F or anyone at Occupy Seattle that has heard about the neo-nazis entering our camp, please be aware of what is happening in occupy pheonix, and understand the necessity of defending ourselves.
[Note: I do not mean to frighten with this article. There is no way I could know all the details of the situations in Seattle & Phoenix, so this article is whatever you make of it.]
Based on what I have heard, in Pheonix, liberal occupiers were intent on including these individuals in the conversation to the point that the radicals there, who have the knowledge to identify neo-nazis and facists, simply had to abandon the occupation for their own safety and sanity.
Members of the NSM
Now, instead of passionate, inclusive and loving revolutionaries standing guard, the Phoenix occupation is patrolled by passionate, exclusive and hateful revolutionaries.
It has been said this the Occupy movement is tailor-made for the neo-nazi movement. Imagine how Hitler and the party originally sold their ideas – they brewed hatred against the Jewish People by demonizing “the 1%” so to speak- the “minority” Jewish merchants that played a role in the 1930′s & 40′s German economy.
In case you haven’t heard, the American Nazi Party endorsed the Occupy movement. Understand that neo-nazis also hate the government and the economic masterminds, and are also seeking revolution so that they may kill everyone outside of their clan. Even if at times these fascist groups have found ways to collude with government, they seek its demise just as much as the most passionate occupiers.
The communities of white-supremacists in Washington that I am aware of are strongest on the Olympic Peninsula and in Whatcom County.
The NSM, the National Socialist Movement, is the largest national-socialist (read na-zi) organization in the United States. This group is present in at least 32 states, and has been attempting to occupy space for their hateful ideas long before the #occupy movement began. Their slogans are:
“Putting Family, Race and Nation First while Fighting to Secure American Jobs, Manufacturing & Innovation”
“Fighting for White Civil Rights”
Here is the wikipedia entry on the party for further reading.
Never forget the capitalism nurtures racism. Down-trodden economies controlled and regulated from above quickly inspire scape-goating from the average person who can’t explain or resolve their own economic plight. Often that scape-goat is an entire race of people. Just think about the anti-immigrant backlash we see in the US as the economy decays, even though profit-maximizing CEOs have done incredibly more to take jobs away from domestic workers than any humble immigrant risking her life to cross the border.
—
We have formed an anti-fascist working group, which is seeking to protect the encampment from co-optation by nazis. The last two nights I dedicated myself from 2am to 6am in order to protect the small, but beautiful, liberated space we are occupying. I will not allow neo-nazis to gain power to the point at which they are a threat.
some beautiful antifa, in Europe I imagine…
Many have misconceived this patrol as a violent force. Please understand this line – this patrol is passionate about preventing violence that could be done to our camp. Our objective is to prevent neo-nazis from ever entering the camp, and from ever establishing a presence as they have in Pheonix. We will defend ourselves if we are attacked, but do not conflate this with a desire to create violence (we’re not toting guns, we’re not harassing drunks, we’re not looking for fights with campers).
Even in ideal Democracy, we are not obligated to respect the voices of self-identified bigots and white supremacists. I would argue that the only possible way to change their ways (and even this is hopeful), is to expel them from the community until their own solitude invokes a radical change in their behavior.
We must defend our occupations, and if you are not willing to do so, at the very least do not insult and impede those who are putting themselves on the line to protect you, to protect us.
Anti-Fa for Life
http://boingboing.net/2011/10/31/police-infiltrators-and-provocateurs-at-occupy-oakland.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29
Making me proud : )
I think it’s also good to point out that neo-Nazism is nothing new to the Pacific Northwest and is a too-seldom discussed blemish on the facade of political and social progressivity. Corvallis, Oregon has the largest neo-Nazi rally in the United States every year; in 2010 the Seward Park and Capitol Hill synagogues were sprayed with red swastikas; in 2008, the Jewish Federation was a target of a shooting attack by a man who thought “all Jews should die”. While working at the Washington State Holocaust Center in the Jewish Federation building for the last three and a half years, we received ant-Semitic calls monthly and threats at least once a year, something the Jewish community, regardless of political affiliation, is accustomed to. Neo-Nazis begin with discussions of wealth distribution and employment then move to the targeting of minorities, the Jewish community often being the first group, as is the neo-Nazi trend and the texts it follows (Henry Ford’s writings among them).
Thus, the Occupy movement is being faced with the bubbling up of existing tensions and existing cracks in leftist/liberal/progressive/radical (however you choose to describe it) efforts to repair socio-economic life together. In order to truly fix these problems, one must recognize how long they have existed and perhaps how long they have been ignored. In some cases, the neo-Nazis can make headway in leftist positions in the Israel/Palestine conflict or in anti-nationalist discussions. Sometimes, the line between the “facists” and the “radicals” must be constantly re-drawn and understood or it becomes too easy for just basic radicalism to infiltrate. In Germany, that also seems to be the work of the day.
really corvallis?