On April 17, the No Nazis in L.A. Coalition, initiated by the Black Riders Liberation Party and Anti-Racist Action-Los Angeles/People Against Racist Terror, dealt a serious setback to the National Socialist Movement (NSM), one of the largest and oldest openly Nazi outfits in the US. We helped mobilize thousands of counter-demonstrators who surrounded and impeded the NSM rally on the south lawn of Los Angeles City Hall. The Nazis and their police protectors were met with people's righteous anger as the NSM tried to slink off under police cover after their rally ended.
The non-permitted counter-demonstration united a very diverse combination of opponents of racism and fascism. The BRLP mobilized broadly and deeply in the Black community in particular, calling for a one-day truce among the sets and street organizations like the Crips and the Bloods, to confront the real enemies of the Black community. As a result, there was a much more significant participation of Black people than is normally seen at downtown rallies. But other communities were also represented within Coalition and also responded to the call. This included the Southern California Immigration Coalition, many young Mexicanos, Central Americans and other indigenous people, Asians including contingents from BAYAN-USA, a Filipino group, an LGBTQ contingent, and people of European descent including from ARA-LA and Phoenix ARA, AWARE-LA and Anti-Racist Inland Empire. Labor activists were involved in the coalition, and present at the counter-demonstration. Coalition efforts to alert the Jewish community to the threats posed by the neo-Nazis right after a commemoration of Hitler's genocide against European Jewry helped bring out Jewish anti-nazis as well. We defended and reach out to the disabled. We drew international coverage for our size, militance and diversity. There were other successes besides the counter-demonstration itself. We succeeded in preventing the NSM from linking up with other local racist and fascist forces. Immediately after the protest, police cracked on a white power street gang in the Inland Empire area, who had apparently been involved in ambush attacks on local police as well as anti-immigrant violence and street organizing. But these elements did not show up in L.A. or unite with the NSM, which had been seeking to incorporate them. Neither did the old-line Holocaust deniers of Orange County, who had their own activity with Canadian white supremacist Paul Fromm (which we learned about too late to counter), but who stayed away from the NSM. The No Nazis in L.A. Coalition also established three key political points. We said that the basis of unity for opposing the Nazis had to be supporting human rights and liberation struggles, that we would not accept police 'pens,' and that the police and the state are part of the problem. The diversity and banners of the crowd were a testament to the embrace of our first point of unity, and the anger and fire directed at the cops along with the Nazis demonstrated the validity of the third. In this context, the BRLP in particular felt their participation paid tremendous political dividends in the base of their organization in the Black community and their efforts for building a truce and revolutionary consciousness among Black youth. There was also significant participation by the predominantly Black downtown homeless community, which had participated in building the coalition. Also as a result of our stance, the police were not able to require permits or to set up the kind of metal pens and roadblocks that they had at recent previous NSM rallies in Riverside. As a result, many people were able to physically confront both the Nazis and the cops unhindered. There were, however, weaknesses in the anti-nazi effort that should be acknowledged. First of all, many "left" groups basically refused to unite with the leadership of the Black Riders and the unity of supporting human rights and liberation in opposing fascism. Thus, many groups organized independently and separately, including ANSWER, the FSP, RCP, ISO, Progressive Labor, and the Spartacists, most of whom sniffed briefly around the No Nazis in L.A. Coalition before separating off. On the day of the counter-demonstration, this manifested itself in a variety of separate contingents each posting up with their own sound system and chants. This interfered with the "No-Nazis" plan to maintain a moving picket line that could outflank the cops and the Nazis and enjoy the widest possible freedom of movement for counter-demonstrators. We had a related internal weakness, as the composing contingents of the constituent organizations that made up the Coalition, including BRLP, ARA, BAYAN, Southern California Immigration Coalition, IWW, IAC and other grassroots groups also tended to break out into separate segments, rather than staying together to provide a dynamic, moving leadership to the rally. As a result of these twin factors, we were not able to maintain the mobile picket line that we first established. As the crowd swelled, the police were able to close off two side streets with tape and thereby hem in the counter-demonstrators, so as to escort in the Nazis for their short rally. Without dynamic leadership, the counter-demonstration became more of a static crowd scene, swarming as any Nazis appeared (including one man with Nazi tattoos, apparently homeless, who proceeded directly out of the new LA police headquarters across the street and into the crowd, where he got smacked down.) In the somewhat chaotic situation, the Coalition was unable to either raise funds for its efforts or accumulate contact information from participants in order to maintain an ongoing relationship. Despite these weaknesses, the April 17 mobilization was an overall success, and an embarrassment to the NSM. This was somewhat mitigated several weeks later when a group called So-Cal Anti-fa, not affiliated with ARA or the No Nazis Coalition, was able to track down the NSM to their home/headquarters in Riverside. Ignoring efforts to contact them and develop a more strategic approach, they organized a poorly attended confrontation with the Nazis on the day of the NSM meeting, which they gave advance public notice of. The Nazis were thus forewarned, the anti-nazis outnumbered, and the NSM was able to post you-tube videos of themselves chasing off anti-fascists (whom they falsely identified as ARA) and challenging two Brown Beret elders to "debate." Better and more strategic use should have been made of such successful intelligence gathering. Hopefully future efforts will deal the NSM further setbacks.--MN/ARA-LA (The above appears in the current summer issue of "Turning the Tide" available from ARA-LA/PART, PO Box 1055, Culver City CA 90232 or on-line in pdf format at www.antiracist.org (click on "publication") ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:la...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/la...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com laamn-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: laamn-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
