Terry Glavin has drawn my attention to a certain group of protesters at a demonstration about Gaza in the Canadian city of Calgary, which provides yet more proof of the murky overlap between the extremes of right and left.
Here’s what the Calgary Herald had to say:
Calgarians were surprised Saturday to see members of the Aryan Guard, a white supremacist, neo-Nazi group, at a local protest of Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip…
At the Calgary protest, members of the Aryan Guard held a modified Israel flag that read “Terror State” and marched from City Hall to the Harry Hays building, near the front of the crowd. The day after the protest, Shadi Abuid, one of the event’s organizers, said he thought the rally went off without a hitch.
Despite everything, this made me chuckle:
“Basically, polar opposites were protesting together,” said Robert Thivierge, who attended the pro-test to take photographs and was surprised to see the Aryan Guard peacefully marching alongside protesters of all nationalities.
“It seemed kind of weird,” said Thivierge.
Did it? I would have thought that for the Italian trade union urging a boycott of Jewish shops as punishment for the Gaza operation, or for the German leftist activists who destroyed an exhibition about the Holocaust, or for Horst Mahler, who journeyed from the Baader-Meinhoff gang to the Neo-Nazis, it would seem perfectly normal.
And while we’re on the subject of fascists and Gaza, check out Edmund Standing here.
Hello -
My colleagues at ADL put this out in 2002: http://www.adl.org/extremism/extr_palestinian.asp
See also: http://www.adl.org/main_Anti_Semitism_Domestic/carter_reactions_ws.htm
Hi,
The picture you’re showing is one I took. You can use it (it’s licensed under “Creative Commons”), but I just require you credit me for my work. You can do that by linking back to it’s source: http://flickr.com/photos/thivierr/1253787914/
If people wish to see pictures of the incident in question, they are at:
http://flickr.com/search/?q=gaza%20aryan%20guard&w=45382436@N00
There’s also comments there, by me about the incident (as an independent observer).
I notice you leave out my comments in that Herald article, in order to prove a ‘murky overlap between the extremes of right and left.’ As I said to the Herald, it was ”unfortunate’ that the neo-Nazis did not face much opposition at the protest.’ Thus they did face opposition, but mainly from ARA and its friends. We told the AG to leave, we told the organisers they needed to make a statement against the AG, we chanted anti-Nazi slogans, we talked to people about the AG. Anti-Racists and Nazis were not united. We opposed them and they taunted my wife over the firebombing of our house. Like Damian P., Kevin Libin,and Darcey at Dust My Broom you Ben Cohen are also a liar.
You are however judged by the company you keep. I remember ANSWER anti Iraqi war rallies in the US which were attended by skinheads, the Klan and Nazis because it gave them an opportunity to blame it all on the Jews. No one really pushed them off the stage either.
Jason, rather than stressing your anti-fascist credentials and calling me a liar, why don’t you ask yourself WHY these people are drawn to your rally? Or might that require questioning some of your basic assumptions?
Ben,
It wasn’t my rally. I didn’t organise it. I showed up to support the people of Gaza and to oppose the AG. If you assert that it was ‘my rally’ you are either ignorant or, again, a liar. I know why the AG showed up to the rally, that’s, as above, one of the reasons I showed up. Thus I have no reason to question my basic assumptions, such as neo-Nazis are violent scum who must be opposed and as a father I know how I would feel if my kids were killed in a bombing. Maybe if you took the time out to answer my charges or investigate you would understand, but obviously that would require you to question ’some of your basic assumptions.’
You still do not show my quote to the Herald. You are still a liar.
By the way Empress Trudy, I do not keep company with those who want me dead. Do your homework.
Jason, by “your rally,” I mean the rally that you attended. I’m not really interested in who organized it - you were there to support it and endorse it and promote its message.
I’ve got nothing to hide, even if you have a great deal to answer for - and you haven’t really given any kind of satisfactory answer. So here - before you start ranting again that I’m a liar - is your quote:
Jason Devine, spokesman for Anti-Racist Action Calgary, at-tended the protest and estimates about five or six members of the white supremacist group were present.
Devine called it “unfortunate” that the neo-Nazis did not face much opposition at the protest. “They were not supposed to be there. They were not wanted there,” said Devine.
“If we don’t develop a plan for dealing with this in the future, it’s going to continue.”
Just “unfortunate,” was it? Can’t quite bring yourself to call it a disgrace?
Let’s get this straight. Your rally expressed support for an antisemitic organization, Hamas, whose express purpose is to kill Jews. Nazis, who also support exterminating Jews and who want to see Israel eliminated, showed up. And you’re surprised?
Don’t lecture me or anyone else here about being a father. I’m a father too. Pity you can’t bring yourself to feel any compassion for the Israeli children targeted by Hamas, a terrorist organization which deserves the same appellation you give to the Nazis - scum.
Frankly, if a Hamas cheerleader calls me a liar, I take that as a compliment.
Hey hold on guys, I’m a Dad too!
Frankly, I wouldn’t be caught dead walking side by side in a rally with Skinheads and Nazi’s if you paid me all the money in the world.
Skinheads and Nazi’s want me and my Jewish family dead. Hamas and Iran want me and my Jewish family dead too, along with the rest of my ‘pig and monkey’ relatives.
I’m not clear on what the issue is with this rally for fathers, unless those fathers marching in these rallies think they and their ‘infidel’ families are going to escape being killed by the same murderous bastards that are marching beside them.
Hamas and Skinheads, what’s the difference again?
Maybe this picture of Hitler and the Mufti, along with the WSJ, tells us why Hamas and Skinheads go together, hand in hand:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123180033807075069.html
When the time comes, and based on current events seems like they are going, you can bet your sweet ass that as a father, I am going to protect my family, just like Israel is right now from the thousands of ‘tinny’ (see Economist description of these missiles on a number of occasions) missiles, suicide bombers and the mounting threats on all sides.
I believe every word of what the folks in these “Peace” marches are saying on their t-shirts, placards and chants along with what Hamas, Iran and Hezbollah are saying - none of us going to the ovens without one hell of a big fight.
Zach
Interestingly, in Britain the largest fascist political party the British National Party has come out strongly in support of Israel.