Subject: [OMJP] RE: Proud of Olympia
Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2006 23:21:46 -0800

I too am proud of our new home of Olympia. [Name deleted] and I were out of town and 
did not know of the counterrally until too late. We are glad to hear how it turned out.

We have both witnessed and documented Nazi rallies and Chicago and anti-Indian 
hate mobs in Wisconsin. I'm reading with interest the debate that developed within 
the local movement this weekend. This kind of debate
has occurred many times in other cities responding to hate group marches. The 
debates seem to follow ideological lines, with people stating what they think is the 
approach that most suits their own values.

But many of the groups (such as the Center for New Community http://www.newcomm.org ) 
that have been studying these fascist groups for many years warn strongly against an 
"ignore-them" approach or a "rally somewhere else" approach for very PRACTICAL reasons:

1. Hate group organizers hold rallies not simply to attract attention or media, but to RECRUIT 
new followers. To not have a visible counterrally in the immediate vicinity means that local 
people could more easily attend their rally, with little risk of being recognized. Do we want 
some naive white high school kids attracted to the Nazis to start on
the path to ruining his or her life, and the lives of others in our community?

2. The fascist organizations hold rallies also as a "hazing" process for their new recruits.  
If the recruits feel there is little risk or stigma to participate, they become emboldened-- which 
usually means more violent. They feel safer to organize in a community that does not raise a 
strong visible response.

3. The groups also rally to directly instill terror in communities of color, and to marginalize 
other communities. A Center for New Community organizer told of us of a Klan rally that 
was only countered by a community response many blocks away.  An African American 
woman (who did not know of the counterevent) got off a bus nearby the Klan rally, and was 
terrified that no one in the community had stood up to the Klan.

Whatever our abstract values about pacifism or love/hate, here are good practical reasons 
to stand up to hate groups in visible and creative ways, and there is room for many diverse 
ways to respond. Some organizing tips are summarized in the training handbook "When 
Hate Groups Come to Town," by the Center for Democratic Renewal in Atlanta: 
http://www.publiceye.org/cdr/cdrwhenh.html

Congratulations on the rally!