Counter the Nazis or Ignore Them? (National Socialist Movement to Rally in Madison, WI)

Madison.com ^ | August 16, 2006 | Pat Schneider

[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."

[Lx]

LOL!

The picture has the flying Pinto wagon as well!

[backhoe]