Filed under: Action, Anarchist Movement, Anti-fascist, Southeast
May Day weekend in South Florida consisted of a very, very long series of protests relating to the Climate March, May Day, and more, resulting in probably at least 7 “large” protest events in the area over 3 days. The last one in the area was the May Day Dance Party hosted by Fort Lauderdale Food Not Bombs.
3 fascists approached this event around 8:45 pm, as participants from an earlier May Day rally and dance party attendants milled around Huzienga Plaza in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Perhaps they were expecting a different outcome from the mixed and relaxed crowd, but their violent words and actions quickly resulted in them getting their asses kicked and chased away from the venue.
One of them pulled a knife as they scuttled away, but they seemed to have seriously underestimated their ability to intimidate dozens of people in a dark and cop-free park, and so they ran into the darkness. The bootlickers did try to tattle to the Fort Lauderdale Police Department about the incident but apparently failed to garner much interest.
Kyle Hanothy
https://www.facebook.com/maga954
One of them was smart enough to brag about his ass-kicking later because he grabbed a piece of fabric as he fled. So feel free to look up neo-nazi Kyle Hanothy from Coral Springs, Florida.
The May Day Dance Party went on regardless, which included a dancing puppet representation of the 5 Haymarket Matyrs: Spies, Parsons, Lingg, Fischer, & Engel. The puppets, as well as the dance party, were brought to Broward Main Jail to show support for those imprisoned there.
This incident may seem unremarkable at a national level, but is rare indeed for South Florida. However, between the dwindling media presence here and other activists who clutch onto their “credibility” as peaceful activists, it wouldn’t surprise if a neo-nazi attack right in downtown Fort Lauderdale went largely unnoticed in the bluest county in Florida.
Unfortunately the so-called “Berkeley Effect” seems to be the most likely cause of this sortie, and it’d be smart to expect more in the future. Recently, Fox News even singled out Fort Lauderdale activists who protested a notorious homophobia-industry pimp, Jim Daly, as being part of the “Berkeley Effect.” But these protests are quite common; what is unusual is virtually any noteworthy neo-nazi activity in Broward, either on their own or at some kind of counter-protest. Like Augustus Invictus in Orlando, the fragmented, sorry-ass alt-right creeping around South Florida seem to think they can re-create violent street fights here in order to spread their agenda (and this is not to say that that “tactic” makes any sense whatsoever). They seemed to have even picked the “most Anarchist” opportunity to play out their fantasy. But the reality is Food Not Bombs, along with the larger activist community in Broward, has been around for quite some time already, and isn’t a prop for someone’s white male LARP power delusions.
Ultimately, May Day in Fort Lauderdale did not make for a sexy recruitment video moment for them. Sad!
If anyone has more information on the identities of the other two assailants pictured here, please pass it onto It’s Going Down.