Other cities have used this very effectively. In some cities, people pledged funds for each minute that the hate
groups held their rallies, raising thousands of much needed dollars. When the hate groups left, the community was
strengthened not diminished in their work to address injustice.
We want to take up the same constructive actions in Lansing. Please join us by making a pledge against hate and help
fund Toledo, Ohio - October 2005
The experts we talked to also advised us that neo-Nazis and other hate groups return to communities where they get a desired response, such as large protests, extensive media coverage, and violence or rioting resulting in the arrests of the protestors.
One recent example is Toledo, Ohio. The National Socialist Movement, the same neo-Nazi group organizing the upcoming rally in Lansing, went to Toledo in October 2005. Although there was less than twenty of them, they marched through a predominately African American neighborhood with their hate speech. Violence broke out and the city declared the situation a riot, arrested protestors, and put the city under curfew. 419 media outlets covered the story. The curfew was an injustice to all Toledo residents, but affected the low income residents the most. Police presence was heaviest in the African American neighborhoods so that movement was restricted and people intimidated.
The neo-Nazis, boasting of their success on their websites and to other pro-white groups, organized a second rally in Toledo for a couple of months later, in December 2005. This time, Toledo organizations encouraged people to stay away from the rally. The city of Toledo, fearing another riot, clamped down on the city that day with huge police forces costing tens of thousands of dollars to the city's already limping budget. Civil liberties were suspended that day and no protest zones created. The police brutalized nonviolent protestors, causing legal observers and peace team members to make public statements against the police and to file lawsuits against them for their egregious behavior.
One recent example is Toledo, Ohio. The National Socialist Movement, the same neo-Nazi group organizing the upcoming rally in Lansing, went to Toledo in October 2005. Although there was less than twenty of them, they marched through a predominately African American neighborhood with their hate speech. Violence broke out and the city declared the situation a riot, arrested protestors, and put the city under curfew. 419 media outlets covered the story. The curfew was an injustice to all Toledo residents, but affected the low income residents the most. Police presence was heaviest in the African American neighborhoods so that movement was restricted and people intimidated.
The neo-Nazis, boasting of their success on their websites and to other pro-white groups, organized a second rally in Toledo for a couple of months later, in December 2005. This time, Toledo organizations encouraged people to stay away from the rally. The city of Toledo, fearing another riot, clamped down on the city that day with huge police forces costing tens of thousands of dollars to the city's already limping budget. Civil liberties were suspended that day and no protest zones created. The police brutalized nonviolent protestors, causing legal observers and peace team members to make public statements against the police and to file lawsuits against them for their egregious behavior.
posted by Keep Lansing Diverse Admin at 4/11/2006 11:40:00 PM
7 Comments:
http://oknotes.blogspot.com/2006/04/deep-organization-call-to-possibility.html
The Ashes of Toledo
Toledo is burning, and has been for quite some time. The national news crews have left since the riots of last October subsided; the activists who swarmed the streets have returned home, and recounted their actions in the pages of Clamor and Workers World. But Toledo is still in flames, engulfed by the same mix of racism, working poverty and police brutality that caused it to erupt in the first place.
Toledo is a small, ethnically diverse city in Northern Ohio. It was also the target of a recent campaign by the National Socialist Movement, or “America’s Nazi Party,” who planned to rally outside a local public school and a march through a predominantly black neighborhood on the city’s north side.
There were two reactions on the part of community members to the Nazi’s impending invasion. City politicians and community leaders staged a forum called “Erase the Hate” in a local church, and scheduled it to coincide with the Nazi’s events. Their idea was to take people off the streets, embrace the general notion of tolerance, and allow daily life to continue uninterrupted.
Members of Anti-Racist Action and the International Socialist Organization, two national leftist organizations with divergent platforms, planned a different type of action. Both groups decided to enter Toledo and agitate for direct confrontation with the Nazis. After a few days of ARA and ISO leafleting, the word of a counter-demonstration had spread through the mostly black community.
The idea of a counter demonstration proved popular in Toledo. Along with the largely white, young, and non-Toledoan ISO and ARA organizers were crowds of local sympathizers – mothers and children, working class blacks, whites and Latinos, and, purportedly, a large number of proud gang members. The Nazis chose to remain behind police lines and rally without a march. They hurled insults at the crowd, until someone in the responded with rocks. Suddenly, several protesters were throwing debris, trash, shoes, and more. In a quick and random retaliation, mounted police officers kicked into the mass of demonstrators and arrested a young black man wearing a Cincinnati Reds hat.
Rather than silence the community, the police response further enraged them; bottles and rocks were now directed at police, in addition to the Nazis. With overwhelming force, the police launched “knee-knocker” wooden bullets, mace, percussion grenades and a thick cloud of tear gas into the streets. “Which side are you on?” cried one woman. “I don't see you pushing any Nazis back!” In fact, the police would soon escort the Nazis to safety outside the city limits, while continuing to drive community members from their own streets.
Wounded but empowered, the crowd dispersed throughout neighborhood. Gangs huddled together and planned actions. Groups of young black males smashed windows and emptied stores. Town leaders and the organizers of “Erase the Hate” gathered at a local intersection, and urged the increasingly militant protesters to go home. Fire Chief Mike Bell, flanked by Mayor Ford and Reverend Mansour Bey, shouted, “for the last couple of hours, we have tore up our own neighborhood ... The Nazis are gone!”
But nothing changed. It wasn’t just about Nazis anymore. As the protests grew to a full-scale riot, and the balance of power shifted from the ISO and ARA organizers to militants within the community, the target shifted from Nazis to local elites. Seen as the armed guards of white supremacy, the Toledo police became the real recipients of the community’s long-suppressed aggression. In a final, highly symbolic act of rebellion, Toledoans set aflame Jim & Lou's Bar, a local establishment seen by some as a white-only hangout for cops and politicians. Gang members successfully kept the fire department out until the bar burned to the ground.
