Sending Fascists Packing is An Act of Community Self-Defense

On July 8th 2017, suburbanite white supremacists chose the New Haven Green as a point of convergence in order to not only make a show of force, but to use it as a springboard for greater coordination, recruitment and organizing. They chose their site explicitly because it has for decades been a point of anti-racist struggle and popular power, where working class families and organizations from every race, nationality and every rung on the social ladder come to gather for cultural enrichment, political action, or simply as their only option. The Proud Boys, Identity Evropa, the American Guard and assorted racists and misogynists find New Haven’s communities threatening to their genocidal worldview, and on July 8th they were proven right. We release this statement in solidarity with all anti-fascists, and condemn in the strongest terms anyone who seeks to have any of us attacked or imprisoned by the police. We call on all labor, environmental and community organizations to do the same, and to mobilize in solidarity with those arrested on the Green. Several arrestees will be at New Haven Superior Court on Wednesday July 19th at 10:00am, including prominent anti-brutality activist Barbara Fair, who was a victim of racist targeting by the New Haven Police. 

For months beforehand the amateurish efforts of the local alt-right were monitored by militant anti-fascist organizers. Contrary to some recycled talking points, the work of more moderate activists were simply not “hijacked.” It is unlikely that there would have been any response at all if not for the diligence of people like the New Haven Anti-Fascists group, who are committed to preventing a repeat of the rise of groups like the White Wolves here in quiet, liberal Connecticut. Some have been fooled by the fascists’ propaganda and believe these people are simply a conservative debate club that can be moved with compelling arguments. We believe that our most powerful weapon is not violence, but for us to be better, more effective organizers than those who would drag our society back into the dark ages. And because of that belief, anti-fascists pursued a strategy of community mobilization, unifying the broadest possible number of people to defend the Green.

But let’s be clear about this as well: when they try to occupy space on the Green, we state unequivocally that sending fascists packing is an act of community self-defense. Fascism means gangs of white men attacking anti-racist demonstrators like in Portland, OR or Berkeley, CA. It means open anti-immigrant collusion between police and Nazis like in Maricopa County, AZ. It means the mass murder of liberal youth activists in Norway. It means the White Wolves attacking an LGBTQ meeting at the Stratford Library.

Some of these monsters openly admire Hitler, while others re-brand their ideology with xenophobia and “western chauvinism” as they stockpile massive arsenals and tokenize their one gay or Hispanic associate. While they may not call themselves Nazis or fascists (though some do), we understand “white nationalism,” far-right “patriot militias,” “Men’s Rights Activists,” and Islamophobic fundamentalist Christians to meet all the hallmarks that have defined violent paramilitary fascism for decades, and treat it as such (click here for a longer discussion of terminology).

These individuals already operate with impunity across most of Connecticut, among rural rich kids playing with “redneck” identity, and suburbanite worshippers of racist police departments. And frankly, they have gone largely unchallenged by Democrat-dominated activist coalitions that refuse to hold their neighbors and coworkers accountable for their bigotry, instead offering nothing but empty moralizing and the bankrupt slogan, “Love Trumps Hate.”

On July 8th, committed community activists went out of their way to deny the rising alt-right the opportunity to become emboldened, better organized and more capable of terrorizing our communities, when in actuality we all have other political commitments that demand our attention. We welcome the opportunity to engage in debate about how best to undermine fascism and turn its targeted constituencies against it, and wish to see greater collaboration across the region on this and a multitude of other issues in these frightening times.

NO PASARAN!