Tampa, FL: “Because We Love, We Are Angry,” Radical Bloc in Tampa Sets the Tone for Charlottesville Solidarity March

In solidarity with Heather Heyer, the 32-year-old paralegal who lost her life when cowardly, neo-Nazi terrorist James Alex Fields, Jr. ran his car into a coalition of antifascist and #BlackLivesMatter demonstrators in Charlottesville, VA following the Unite the Right Rally, the people of Tampa, FL carried out a vigil, march, and demonstration. A coalition of radicals worked diligently to set the tone for the event: one equal parts mourning and outrage. As one antifascist demonstrator poignantly put it, “Yes, love will win. But, because we love, we are fucking angry.”

After a rousing opening statement from a local I.W.W. member, a number of speakers from local organizations in the Tampa Bay area gave voice to our collected ire and fury through a series of intersectional messages that shied away from tepid liberalism and embraced a radical message: that the struggle against white supremacy and racism is linked to anti-capitalist organizing, social ecology, and the dissolution of authority in favor of people-powered, decentralized, non-hierarchical direct action and mutual aid.

Lead by a radical bloc of anti-racists and anti-fascists, the subsequent march through the streets of Downtown Tampa refused to abide by the dictates of the Tampa Bay Police Department from the beginning. Stirring chants of “Black Lives Matter!” and “No Cops, No KKK, No Fascist USA!” were front and center, buttressed by subversive declarations of “1-2-3-4, this is fucking class war! 5-6-7-8, organize to smash the State!” The radical bloc drove off fascists attempting to film local activists, many of whom confided that this was the first march in which they’d been a participant. Folks of all ages came together to memorialize Heyer and the other victims of this heinous terrorist attack.

When cops tried to corral and direct the march, the radical bloc at the head formed a wedge and, as one, the march continued straight ahead of its own volition. At several points, marchers paused to catch a breath, share water, and spread an insurrectionary message: that this is only the beginning. “We can’t go home tonight and congratulate ourselves,” a Black Lives Matter organizer proclaimed, “if we don’t commit, right here and now, to the ongoing defense of our community.”

Then, just as the TBPD thought the march was coming to an end, the radical bloc seized the moment and organized an impromptu bull-rush, swarming across the streets to surround the Robert E. Lee statue in front of the Hillsborough County Clerk’s Office, a symbol of enduring white supremacy that Tampa organizers have been decrying for years. People climbed onto the statue, covering the area with anti-racist and anti-fascist slogans for one final demonstration of the power people have when they behave spontaneously and outside the parameters the State outlines.

We remain eternally grateful for the sacrifice of Heather Heyer and the other anti-fascist and anti-racist demonstrators injured in yesterday’s terrorist attack. We carry your memories in our heads and hearts. We will build a new world in the shell of the old or die trying.

From Tampa to Charlottesville to all Planet Earth, solidarity forever!