Posted on 08/16/2006 4:54:30 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
To counter the Nazis or not?
That's the question facing Madison as planning begins for a rally at the State Capitol next week when the National Socialist Movement says it will gather to protest illegal immigration.
The No Nazis in Madison Coalition says the community cannot afford to ignore the hate message of the neo-Nazis and is calling for a peaceful counterdemonstration on the Capitol concourse.
"We're looking for massive peaceful numbers," said organizer Chris Dols. "We want people to bring their children."
Peter Munoz, executive director of Centro Hispano, argued against that.
"Just let them show their pathetic selves and hopefully they will leave town as soon as possible," he said. "We certainly don't want to give these folks any limelight."
Steven Morrison, executive director of the Madison Jewish Community Council, concurred.
"That does exactly what the National Socialist Movement wants any community to do," Morrison said today. "We don't find that a productive strategy."
The Jewish council is calling on members of the community to ignore the Nazis and instead attend a community picnic at their Verona Goodman campus - or make a donation to immigrant or other human rights groups, at a few dollars a head for each neo-Nazi who shows up.
The National Socialist Movement - which is promoting the rally to pro-white groups and offers the Nazi chant "Sieg Heil" on the recorded greeting at its contact number - has obtained a permit from the state Department of Administration to rally at 2 p.m. Aug. 26 at the Capitol.
Accommodating the group will mean the weekly Farmers' Market will close early, at 12:30 p.m., under an agreement reached with participating vendors.
Capitol Police are still planning their strategy on the rally day, DOA spokesman Tom Solberg said today. But Madison police officials expect to be called on to assist.
While he professes he understands the strategy articulated by the Jewish community, Salvador Carranza, president of LUChA, Latinos United for Change and Advancement, says he will be out on Aug. 26, standing against hate.
"They are trying to use the immigration discussion as a recruiting tool, trying to convince people that they are like everybody else with concerns about the influx of Latinos, and that what they are doing has nothing to do with hate and racism," Carranza said.
Communities United, a coalition of human rights groups in Madison, split this week on the issue, but voted not to endorse a peaceful counterdemonstration.
Latino activist Alfonso Zepeda-Capistran said that counterdemonstrators must send the message that "we welcome the immigrant community you are attacking."
Dols said that hate messages of neo-Nazis are just a more overt sounding of the "English-only" type of scapegoating roiling among the country's right-wing elements.
It's important to make that connection and take a stand, he said.
"We need to tell people, you have more in common with the low-income Latino immigrant, illegal or not, than you do with George Bush," Dols said.
He said the No Nazis in Madison Coalition has drawn support from the International Socialist Organization, the Milwaukee-based Anti-Racist Action, the Green Party, the Madison Area Peace Coalition and ACORN.
ACORN, a grass-roots organizing group working in Madison's Allied Drive neighborhood, has added anti-Nazism to its roster of concerns.
Alice Howard, president of the local neighborhood association, said Allied residents will join in the rally against the Nazis.
"We know they are only coming here to start trouble and we don't need any more trouble. We want to march for peace and unity," Howard said.
"The organized Jewish community has had so much experience with this," Morrison said. "When we proposed alternatives, it was based on a long experience in lots of communities."
Now that the media has fallen in love with middle eastern facists, maybe they will begin to see our home grown facists in a more favorable light too. Be more understanding in the name of "diversity."
Edmund Burke: "all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for men of good will to do nothing."
Counter them. I they don't get press, how will the SPLC raise money?
Attack with bricks, bats, and brickbats. Nazis deserve no safe forum.
On a more serious note, the reason why the socialists hate the nazis so much is because they are so much alike, they compete for the same dumb collectivists as members. This is why the real Nazis and the soviets hated each other so much.
Typical ACORN logic. "We don't want trouble so we're going to gather together in a big mob, get all charged up with anger and indignation, and then go confront those we hate and see if they "start" some trouble." Riiight!
"This is why the real Nazis and the soviets hated each other so much."
It's a family feud.
Either you are making a stupid joke that is not working, or else you are advocating unlawful violence. If the latter, that is a violation of Wisconsin law and a violation of the rules of this website. You should shut the heck up.
Nazi=Socialist.
(National Socialist Party.)
Democrats=Socialists
(Democratic Socialists of America)
I love it! I hope they get plenty of attention, as the National Socialists, so we can remind every one of the connection. Now if we could just get another group of idiots to connect socialism and fascism.
Voicing my opinion FRiend. Given the daily calls for extreme violence that permeate the forums, I don't think that I'm at all of the reservation.
My feelings about Nazis are fairly ferocious, and my opinion reflects that.
"On a more serious note, the reason why the socialists hate the nazis so much is because they are so much alike, they compete for the same dumb collectivists as members."
Bingo.
We had something like this happen in a town not far from where I live. About 3000 counter-protestors and media showed up and...about a dozen skinheads. You're walking a fine line between opposition and actually helping them by showing up. But me, I'd show up just to laugh at them.
Democrats=Socialists
Wrong kind of socialist. National Socialism is different from Marxist Socialism the way that a Box Jellyfish is different from a Shark. They're both dangerous, but in different ways and for different reasons.
Laughable. The neo-nazi socialist democrats hating the nazi socialist ku klux klan. They are the same ideology and both are fascist groups, both hate the nation Israel, both kill and murder people, both do not tolerate any thinking that is not politically correct, both are offspings of the red shirt southern democrats after the civil war. Crazy. Then throw in an illegal immigrant shaking their fists at the right wing.
Nuts.
Oh, you rasberried the socies. I would definitely think the socies are quite afraid of the Nazi's.
This is a tricky one. The U.S. constitution guarantees the right to assemble, and that's exactly what these people do. Regardless of how much you disagree with whatever they stand for, they've got that right. So if you decide to "attack with bricks, bats, and brickbats" because "Nazis deserve no safe forum", you're breaking laws, and soon enough comes the day that the laws that protect YOU, will be broken too. So in that case, you know where it comes from. The more attention you give this, the more recognition those clowns get out of it.
In past years, the word "Nazi" has been used for a variety of reasons. More often than not, people branded as Nazi's just held unpopular opinions, had no connection whatsoever with the national-socialist ideologies of the past, and were tagged "Nazi" to give them something to feel guilty about. Well, that's just as silly as having to feel guilty about the Crusades, when muslim fascists need to motivate their sickening acts of violence. Because that's what is happening, in case you haven't noticed.
Hey, the world has moved on. "Sieg Heil" is just as out of time as "Ave Caesar". Those days are over. O-V-E-R.
Could be worse. They could be Illinois Nazis.
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