30 protesters face major charges
Anti-racist youths try to stop Nazi march
Fascist bus demolished in Baltimore
By Sharon Black
Washington, D.C.
Hundreds of anti-racist and anti-capitalist youths gathered
in Washington, D.C., Aug. 24 to protest a march by several
hundred neo-Nazis at the U.S. Capitol. D.C. police armed with
pepper spray and garbed in riot gear escorted the National
Alliance, a neo-Nazi group, from Union Station to the Capitol.
Police outnumbered both groups.
Protesters, angered by the neo-Nazis' white supremacist and
anti-Semitic messages, surged into the street to stop their
march. They were pushed back by riot police. Bricks and bottles
flew through the air.
The protesters were Black, Latin, Asian and white, and also
Arab. Many young supporters of the Palestinian cause came out
to show that their opposition to Israeli occupation has nothing
in common with the neo-Nazi's anti-Jewish venom.
Police attempted to wade through the crowd, tackling and
throwing people to the ground, and arresting individual
anti-racist protesters. But they met with resistance.
Surrounding protesters came to the aid of those being
brutalized by the cops, allowing them to break free.
The standoff between police and protesters continued for
some time. Youths ran through the city's streets while police
maneuvered to keep up until both groups had reached the
Capitol.
Leon Swain, a member of AFSCME Local 1072 who participated
in the anti-racist protest, proclaimed: "You can see clearly
which side the police are on. Their backs are toward the Nazis
and they are facing the people who are opposed to racism with
their nightsticks and guns."
Chuck Kaufman, a representative of the Nicaragua Solidarity
Network and ANSWER--the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism
coalition--stated: "Bush and the Pentagon have created an
atmosphere of war, racism and hate which has given a green
light to these fascists.
"We must organize to stop the National Alliance and Bush's
war on Iraq."
Nazi bus demolished in Baltimore
Earlier that morning, neo-Nazi organizers had planned to
board four buses to Washington at the Baltimore Travel Plaza.
But anti-racist protesters thwarted their plans. There was a
battle and one bus was demolished. Windows were broken and gas
grenades exploded inside the bus.
Press accounts claimed that one National Alliance member was
hospitalized and several others injured. Baltimore City Police
were called. Twenty-eight protesters were arrested, including
their attorney, Larry Hildes.
One 16-year-old woman was charged with 23 counts of assault.
Other protesters have been charged with serious felonies,
including aggravated assault and possession of a deadly
weapon.
Not one neo-Nazi was arrested or detained!
Repression continued into the evening. Without warrants,
Baltimore City Police raided a local youth hangout. They later
arrived at the Progressive Action Center, a meeting space for
anti-globalization activities. Activists at the center refused
to allow police to enter and called the news media.
The police--who had drawn their guns in an obvious attempt
to intimidate people--left the area, but continued to follow
individual cars.
APC provides refuge
Activists then took refuge at the All People's Congress
(APC) Hall.
Renee Washington, a volunteer organizer for the APC, was
providing security as six police cars sat outside. She said:
"We are not intimidated by the police. The best antidote for
this kind of repression is to organize the people."
Washington's fiancée was the victim of a police
killing several years ago. She has remained an activist in the
fight against police brutality and for justice.
Youths and community supporters maintained a vigil in front
of Central Booking, where the anti-racist prisoners remained in
jail over the weekend. Local anti-racist and community
activists are planning a defense campaign to support them.
All of the protesters were released on bail by Aug. 26.
In his book "The Klan and the Government: Foes or Allies?"
Sam Marcy, the founder of Workers World Party, pointed out:
"The two most formidable and preponderant elements in the
capitalist establishment--Big Oil, that untrammeled octopus
which pervades every nook and corner of social existence in the
country, and the unbridled military--are the most prone to
promote lawlessness and extra-legal, extra-parliamentary, and
paramilitary force to gain their ends.
"They, together with the military-industrial complex, are
the very infrastructure of contemporary capitalist society.
"It is they who finance the growth of a thousand-and-one
single-issue, reactionary organizations and who cannot but look
benignly upon and covertly finance KKK and neo-Nazi thugs. To
them it is just one more covert operation which for public
purposes is out-of-bounds of the legal framework of the
capitalist government."
Marcy's book, written in the Reagan era, is equally relevant
today, with a U.S. war against Iraq looming and the economic
crisis of U.S. workers intensifying.
War, racism and repression by the capitalist state are
fertile breeding grounds for fascist goons. Only the
mobilization of the workers and oppressed can stop them.
Reprinted from the Sept. 5, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyrighted
under a Creative
Commons License.
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