http://www.ainfos.ca/ainfos12745.html A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E http://www.ainfos.ca/ http://ainfos.ca/index24.html ________________________________________________ I went to my first anti-nazi demo today. The occasion was the much ballyhooed National Alliance rally against Israel. The weather was probably the worst it has been all summer; hot and really humid. The nazis rallied on the front lawn of the Capitol and the good thing was that the anti-fascists outnumbered the fascists. There were tons of cops on hand to protect the fascists, which shows how pathetic these New Age fascists really are. I talked with a variety of Anti-Racist Action folks, local activists, and people who have been to many of these recent National Alliance rallies. They were all pleased with the turnout for our side, which I would estimate at around 300. If you add in the 30 ARA and anarchist activists arrested in Baltimore this morning, you could say that the turnout was pretty good for such a miserable day. The veteran organizers said that this was the best turnout of anti-fascists in several years. The National Alliance had predicted a turnout in the thousands, but when I counted them at Union Station and again on the Capitol lawn, I could only count slightly more than 250 of them. Most of these idiots were men, with half of them being skinheads and the rest being older, weird looking guys. I don't know, I didn't find these guys to be that scary, since they wer taunting the crowd from behind lines of riot cops. The weekend of anti-fascist events kicked off last night, when several anti-fascists <http://dc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=27833&group=webcast"> walked around a neighborhood in Edgewater, Maryland, where they passed out flyers to the neighbors of Steve Smith, owner of SS Regalia records, which is a nazi music label. Our guys even ran into Smith when he was jogging, which prompted him to run for the nearest tree. It seems like this action--raising awareness about where nazis live--is probably the most promising counter-fascist organizing tool. Early this morning, a group of ARA activists jumped a chartered National Alliance bus at a travel plaza outside of Baltimore, MD. This pre-emptive attack prompted the nazis to spill out of their bus and start fighting. The cops eventually showed up and around 30 anti-fascists were arrested. There was quite a turnout of anti-fascists in front of Union Station, where the police were helping the NA stage from. Folks were drumming and holding up banners. There was a pretty big ARA turnout from the East Coast and Midwest. Eventually the National Alliance marched down the parking ramp with a huge police escort. At this point I was across the street scouting, which put me in an interesting spot to watch what transpired ast the nazis marched in front of the counter-demo. There were lots of words exchanged between both sides.The anti-facists starting throwing projectiles. I had to move away from the street because I was in the line of fire. At one point I saw a cop drop a cobblestone behind his back that had been thrown by our side. I was kind fo surprised that more shit wasn't thrown, but the police presence was pretty large. The nazis shouted some really lame stuff at the anti-fascists, including lame lines like "Go home and smoke your dope" and "Take off your masks." The nazis marched up Deleware Avenue to the Capitol grounds with a huge police escort. The anti-fascists marched through the park and end up between the reflecting pool and the National Alliance rally. Not much transpired for an hour, other than some skinheads coming down the hill to incite the anti-fascists. After about an hour, the police marched the National Alliance back to Union Station where they were run through a guantlet of anti-fascists. The police were out in force today, both the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Capitol Police. They had two choppers in the air and their equestrian unit. I spent most of my time trailing the undercover guys (we got pictures of many of these guys). I discovered undercover guys from the Fairfax County (VA) and Montgomery County (MD) police departments. The police were pretty restrained the entire day, relying on their numbers to intimidate both sides. Still, I found quite a few weaknesses in their scenario and deployment. It was good to see so many folks turn out for the counter-protest. I was pretty disappointed with the poor turnout by the National Alliance. If I had paid anything for this sorry spectacle, i'd be asking for my money back. The National Alliance will be having a show tonight at the Armory in Towson, Maryland. I've been told that quite a few anti-racists will be there to kick them out of Baltimore. Donate to Infoshop.org: http://www.infoshop.org/feed_infoshop.html _______________________________________________ infoshop-news mailing list infoshop-news@infoshop.org http://www.infoshop.org/mailman/listinfo/infoshop-news