What's the best community response to a Nazi rally?

[undeterred]

They're coming to Madison WI today.

I'm going to leave town before they get here, going to Sensenbrenner's district to drop literature for Bryan Kennedy: www.bk2006.org (There are 5 Nazi groups in Sensenbrenner's district, so I'm going to go while they're not home!)

[LWolf]

1. Two or Three.

To ignore them completely, so that they marched down deserted streets, no one looked at them, no one responded in any way to them, would be the most powerful.

But only if you could get ALL media to join in the ignoring, so they weren't getting any county, state, national, or international attention for their efforts. Talking to the wall is not that rewarding.

Since a media blackout is unlikely, to say the least, a massive show of silent resisters, if you can keep them silent, would be the next best thing. Not resisters yelling, or carrying signs. Or even marching. Enough resisters to line both sides of the entire route crowds deep, all with their backs turned. Perhaps with their hands clasped forming a chain along both sides, front, and back. Is it possible to get that many people strong enough to resist responding?

[undeterred]

2. I think the whole thing is going to be very noisy and unproductive

There are going to be 250 police. It makes me angry that city money has to be spent on that.

[Selatius]

3. In the 1920s and 1930s, we used to fight them in massive street brawls

Back then, politics and violence were more inter-married than they are today. I'm not advocating a return to the massive street brawls that were witnessed in Europe at the time, but a part of me is--I admit--tempted to do so.

[citizen snips]

31. Now that sounds fun

but the fascist scum that they are I think they will break the rules and pull out a gun.

[porphyrian]

4. Ignore them completely.

Their resolve is strengthened by both supporters and protesters. If no one shows up at all, they're alone and they realize it.

[Salviati]

5. ridicule

I think that this would have been a perfect opportunity for some enterprising theater students to put together a "rally" to mock the nazis. Something in the same spirit as the benny-hill-esque broadcast in V for Vendatta...

[elocs]

7. A "V" response would be cool.

One other response might be to go and to turn your backs and say nothing, showing your utter contempt for them since the police will be there to watch your backs. Although the Madison police were pretty much like Nazis during the antiwar demonstrations there in the 1960s.

[Matariki]

10. you mean like thousands of people wearing masks

perhaps masks of hitler while wearing a frilly pink tutu? so their ridiculousness is staring back at them?

[elocs]

16. No, if you are there in person, simply turn your back and say nothing.

The Nazis want people to get out and shout and scream at them in order to provoke some kind of confrontation either with them or with the police.
Go there, but ignore them. The opposition shown by your silence and backs will be powerful.

[Matariki]

38. I didn't understand what you meant by "V" response

it made me think of the movie, which made me think of masks.

[elocs]

42. What I meant was...

the "V for Vendetta" idea was interesting (it's one of my favorite movies and I re watched it last night for maybe the 6th time), but another idea would be to stand silently with back turned. Actually, the backs turned idea came from a high school basketball game from many years ago where the kids stood up and simply turned their backs when the opposing team was announced. I thought it was poor sportsmanship, but it certainly displayed their contempt.

[Homer Wells]

6. One and Two

Show up in great numbers, and have a great counter-rally. This has been shown to be effective in countering the Skinhead, White-supremacists types,(read KKK), from what I have read.

[Marr]

8. Definitely #2. I'm sorry, but you just don't ignore a frigging Nazi rally.

[porphyrian]

13. You are giving them power.

Ignoring them is exactly what we should do. It would be different if they actually had the power and numbers to take over, but even the fascists distance themselves from these posers. Don't you understand why half of the heavy metal bands exist beyond the first album?

[Marr]

15. Ignoring them gives them power.

Letting them occupy your town for a day and keep everyone else hiding indoors is giving them power. Getting a community of people together to shout at morons like this and tell them to get the fuck out of their town gives the people of the town some power.

[rasputin1952]

21. Far more effective is getting a community to rise up an

laugh at them. Shouting and violence actually enhance their positon...Laughing at them empowers those that are anti-nazi. It works with people like Phelps and virulent anti-abortion groups too.

These people come for confrontation...if you don't give it to them, they have lost all of their thunder. They expect to be confronted, they cannot live w/being laughed at...it destroys them by taking away the false dignity they think they have. It strips them of any perceived power they think they have.

[porphyrian]

33. Sorry, that's wrong.

Ignoring them doesn't give them power, it takes it away. They need an audience. Depriving them of one is the most effective answer.

There aren't enough of them to occupy anyone's town, and not turning out isn't the same as hiding from them. You've bought their propaganda, and they're using you to generate publicity for them. Don't be their tool.

[loves_dulcinea]

20. look at what happens when you ignore the christo fascists

[Odin2005]

9. Bring out a counterr-protest bigger then thiers.

In Europe they ban Nazi rallies. Here we come out with an even bigger protest and scare them off. :evilgrin:

[dogday]

11. In America, we may not like it, but

"Free Speech" rears it's head in many ways.... Tolerance is the word of the day...

[951-Riverside]

17. OTOH if you're a Muslim "Fanatic"...

and go around calling for the death of this and the blowing up of that, you will probably be jailed, kicked out of the country and tortured. Holding up a fuck bush sign in Florida will get you arrested as seen in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23QgunoRYxw .

So why are the nazi skinheads getting special treatment why are we so fast to defend their right to spew hate?

[dogday]

30. Don't know why they should

get any special treatment... Hate comes in all shapes and sizes and all of it should be freedom of speech... Police in Florida were wrong and others have been as well.......

[Sparkly]

37. Yes, the KKK holds "rallies"

of about 9 people, with 200 there to protest them.

