From a member of the National Get Organized for an Actual Revolution Tour:

Joining the struggle against Nazi brownshirts

| revcom.us

 

From a member of the National Get Organized for an ACTUAL Revolution Tour:

For months, MAGA-fascist Trump supporters have been holding weekly rallies in Tujunga, a suburb of Los Angeles, and have been met by courageous groups of anti-fascist and Black Lives Matter counter-demonstrators. These protests have intensified in recent weeks, with fascists sucker-punching people and openly doing Nazi salutes. This gathering in Tujunga of increasingly emboldened fascist thugs is not unique, but is part of a bigger trend of similar rallies and marches in Portland, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Stone Mountain, Georgia, and other places.

These modern-day Nazi brownshirts, spreading their vile “America First” poison, explicitly rally for a continuation of the reign of terror that has been the first four years of the Trump/Pence regime, many of them brandishing massive pro-Trump flags, wood and metal sticks and shields, clearly ready to initiate violence against any and all forces of opposition, and especially those who stand up against police terror and murder of Black people by the police. A common sight among the fascists is the “Thin Blue Line” flag, signifying a full-throated endorsement of the police in their role as enforcers of this brutal order which has white supremacy as a key element. Among the fascists who’ve been rallying in Tujunga are Proud Boys and other violent individuals, including some of the same people who attacked a Refuse Fascism demonstration in Santa Monica, California, on October 19 last year, spraying people with bear mace. In line with their anti-science fascist worldview, most of these Nazi fucks don’t wear masks, recklessly endangering people in the middle of a pandemic.

These are not just Republicans showing support for their candidate, but a hard-core fascist base getting organized and prepared to go to defend Trump and his regime, doing whatever they see as necessary to keep him in power.

It was very important that local Black Lives Matter and anti-fascist activists put out photos and video exposing what these fascists have been doing, and rather than be intimidated by it, they called on even more people to come out this past week, on Friday, August 21. We decided that we had to go out there to be part of this. A lot of young people from all over the LA area also showed up for this, and joined the local activists who’ve been out there protesting every week. There were probably about 100 people total on each side. 

Our approach to impacting the situation was multi-pronged: on social media, we immediately started livestreaming, interviewing people there on the ground, and agitating to our followers and viewers about the situation there, and what this shows about why we can’t rely simply on voting to remove a fascist regime that’s rigging (and preparing to steal) the election, and unleashing paramilitary forces and fascist street thugs to impose their will. This included concrete calls for engagement with Bob Avakian’s historic August 1 statement, and to take up the call from RefuseFascism.org for mass protests demanding Trump/Pence OUT NOW starting on September 5th, which we got out to the crowd. Refuse Fascism also had a banner with the details for the 9/5 march.

One thing we noticed was the “localism” of many on the anti-fascist side—the idea that “we can’t let these fascists come to our neighborhoods.” We should mobilize against them when they come to our neighborhoods. But this is also totally insufficient given that the fascist regime currently has state power. There is not only the need to confront and shut down these Nazis in your own hood—we have to take on the tidal wave of fascism from the state. Everyone there could see the connection to Trump—anyone with eyes could see the towering figures of the Trump flags and those ugly red hats—but still some are trapped in fascism-denialism, or had illusions that the vote alone would solve this crisis, or that somehow they could just “ride it out.” But still, there were others who did see the urgency of the situation, and word about the 9/5 protests got into the hands and the heads of many concerned people there. And all this is why Bob Avakian’s deep analysis of our current situation and what we need to do is so critical for people to dig into.

Things came to a head during the 5:00 pm hour. After shouting matches and intimidation from the fascists turned more physical, the police put on their helmets and started attacking the anti-fascist side with tear gas, and shooting people with “nonlethal” munitions. The entire time, the police were facing our side, making very clear who they were protecting. The Revcoms and a leader in the local RefuseFascism.org chapter were in the mix near the front of the action, boldly projecting our core message of “No More! Revolution, Nothing Less!” and “Trump/Pence OUT NOW!”

 

 

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