"NO PASARAN!" ANTI-RACIST STUDENTS AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS CHALLENGE WHITE SUPREMACY

ARA attended a march and rally in opposition to white nationalist Nick Griffin at Michigan State University over the weekend. Although the event wasn't part of the official "Islamofascism Awareness Week" organized by David Horowitz and his "Freedom Center," it was clearly linked. Both relied on racist caricatures of Arab and Muslim folks, both represent organized rightwing forces gaining legitimacy in the US, and both were vigorously opposed.

About 75 of us gathered at the Rock on MSU's campus before marching to the Vet Med Center to confront Griffin and his racist handlers in Young Americans for Freedom (YAF). There, students and community members exposed Griffin and the British National Party for the hate group they are. After the rally, almost everyone went into the auditorium to confront Griffin. Once inside, audience members again and again challenged Griffin on his racist views. He quickly abandoned his prepared notes and opted to receive questions from the audience. After continued interruptions, those opposed to Griffin called for an "Anti-Racist Walkout" and left the auditorium. Outside, they continued their opposition by chanting anti-racist slogans.

Nick Griffin's main purpose at the event was to whip up anti-Muslim frenzy by claiming that Muslim people in the US seek to impose sharia law on the country. He cited uprisings throughout Europe not as the militant responses to white supremacy that they were, but as examples of Muslim barbarism and the need for an organized "defense of white interests." He explained his opposition to capitalism not as an affront to basic values of democracy and anti-racism, but as a reaction to the forces of globalization which are "reducing human diversity" and reducing humanity to an eventual "mud race" of all ethnicities.

Again and again, he tried to warn of the "threat" Islam posed to "Western values" such as democracy. The irony of the statement was clearly lost on one zealous Nazi, who at one point burst out, "What about self-determination for the West?" Apparently determining itself as well as the affairs of most of the world wasn't enough for this young man. He would prefer if self-described white people in the US and Great Britain also had the right to lynch black folks, Jewish folks, queer folks, and anyone else who tries to pursue such paltry "rights of self-determination" as living where we choose, or loving how we choose.

One glaring absence at the event was Zionists who claim opposition to anti-Semitism. Earlier in the week, they had shown their method of opposition by encouraging people to write letters to the Board of Governors at Michigan State. How ridiculous that the same people that call ARA anti-Semites and protest our events refuse to protest (or do much of anything) when proven anti-Semites speak in the United States, even when their events are organized and MC'ed by known neo-Nazis! These folks then condemn the protest tactics used by people they should be in solidarity with on the basis of a shared opposition to anti-Semitism and all forms of racism. And finally, they have the nerve to label as "fascistic" those anti-racist activists who shout down Nick Griffin and refuse to let him speak! One wonders if it is anti-Semitism they oppose or anti-Zionism. (See third comment)

Don't they know that these are the popular democratic tactics that have been used to defeat fascism in the streets throughout the anti-fascist struggle? Don't they know that Nick Griffin is opportunistically appealing to free speech so that he can speak around the country and advise other white supremacist groups about tactics they should pursue in order to gain power? Don't they feel the need, like other democratic-minded people of good conscience, to oppose fascism in the streets? Don't they know that if they don't oppose it in the streets, they will have a much harder time opposing it when it has state power? Don't they know anything about the genocide whose history they use and abuse over and over again?

They don't. And yet they embarrass themselves by criticizing those at the forefront of the anti-racist struggle. ARA is not surprised. Time and again, we have had to fight against weak-kneed liberals who prefer to avoid confronting fascism directly. These liberal Zionists are no different. Rather than confronting and defeating fascism in the streets, they propose the hypocritical writing cure. Write letters decrying the board of governors for allowing racists to speak at MSU, but have tea parties with the Wayne State board of governors. Write blogs about the threat of Nick Griffin, but let him speak and organize. Make up and publish nonsense about anti-racist activists, but condemn them when they confront fascists who wish to murder Jewish folks, people of color, queer folks, and anyone who disagrees with them. They have no principles.

The next time the Nazis come to town, we know where we will be, and we know where Zionist cowards will be. They will be at home writing strongly worded letters to members of congress and other elected officials who consistently side with white supremacy. ARA will be in the streets, making damn sure the slogan "Never Again!" will never again be necessary.