesting directly against the march, both peacefully and with more offensive tactics. Mostly from the earlier "We are the 94 %" demonstration.
About 2000 antifascists in total but the event was 6 hours and at the end it was just swarms of people in the old town of Stockholm on every street trying to reach the nazis so it is impossible to say. The police could not handle the situation at all, some minor confrontations and a lot of throwing things. One nazi had a bomb exploded in his face badly injuring his eye.
Nazis trying to get to their demonstration. They are shouting "stay togheter", "get back", "forward", "RUN!"....
+ YouTube Video
Nazis getting some flares: http://tv.expressen.se/nyheter/inrik...ar-i-stockholm
Oh holy mother of christ, he looks possessed.
Never say, you weren't warned
When they come to drag you away
To silence the dissident hiding in us all
They clench the fist of ordained might
From which side of the barbed wire
Do you want to see your life pass by?
awsome, they sound scared shitless
so sad i missed it
The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven. What matter where, if I be still the same, And what I should be, all but less than he Whom thunder hath made greater?
Here at least We shall be free
Video of two nazi-groups attacking each other by mistake
+ YouTube Video
It felt great being there with you comrades, after this big ass failure no one will hopefully dare to try to arrange another "salem" march!
The Sweden Democrats (the 'respectable', parliamentary face of Swedish Nazism) pulled approximately 5% of the vote in the 2010 elections, so the organization that put the counterdemo together - STARK - decided that the 5% of Swedish workers et al. who actually voted for the SD shouldn't be counted.
Well, since I was there, I guess I could give you a little more detail - at least about the parts I was involved in.
A couple thousand people from different organizations met at Kungsträdgården - a large park in downtown Stockholm - around 12 noon, and there were some speeches and live music to get in the mood. Following that there was a march to the 'ljudiska konspiration' (as mentioned above), with a few more speeches and such. Both of these were a kilometer or so away from the neo-Nazi march and rally, I suppose to allow people who hate fascists but don't agree with confronting them to get involved.
After the International Noise Conspiracy (sorry, couldn't resist) there were arguments and calls made to go down to the Royal Castle in Old Town and get as close as possible to the Nazis to shout them down. I think this was about 1 or 2 PM, I don't exactly remember. But I'm pretty sure at least a thousand people to begin with went on to the counterdemo.
The cops had cordoned off the area and put police vans in between the Nazis and us; the closest we got was probably about 30-50 meters away. We were loud and proud out there; we kept up chants and boos for a good three hours (including Swedish versions of "Whose streets? Our streets" and "Nazi OUT, Nazi OUT, Nazi Nazi Nazi OUT OUT OUT"). Whoever said firecrackers were being thrown is wrong; those things weren't firecrackers, they were homemade petards. Big friggin' boom.
I didn't witness the Nazis attacking each other, unfortunately, but I did hear about it later and it was hilarious. Apparently the march split off at some point in the route and when they joined back together the more excitable idiots in the lot automatically assumed the other side was the counterdemo. Commence throwing of bottles and other crap until everybody realized who the other guys were.
In any case, the Nazis failed in getting their message out to the general public; they were blocked off by police vans and drowned out by the continuous noise from the anti-fascist crowd within earshot. They finished off with a torchlight march after the sun had set (this was about 4 PM) so it was easy for the hundred or so of us who remained to get an idea of how big their rally was. Easily a couple hundred people, but as noted it wasn't one party but several trying to scrape an event together.
Personally I don't agree with the tactic of throwing homemade explosives; sure, it rattled the Nazis good (and that's the least they deserve) but it probably also rattled people who showed up to counterdemonstrate. That's not something we want to achieve in building a mass opposition to fascist organizations.
Oh, and just for fun, a pic from early on in the demonstration to give you all an idea of the size. *removed personal identifying information*
Last edited by Sasha; 22nd December 2011 at 15:08. Reason: identifying information
Two very good friends who deserve all the exposure they can get.
Dave Zirin - Edge of Sports
Alex Billet - Rebel Frequencies
That's a really cool picture, I'm assuming those are the anti-fascists?
Yeah, I recognize the background. The position of the buildings is consistent with the location of the counterdemo. The Nazis were pretty much right in front of that white building and further along towards the left; the Royal Castle is out of frame to the left.
Two very good friends who deserve all the exposure they can get.
Dave Zirin - Edge of Sports
Alex Billet - Rebel Frequencies
They aren't Nazis. If they were, they'd all be arrested. At least that's how I think it works in Sweden, I had a Swedish friend a while ago who used to tell me all of this shit.
They aren't arrested, and they are indeed Nazis. I've seen them stage rallies and marches around Stockholm, usually under heavy police guard because they've applied for permits and all that rigmarole.
Two very good friends who deserve all the exposure they can get.
Dave Zirin - Edge of Sports
Alex Billet - Rebel Frequencies
And they filmed it and put it online
Great demo and thanks to all the swedish comrades for taking care us while we were in Sweden, ive probably met some of you at the demo or at a 'certain' cafe in Stockholm.
The only crappy thing was being arrested by the cops after the demo and then being bussed off to suburbs.
“To revolt is a natural tendency of life. Even a worm turns against the foot that crushes it. In general, the vitality and relative dignity of an animal can be measured by the intensity of its instinct to revolt.”
