Milo is Not Welcome in Appalachia: A Report Back from WVU

From Morgantown Ultra Left Network

Milo Yiannopoulos took the stage at West Virginia University on Thursday, December 1, to kick off the second leg of his Dangerous Faggot Tour. In spite of outspoken complaints from revolutionaries and liberals alike, university president Gordon Gee and the rest of the administration declined to cancel the event, rebuffing those who preferred not to have a known fascist speak at their university with some contemptuous words denouncing safe spaces and an appeal to that infamous spook, the right to free speech.

A group of masked communists, carrying tongue-in-cheek signs entered the building at approximately 7:30. We chanted “No Milo, no KKK, no fascist USA!” and “Nazi nazi nazi, out out out!” as the assembled fascists, rent-a-cops, redditors, and others attempted to drown us out with awkward insults. As we attempted to push forward to enter the lecture hall, men who we have determined were part of Milo’s private security team walked out to intercept us with force. Our willingness to show that we would return blow for blow and shove for shove soon made them think better of that. We later learned that when the people inside became aware of our disruption, they immediately began to chant, “Grab her by the pussy!.” The short scuffle between us and the security team ended as the WVU Police intervened and formed a barrier.

It was readily apparent that none of Milo’s lapdogs were going to do anything that mattered, and we continued to raise a ruckus until the man himself came mincing out to greet us. Milo, unfortunately, pulled a slick move and had his cameraman steal one of our signs from around the police line. Milo himself never crossed the line of police and after the interruption was thrown off his game for the rest of his talk. While we had hoped to completely shut the event, we were glad to see that the event was hampered to a slow dull.

The pigs were curiously subdued throughout the whole scene, probably because Milo wasn’t important enough for actual police protection and had to make due with WVU’s campus cops. After a long series of confrontations, we were gradually inched back to the outside doorway. We surrounded the glass entryway, banging on the walls and continued letting the fascists know they weren’t welcome. Contrary to the Breitbart account of the incident, we were not “promptly” dismissed by security. We stayed for what was probably 25 minutes, enough time to make the event clearly chaotic, lecture one neckbeard that emerged from the mass on the finer points of anarchist communism, and might have stayed longer if a clever comrade hadn’t pulled the fire alarm. That Milo was visibly flustered by this is readily apparent to anyone who cares to watch the video, in spite of the attempt to hide it via editing. He never really got back into his groove, and the whole sad spectacle of his speech ended more with a whimper than a bang. We sang “Solidarity Forever” and then sauntered away into the night.

During his lecture, Milo showed a slide with an image of WVU’s well-known gay professor Daniel Brewster, labeled “fat faggot.” Milo, after mislabeling Brewster as a “leftist,” accused him of bullying conservative students, and concluded “he’s here to punish you for having the wrong political opinions and to eat cake.” Milo’s followers had been harassing Brewster on social media all day leading up to the event. We aren’t the biggest fans of Brewster’s liberal positions but no one deserves this kind of vicious treatment. This is the “respectful, open, and enlightening exchange of ideas” that WVU President Gordon Gee fetishizes and  encouraged by giving Milo a platform on campus. Gee frantically backpedaled in a series of tweets that night and issued a milquetoast apology the next day. We knew he couldn’t care less about we the students, but clearly he doesn’t give a damn about this kind of vile treatment of one of his own staff, either. President Gee and WVU utilized Brewster’s name over the years to make the university seem like a safe and welcoming place for queer students, but have now thrown him under the bus. This isn’t about hurt feelings but actively creating a dangerous environment.

While we are glad with the precedent set in regards to tactics and rhetoric, there are things we could have done better. We obviously were not able to break through the police line and completely shutter the event, and useful intel was not deployed that could have made the action more successful. The weakness of the police also threw us off since we had gone in expecting a more forceful reaction. With all this in mind, much was gained from our showing. This was the first time many of us had directly confronted police and in doing so we established stronger affinity and trust amongst ourselves. We hope to have set a strong precedent going forward and are excited to see friends and comrades confront this loser in the coming months at other campuses.