Is a hate group organizing a rally in your town/city?
Wunsiedel Germany provides a wonderful example of how to respond (see also the New York Times article below).
Can you imagine turning every hate group rally into a pledge drive for the Southern Poverty Law Center, or other effective anti-hate organization?
When white supremacists are coming to town, contact counter-protest organizers and urge them to respond in a new way. Send them the article. Urge them to mount a pledge drive calling on sane people to contribute X dollars to an anti-hate cause for every person who shows up to support a message of hate. At the event, they could put up a giant fund raising thermometer to track funds raised, and greet each hate filled attendee with cheers and thanks for their part in contributing to such a great cause.
Or if the hate group is marching, just follow the Wunsiedel “most involuntary walkathon” model.
Wouldn’t this be far more effective than the “standard” confrontational counter-protest? Tell us what you think.
New York Times
How to Make Fun of Nazis
By Moises Velasquez-Manoff
AUG. 17, 2017For decades, Wunsiedel, a German town near the Czech border, has struggled with a parade of unwanted visitors. It was the original burial place of one of Adolf Hitler’s deputies, a man named Rudolf Hess. And every year, to residents’ chagrin, neo-Nazis marched to his grave site. The town had staged counterdemonstrations to dissuade these pilgrims. In 2011 it had exhumed Hess’s body and even removed his grave stone. But undeterred, the neo-Nazis returned. So in 2014, the town tried a different tactic: humorous subversion.
The campaign, called Rechts Gegen Rechts — the Right Against the Right — [u]turned the march into Germany’s “most involuntary walkathon.” For every meter the neo-Nazis marched, local residents and businesses pledged to donate 10 euros (then equivalent to about $12.50) to a program that helps people leave right-wing extremist groups, called EXIT Deutschland.[/u]
They turned the march into a mock sporting event. Someone stenciled onto the street “start,” a halfway mark and a finish line, as if it were a race. Colorful signs with silly slogans festooned the route. “If only the Führer knew!” read one. “Mein Mampf!” (my munch) read another that hung over a table of bananas. A sign at the end of the route thanked the marchers for their contribution to the anti-Nazi cause — €10,000 (close to $12,000). And someone showered the marchers with rainbow confetti at the finish line.
The approach has spread to several other German towns and one in Sweden (where it was billed as Nazis Against Nazis).
This week, following the violence in Charlottesville, Va., Wunsiedel has come back into the news. Experts in nonviolent protest say it could serve as a model for Americans alarmed by the resurgent white supremacist movement who are looking for an effective way to respond (and who might otherwise be tempted to meet violence with violence).