[hobbit709]

12. Point your finger

and snicker loudly "Mommy, look at the funny people!"

[951-Riverside]

14. Ignore em, let em feel powerful and have a sense of pride

Shouting at them only makes them feel uncomfortable and shooting them only makes them go away for good so the best thing to do is ignore them.

BTW why is that officer carrying an AK-47?

[leftofthedial]

18. create a blind fake "grassroots" organization

call it "Right-thinking Republicans for Freedom"

and have this group take out ads on all the right-wing radio shows promoting the rally


log and record these ads

video and record the rally, ID as many participants as possible

have the fake RTRF group take out full-page ads thanking by name the participants, the radio stations and show hosts



no wait. that's what the fascists do . . .

[Radical Activist]

19. Laugh at them.

Seriously, ridicule can be a powerful weapon at times. The right wing talk radio jokes know that too well. Go to the counter-protest with a "Nazis for Bush sign" or dress up in a clown outfit while you point and laugh at them. Make fun of them and treat them as a joke in any way you can.

[EstimatedProphet]

22. I gotta go with 1

Maybe 2, but I think 1 first.

Nazis are bullies. They do what they do because deep down inside they are frightened, puny little people. Letting them just go on their own way lets them get away with what they are doing, and they draw encouragement from it and interpret it as intimidating people. The best way to counteract them is to shout them down, because if they get shouted down they can't fall back on posturing as Big Tough Guys.

[leesa]

23. 5 Nazi groups in Sensenbrenner's district? Do you mean they are

permanently there or just for the HateFest?

[progdonkey]

24. they want a violent reaction...

Yelling at them at shouting at them is the whole reason they do the rallies in the first place, as members of these groups aren't in it for deep philosophical concepts but rather because they're guaranteed an outlet for all their pent-up impotent rage.

Standing at the police line, screaming at them is exactly the response they want. They want to see people get annoyed and agitated, even violent, so they (the Nazis) have an excuse to start a brawl.

If you ignore them, you rob them of that.

And I don't mean ignore them in an organized manner, such as the lining-up-with-your-backs-turned idea, as that is still showing them they're getting some reaction out of you; you took time out of your day to come down and engage in and organized, though silent, protest, ie. they still affected your day.

What I'd recommend is treating them like the crazy street-corner preacher: you don't scream and shout the guy down, nor do you organize a "counter sermon," as it were, but rather just walk on by like you have better things to do than listen to an idiot, or you do stop and watch, but with a humored look on your face, like you're just stopping to watch the clown show.

Or like the LaRouchies who set up a table with all their literature on a sidewalk: just walk by.

[uppityperson]

25. ignore them, let police surround them to keep them under control

[TreasonousBastard]

26. I go with laugh at them...

turning your backs at them, screaming at them, or some other counter-protest just feeds their hate and sense of self-importance.

Nazis and other white supremicists are loud, but marginal. They have little support and no chance of getting real power here. They do have closet allies in more mainstream organizations, but those have to watch themselves too closely to do much real damage.

So, not much energy need be spent on these assholes. Either ignore them and nobody show up or, that being too much self-control for or too many to handle, just laugh at them. Throw flowers at them. Pink ones. Pave their route with stars of David, peace signs, and posters of Martin Luther King. Might be nice to have a supply of tiny SS and swastika flags to mark piles of dogshit, like those little Bush flags all over Europe.

Can't remember just where it was but a few years ago some city in Colorado or Montana had a Nazi threat of breaking the windows of the Jews in town as a celebration of Kristallnacht. So, the local paper printed a big ol' Mogen David on the first page and half the city put that page in their windows. Lots of signs like "Break this, muddafuggah!" That, to me, is an appropriate response.

I might be tempted to have a huge display on the march route with Hitler blowing Moses. But, that might cause other problems.

[methinks2]

27. Show up and turn your backs en masse as they pass

Never lower yourself to their pondscum level by engaging them.

[cherokeeprogressive]

28. Other: Eggs launched with a water-balloon slingshot

You can rain eggs on 'em from about a hundred yards away and no one will even know where they're coming from.

Oh, and they SMART.

[seemslikeadream]

29. bring a big screen TV and show Spring Time for Hitler

[zcflint09]

35. Best idea that I've heard so far

That would seriously be one of the most hilarious things I saw, and I guarentee you all those Reich Wingers would have thier heads burst.

[sweetheart]

32. what nazi rally? n/t

[EFerrari]

34. I don't get why half of us believe ignoring this is a solution. n/t

[Clark2008]

36. I chose "Ignore Them Completely" but I think I might, in

reality, go down there and laugh and laugh and laugh at them, whilst pointing at them and making weird pointy-hat gestures with my hands.

These kind of people hate public ridicule and that would piss them off more than anything else.

[paparush]

39. From the Picture... Um, now WHICH ones are the Nazis???

[Blue-Jay]

40. I just had the BEST IDEA EVER!

Put on a Hitler 'stache and some Hitler hair, but dress up in a ballgown or something. You could even add some fairy wings and a wand or something. Give 'em the nazi salute only bent at the wrist, and blow them kisses.

They'll be so fucking confused that they won't know whether to shit or go blind!

[JohnLocke]

41. Stones and glass bottles (nt),

[ContraBass Black]

43. If you show up in counter protest, make sure you have signs

So that they don't take pictures of you and claim you as supporters.

[Egnever]

44. Wear a clown suit and a sign

Dance arround them with your sign that says.....

I am surrounded by people just like me!

[undeterred]

45. How about 9 men in pink bunny suits?

That's what really happened!