Fascists menace LGBT Pride weekend
Buffalo, N.Y., activists drown them out
By Beverly Hiestand
Buffalo, N.Y.
Progressive activists organized by the Buffalo
International Action Center and members of Radikats from the
State University of New York at Buffalo prematurely closed down
a white-supremacist rally here in downtown Niagara Square on
June 7.
The "Racial Nationalist Party of Amer ica," headquartered in
nearby Lock port, held a rally in downtown Buffalo in front of
City Hall at the same time the annual lesbian, gay, bi and
trans pride march was taking place elsewhere in the downtown
area.
The day before, right-wing bigots had held up huge anti-gay
signs along the route of the annual Dyke March. They did it
again at the pride march the next day.
The white supremacists had stated that their June 7 rally
would be two hours long. They hoped to capture media
attention.
But during the small ultra-right rally, Nazi leader and
spokesperson Karl Hand had to complain about the shouting,
taunt ing, dancing and drumming by progressive activists, which
totally drowned out his attempts to be heard over a
megaphone.
Drivers passing by in cars tooted their horns in support of
an IAC banner reading: "No hate mongers here or in the White
House."
After only 45 minutes, Hand and four supporters who had
stood next to him holding flags with swastikas gave up and
left. Only two people had showed up to listen.
The anti-fascist demonstrators who organized the protest on
only a few days' notice felt it was very important to not allow
the racist, anti-LGBT and anti-Semitic filth to go unchallenged
for even one moment.
Some 22 years ago, the same Karl Hand and his fascist band
attempted to hold a rally in the same location, City Hall, on
Jan. 15, Martin Luther King's birthday. They announced their
plans after a series of racist murders of Black men had shocked
the city.
In an exemplary show of strength, anti-racist forces
organized more than 3,000 protesters to march down Delaware Ave
nue in sub-zero weather to rally in front of City Hall, where
Hand and four others huddled on the steps--completely
surrounded and protected by Buffalo police.
Tom Scahill, one of this year's counter-protesters, also
took part in the 1981 anti-fascist mobilization.
He noted: "Hand and his followers felt emboldened by the
white supremacist murders in 1981 and saw it as an opportunity
to organize racist elements. How ever, after they saw the
anti-racist commu nity response, they went back into
hiding.
"Today they feel emboldened by the Bush administration's
racist attacks on civil rights--especially those of Arab,
Muslim and South Asian people. There are growing reports of
distribution of Klan and Nazi literature and exhibition of
racist objects being displayed on people's lawns--including
Confederate flags--in the upstate New York area.
"We have learned that the only way to stop these fascists is
to come out each and every time to push them back," Scahill
concluded.
He stressed that the anti-racist, pro-LGBT and anti-sexist
forces in Buffalo are strong. Over the last decade, progressive
activists in this city have successfully blocked three national
right-wing mobilizations that tried to close women's health
clinics that provide abortion and attack LGBT meeting
spaces.
Reprinted from the June 19, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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