Rapidly mobilizing against neo-Nazis in London, Ontario

Mar 14, 2011

Rapidly mobilizing against neo-Nazis in London, Ontario

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A mainstream press article recently announced that there would be a 50 person neo-nazi rally at city hall, here in London, Ontario -- the following day.

efore the rally, the press repeated police Superintendent Bill Merrylees' suggestion that anti-hate counter-protestors would create "problems," while a 50-person neo-nazis rally would not.

A counter-protest rally and pre-meeting were called through word of mouth.  Some people came out to that anti-hate rally because they heard about it at a hip hop show the night before the fascist 'rally' was supposed to happen.

This was the online call-out -
"COUNTER-PROTEST THE NEO-NAZI RALLY IN FRONT OF CITY HALL TOMORROW AT 1PM. PRE-MEET AT WILLIAM'S CAFE ON RICHMOND & CENTRAL AT NOON. SPREAD THE WORD!"

We made some anti-hate signs, less than an hour before the counter-protest.

One activist also brought a speaker that we used to play Woodie Guthrie and Billy Bragg versions of "All you fascists bound to lose."

At city hall, only two people with nazi affiliations showed up to their rally -- with signs about fluoride!

Journalists were there as well.  Here is how the 'London' 'Free' Press covered what happened that afternoon.  The video shows a confrontation with a neo-nazi.  Yet, the Sun Media staffers played up stereotypes and drama, without delving into the basic issues. We were a more diverse group than they suggest.  It isn't true that everyone there was an "anarchist,"  and some of us also didn't wear bandanas.  Not all of the bandanas were black, either.

The confrontation in the video also was a brief moment in that afternoon. The anti-fascist rally went on afterwards, while the press quickly left, after they had the material they wanted.

Those of us at the counter-protest couldn't tell you why the fascists had fluoride signs, or why an article about a 50 person neo-nazi rally was released the day before.  But you can start to read about the local neo-nazis on the Wikipedia pages located here and here.

For more notes about the photos, see the individual pages in the photo set on Flickr.