Opposing the ‘Nationalist Solutions’ Conference in Tennessee

Report from Jam City Antifa about protesting against the Nationalist Solutions conference in Tennessee last weekend.

This past weekend in Burns TN, another fascist and far-Right Conference was being held in Montgomery Bell State Park Inn and Conference Center. This time the American Freedom Party and Council Of Conservative Citizens put on a joint conference featuring the most disgusting names in the current American and international nationalist scene.

As a response, Jam City Antifa organized a week of actions entitled “ACTION WEEK” to gain media traction and bring awareness to Nashville’s community of what kind of people were in their parks.

June 12th: Virgina Abernethy

The first day of “ACTION WEEK” focused on speaker Virginia Abernethy who is a Professor Emeritus at Vanderbilt University. Despite Vanderbilt denying that she was inactive, antifascists pin pointed her office and dropped a banner near-by.

June 15th: Unwelcome The AFP/CCC

June 15th was the first day of the AFP/CCC “Joint Conference” where many of the attendees were to arrive for check-in for the weekend’s events. Reports from fellow antifascists on the ground indicated that the same “First Amendment Trap” (protest zones, barricades, scan-downs etc.) from the American Renaissance Conference was being set-up to deter counter-protestors.

June 16th: Oppose The Hate Rally & March

Day 4 was the last day of “ACTION WEEK” where a scheduled march and rally was to take place. Upon arrival an antifascist noticed the Tennessee Bureau Of Investigation (TBI) had setup a tent right beside the meetup site as a result of the event being shared and promoted via Facebook. Antifascists headed to the meetup site, were alerted through social media of the police presence and changed the plan to simply get as close as possible.

About an hour into the Counter Demonstration, numbers began to slowly trickle in. News outlets such as RUPTLY, The Washington Tribune, Independent Journalist and local news stations were inside the pen clumped together where they were taking pictures of attendees going into the building.

Antifascists occasionally heckled the police on horse-back chanting “animal abuse!,” “Liberate The Horses!,” and singing the Storm Trooper theme from Star Wars, whenever police on foot would march and drive past the crowd. A black officer was confronted by one counter-demonstrator and asked if he “felt right” about protecting far-Right nationalists in which he responded, “It was bullshit.”

Conference attendees were met with “boos” from the counter-demonstration and an antifascist with a siren-megaphone gave “nazi alerts” whenever a conference goer would walk outside. The siren-megaphone rang so loud it echoed throughout the park and was heard by park-goers, and inside by conference attendees drawing more of them out including Jared Taylor, Rick Tyler and Micheal Hill.

Upon seeing the three leaders, antifascists decided to regroup their efforts, as it was now confirmed they were in attendance. A strategy to make their mark and presence known as well as troll the police began to surface within the group.

Using Acorn Lake (which is overlooked by the Conference Center) became prominent as it was not in the “protest zone” and was being used by civilians providing perfect cover. A small group managed to rent a canoe and float to the back of M. B. State Park and held up a banner which read, “God Condemns White Supremacy”.

The state repression of the AFP/CCC Conference is now a common tactic that we can expect to see when fascists seek to use M.B. State Park. Being on the outside gives little effect but a variety of tactics & quick ideal thinking comes in handy. At the moment, the best strategy is to work from the inside by talking to the workers, letting residents of Dickson know, and bringing media attention to whenever it happens. Making a presence and occupying/taking space away from fascists is better than being silent or simply “ignoring” them.

Having an alternative plan should be noted in the case of barricades, and police enforcing the “mask rule.” There are other ways of concealing identities, such as sun glasses or “face paint.” This was the first time in 6 years where two events by Jared Taylor took place at the same location. And he will more than likely organize more events after these.