anti-racist activists violently clash with racists?
March 24, 2009 at 8:59 pm - By: Ro · About Community.Apparently I missed a good fight, at least that's what the media would have me believe. In a country that contains apathetic people who identify primarily with their cultural background over nationalism, getting people to protest is one of the hardest gatherings to pull off.
This past Saturday one of the larger activist rallies connected to mark a day of anti-racism. They were eventually met by a bumbling group of clandestine Aryan Guard members and other hapless white supremacist.
I have two comments: 1) I can't believe we still deal with white supremacy in Canada, 2) I can't believe how poorly the media covered the event getting numerous facts very wrong.
I didn't go, I was actually at a missional leaders dialogue, but I was nonetheless curious to know firsthand what actually went down. So I asked someone who was there for the entire event some questions.
Q. The media said about attendance was about 50/50 between anti-racists and Aryan, what did you see?
Wow. The Aryan Guard was vastly outnumbered. I only saw a handful of them. Maybe 30? There were hundreds of anti-racists protestors. I'm not sure of the exact number, but it was more than I've seen at any protest in Calgary I've ever been to. (Around 400 was the count I believe.)
2) When did you you show up? When did they show up?
I showed up around noon. We were at city hall. We got word they were at the armory at around 3 p.m. That's when people started marching over there, and we met up with them at around 8th avenue and 6th street SW.
3) Police presence, how much?
A lot of police. Several vehicles, as well as lots of officers on bikes.
4) Did the media sensationalize the violence?
Well, this is where my interpretation of events differs from the media. When we were at city hall, a woman was passing out water bottles. When we met up with the Aryan Guard, we had them surrounded, they couldn't go anywhere, we weren't moving, and temperatures flared. That's when I started to see people throwing water bottles at the AR, and some of their members threw them back, as well as one of the anti-racist protestors' signs. My friend and I were a little freaked by that, so we moved away from the Aryan Guard at that point. I didn't witness any other violence after that.
5) Apparently the Aryan's arrived by bus, which one? How did they leave?
They took a Calgary transit bus [out]. They got their own transit bus. And a police escort when they were marching. The police were protecting them from us. I'm actually glad they did. Some people were there with the express purpose to "beat up a Nazi," and I witnessed at least one Aryan Guard member trying to push past a police officer so he could hit an anti-racist protester. Basically, the police formed a human wall around them, and tried to block off the streets where they were marching.
6) When did they leave, what was their message?
I think they left around 4:30 p.m. I didn't really hear their message, as they were drowned out by the chants of the anti-racist protesters. Basically, I got the impression that they were there to say, "Look. Here we are. We exist. And we're not afraid to publicly express these unpopular views." I really think they enjoyed the attention, too.
They were taunting the anti-racist crowd by yelling their chants back at them, and dancing in time to the protesters' chants. Several were laughing. My friend and I were surprised that many of them seemed to be attractive young women in their teens or twenties.
OTHER COMMENTS:
- The media said that the protest against the Aryan Guard was organized and attended by members of the ARA or Anti-Racist Action, a "communist" organization. In fact there were people from several different organizations including communist, anarchist, anti-Fascist, and humanitarian groups like Calgary Social Change. Most people, however, it seemed were not affiliated with any group, like myself they had just heard about the AG marching from friends on Facebook, and were upset about it. In fact, throughout the day, people passing by in their cars and by foot stopped to inquire why we were demonstrating, and hearing the reason, decided to join us.
- I even ran into several youth workers and street kids, who told me they were there because the Aryan Guard had been recruiting vulnerable street kids. I heard many stories of street kids and other vulnerable youth who had been recruited from their friends and youth workers who were present.
- The media said that Calgary Transit c-trains were shut town because of the crowds flooding the streets. In fact, the c-trains stopped running long before the Aryan Guard appeared and we flooded the streets. I was told there was a fire on the c-train line, which was confirmed by the Calgary Herald the day after the demonstrations.
I don't have any other comments on this other than I wanted to lend a voice to those actually at the event.
Here is a vid of the event.