At the end of the day, police had arrested over 120 Toledoans. The national media swarmed around the ashes of Jim & Lou’s, and spun a tale of young black gangsters unleashed on a passive police force. By this time the activists who had originally encouraged active resistance had scattered; the community was left prey to the police, and subject to the same factors (far beyond the Nazi activity) that had planted the seeds of rebellion in the first place.
So what happened last October in Toledo? Two major activist organizations brought their agendas and analyses to Toledo and found a surprising amount of support in an enraged and divided community. But as quickly as they arrived, they were gone. There was no long-term community involvement, no effort to learn from the people they were organizing. Intentionally or not, they exploited a split in the local community, rather than contributing to a consensus within it.
The “activists” brought their analysis to Toledo; they did not bring Toledo into their analysis in any meaningful way. Perhaps most importantly, while encouraging a community to risk its safety and stability, outside participants failed to invest their whole selves – their bodies, minds and spirits – in the struggle for more than one afternoon of demonstrating.
The “activists” were shortsighted; they came to stage a mobilization against an almost cartoonishly obvious enemy. But the so-called “gangsters” of Toledo took the long view. They linked the one-time presence of Nazis to the every-day realities of white supremacism in their community and country, and they took violent action. And it is they who will suffer the consequences alone – arrest records, community divisions, and an undeserved reputation as the perpetrators of inexplicable violence.
Some would argue that the main error committed in Toledo was the decision to focus primarily on a Nazi rally, instead of the structural inequalities it represented. Provocations like those attempted by the National Socialist Movement are often just the tip of a much larger iceberg, and can bring into bold relief the systemic brutality that lies below. But so long as mobilizations only deal with the iceberg’s tip, they will continue to unite activist networks and street organizations temporarily at best. To bring groups together across boundaries of race, class and geography often requires more than an initiating event; it takes an openness to dialogue, and a commitment to long-term engagement.
The much-discussed Common Ground Collective in New Orleans is one such example. Common Ground, founded in part by former Black Panther Malik Rahim, has already turned heads in activist networks for its speedy and diverse response to hurricane Katrina and the institutionalized white supremacy it exposed. Collective members claim to have distributed over 75 tons of food, clothing and health supplies to over 40,000 people in the Lower Ninth Ward and Algiers neighborhoods of New Orleans. The Collective’s list of projects and facilities is also celebrated – the organization coordinates (among others) a free medical clinic, a guerilla radio station, home repair teams, legal support, a community gardening and bioremediation project, and a women’s center complete with self-defense courses.
Yet crucial to these accomplishments is the manner in which they’ve been achieved. The enthusiasm surrounding Common Ground stems not just from its achievements, but also from the perception that the collective successfully joins broad activist networks and a self-organized, historically oppressed population. In so doing, Common Ground must balance the needs and leadership of its community with the input and solidarity of outside activists – generating a tenacious resistance where, many thought, it had been destroyed.
Again,
Bill are you going to print a retraction on your website about the huge lie I caught you in? And come on now, do you really expect us to by this shit with this blog?
The article posted in this comment seems to be criticizing the violence and criticizing the lack of community understanding that went into the planning by the activists in Toledo. The article talks about addressing "structural inequalities" through "openness to dialogue, and a commitment to long-term engagement." Long-term engagement of an openness to dialogue sounds like a peaceful, non-violent, and community enriching action.
We support non-violence and as plainly stated on the blog, disagree with direct protest of the rally in Lansing. We have no association with LCAN and have no secret agendas. Our sole purpose is to offset racist, hateful speach with a positive influence in our community and many are signing up to that cause.
Please join us.
Admin...did you bother to check out who Bill White is?...
An armature's oversight to be sure... I can’t tell you the personal frustration it has caused. But considering the content of the article and the disturbing time-span from when the blog was posted to when Bill's comment was added, it seemed inconceivable that he would represent the very thing we are working against. Please accept my apologizes for the mistake and thanks for the comment.
to keep lansing diverse admin
I seem to be a little confused about your statement on LCAN. From what I have read of LCAN they are NOT advocating violence. Yet you imply they are violent through your avoidance of their action-plan. Do you view all “direct” protests as violent? Please explain
recentrash,
Terribly sorry for any confusion in the comment you refer to. This does require more explanation. We are in complete agreement about LCAN not advocating violence. Some background here would help… The statement about LCAN was in response to an untruthful press release that Bill White sent out stating that this initiative is a front for LCAN and that both LCAN and this initiative were in some way advocating violence in Lansing, particularly against police. No part of this claim is true and as learned in recent days, Bill White has a well developed history of untruthful statements.
Direct protest, built on a platform of non-violence is most certainly and obviously not violent. LCAN has established itself as a non-violent action group and I am confident that they also have no secret agendas. With that being said I would encourage you to read the introduction and explanation section of the blog as it explains in depth the motivations of this initiative. Although identifying with LCAN’s desire to oppose racism in a non-violent way, this initiative is seeking an alternative to a protest at the rally. So with Bill White’s false press release and the intentions of the Keep Lansing Diverse Initiative in mind, please take another look at the section you refer to.
"We support non-violence and as plainly stated on the blog, disagree with direct protest of the rally in Lansing. We have no association with LCAN and have no secret agendas."
While still poorly worded and out of context I hope this comment makes more sense after some background information and explanation. Again, I am very sorry for the confusion and can only hope this clears things up.
Thanks very much for your comment.
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