This summer, I had the pleasure of exercising my political freedoms in Manhattan. When the Republican National Convention came to New York City, I knew that there would be a massive anti-war protest, and I wanted to be part of the action. I knew that I would never forgive myself if I sat home and watched it all on TV.
I didn’t go to protest the war, however. I went with a small but growing group of right wing activists known as Protest Warriors. The group specializes in infiltrating large anti-war protests with signs that mock the opposition. One sign showed a picture of an assault-rifle toting Che Guevara and the words “War is Not the Answer! Unless You’re a Socialist Guerilla.”
Some might call Protest Warriors crazy, and I’m inclined to agree. I questioned my own sanity when I first infiltrated a demonstration of approximately 200,000 vehement protestors, with only the protection of a handful of allies. But I did it anyway, and I must say that democracy is a rush.
I was pushed and shoved a few times. A few of my fellow Protest Warriors were spat upon and had their signs ripped away from them, and one group was even pepper-sprayed by some teenage anarchists. But for the most part, the abuse thrown at us was nonviolent. The bulk of the insults involved accusations of Nazism or fascism. Within the first 30 seconds of entering the march, an older gentleman pointed to our group and announced the arrival of the Hitler Youth. Another guy mocked us with a Nazi salute, and third man bellowed repeatedly that, “Protest Warriors are right wing fascists!”
I paused to debate with a self-proclaimed Jew who hardly waited two minutes before he played his trump card – the ever so witty “Nazi” epithet. Lucky for me, there were three practicing Jews among the Protest Warriors, and one of them (wearing a yarmulke) came over and set the man straight. Without missing a beat, the man chastised my fellow Protest Warrior for cooperating with Nazi thugs such as myself.
I didn’t let any of it phase me because I know that I am not a Nazi. I wasn’t going to let some stranger on the street convince me that I was indeed a Nazi. I dismissed these insults as the last resort of people with no rational arguments.
Just recently, I began to wonder what the modern Nazi and White Power movement thinks about President Bush and the war in Iraq. If the self-righteous protestors I met in New York were correct, then the Nazis of this world would fully support their new fuehrer, George W. Bush, and his blitzkrieg through the Muslim world. After looking into it, I found quite the opposite. In fact, when the neo-Nazis speak, they sound a heck of a lot like the anti-war protestors themselves. I couldn’t be entirely sure if some of the quotes I was reading were written by a skinhead thug or a Moveon.org contributor.
On the website of the (Nazi) National Socialist Movement, www.nsm88.com, I found the following quote, accompanied by a photo of flag-draped coffins:
“Do not waste our time on National Television with your false ‘patriotism,’ ‘weapons of Mass Destruction’ lies, and your fake alligator tears. No one is falling for your Jewish lead and inspired reasoning for conducting an illegal war against a once sovereign “Nation! BUSH, CHENEY, POWELL, SHARON, and BLAIR. The true Axis of Evil.”
On www.Stormfront.org, a white pride site that boasts of town hall meetings with David Duke every Sunday, I found this quote from a man calling himself “Long County Rebel”:
“Damn you George Bush, and particularly, damn your puppeteers. Damn the ones who caused our suffering of Sept. 11, then caused others to suffer this [Iraq war], and will cause more suffering in the future, by all of us.”
Truth be told, most Nazi sites I found weren’t too concerned with the war in Iraq. Most mentioned it only briefly, as proof that Jews run the world. Only the previously mentioned (Nazi) National Socialist Movement website had a significant amount of propaganda aimed at the Iraq war, although many featured political cartoons unfavorable to bumbling Bush. Try as I might though, I couldn’t find a single site that supported the war in any way.
Perhaps you’re thinking that I’m accusing every single anti-war protestor of being a Nazi. As despicable as I might find them, I wouldn’t make that accusation. People can agree on the same thing for very different reasons.
What I am saying is that it is totally absurd to point to a Protest Warrior, or any unabashed supporter of the Iraq war, and call him a Nazi. The Nazis are on the other side, I am proud to say. I would suggest to the numerous protestors who impugned me personally, or those who on this campus who engage in the same activity, that they should do their homework the next time they call someone a Nazi.
Ben Duffy is a Collegian columnist.
