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Northeast Antifascists' 5/8/05 Reportback |
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by Northeast Antifascists, |
About a month and a half ago, Northeast Antifascists noticed an announcement stating that the local “White Revolution” boys and their three friends were planning on coming out to protest an event at the Holocaust memorial in Boston. Unfortunately, seeing this type of thing is not so uncommon. Usually, if they show up at all, it is the same half dozen or so coming to look stupid and pass out a couple flyers. (A couple months ago, some other local fascists tried to meet up in a mall for a rally, and they couldn't even find each other!) We were planning to act accordingly and confront them, but not bother calling for a big turn-out, as the need wasn't there.
However, shortly after we starting recieving notice that this whole thing might be a bigger deal than we'd thought. Billy Roper himself was coming all the way from Arkansas, and we figured he might stand a chance of actually bringing more fascists together, seeing as he's one of the only people who can pass himself off as a "leader" in a movement teeming with people yearning for domineering father figures. A week and a
half before the action, we duly issued a call to action telling everyone to come and let them know how we feel about nazi trash in our city. The response was huge, and within days, other concerned groups were putting out calls as well. We sent observers to the "Stop the Nazis Now Coalition" meetings, to get a sense of what other people's plans were. Antifascism is a big tent, and we made plans to mostly work around, rather than within or against, this coalition. |
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16 May 2005
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Filed under: News / Race |
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Anti-racists block neo-Nazi march |
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by Peter Cook, |
 Hundreds of anti-racist protesters came out here May 8 to protest a planned march and rally by the neo-Nazi organization “White Revolution.” This vile group of bigots, based in Arkansas, had intended to hold a rally at the New England Holocaust Memorial to coincide with the annual Holo caust commemoration.
The anti-Nazi demonstration was organized on short notice by a number of organizations and community leaders, including Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner; the International Action Center; USWA Local 8751, Boston School Bus Drivers; Bromley Heath workers; Women’s Fightback Network; International Socialist Organization and many others.
Chanting “Gay, straight, Black, white—all unite to fight the right” as well as chants against racism, anti-Semitism, Zionism, sexism and LGBT bigotry, the demonstrators held a militant and loud protest in front of Faneuil Hall, adjacent to the memorial. Protesters were Black, Latin@, Asian, Arab, white, young and old. They included a large number of anarchist youth, as well as supporters of the Pales tinian people who made it clear that their opposition to the Israeli occupation of Palestine has nothing in common with the vicious anti-Semitism of the neo-Nazis.
When a small group of racists tried to enter the protest area, they were quickly surrounded by angry demonstrators and forced to flee in the back seat of a police car.Memorial to coincide with the annual Holo caust commemoration. |
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16 May 2005
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Filed under: News / Human Rights |
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Living in the Shadows: Undocumented Children Strive to Succeed |
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by Sofia Jarrin-Thomas, |
 As an immigrant, Araceli has a hard time feeling like she belongs. She fled social unrest in Guatemala with her family when she was only five years old, speaks English better than Spanish, but has been forced to live in the fringes of society because she is considered illegal. “I’ve been here for sixteen years. I consider myself an American,” she said.
The first time she found out about her status was when she tried to apply for college and was told the benefit of a higher education did not apply to her. One year after graduating from high school with a 3.5 GPA and unable to work legally in this country, she feels uneasy about her future. “Put your self in my shoes. I want an education and a career,” she said. |
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09 May 2005
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Filed under: News / Education : Globalization : Human Rights : Labor |
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William Pitt Responds to Boston Hecklers at Dahr Jamail Event |
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by William Rivers Pitt, |
 Don't let me change my heart,
Keep me set apart
From all the plans they do pursue.
And I, I don't mind the pain,
Don't mind the driving rain.
I know I will sustain
'Cause I believe in you.
- Bob Dylan, 'I Believe in You'
An interesting thing happened to me last week. I got heckled while giving a speech. Now, don't get me wrong, I've been heckled before. I've given speeches in most of the Red States across the country, and have gotten quite adept at the call-and-raise verbal jousting required when addressing an unfriendly crowd. I've been heckled by irate conservatives in Texas, in Montana, in North Carolina, in Colorado, in Arizona. I've been called a Socialist, a Communist, a Fascist, and a Communist Fascist, my own personal favorite. It's actually fun once you get used to it.
Last week was a different thing, however. I got heckled by people on the Left. |
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Hate Crime Alleged on Tufts Campus |
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by Pete Stidman, |
 Riyadh Mohammed 20, an Economics Major in his Junior year at Tufts University, alleges that he was attacked by three fraternity brothers of Sigma Phi Epsilon in front of their frat house early Saturday morning. He claims he was beaten unconscious, and subjected to a chain of racist epithets. Police confirm that he was in need of medical attention after the incident.
Never one to hold back his opinions, president of the Arab Students Association at the school, and one who friends say, “puts the fact that he is an Arab out there.” Mohammed is proud of who he is. |
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03 May 2005
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Filed under: News / Human Rights : Race |
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Solidarity shines through on a rainy May Day, Part 2 |
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by Pete Stidman with quotes compiled by Petrina Vegan, |
 Sunday, May 1st BOSTON- Felix Arroyo, Maria Elena Letona of Centro Presente, and many others spoke in front of a damp but festive crowd of more than 500 representing immigrant communities from all over Greater Boston and Eastern Massachusetts this Sunday in Copley Square. For this one day a year and, as one young speaker expressed, hopefully for the other 364, widely disparate immigrant communities joined together to address and rally around the issues that affect them all.
Counter protestors did show up, but were largely ignored at their spot far to one side of the rally, save for the corporate press who can’t resist portraying every political story as a perfectly evenly balanced battle of wits. Sorry, not this time.
What I saw was a building of community. People who, usually divided by neighborhood, disparate needs, cultures, or languages, came together to address some issues common to all. |
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03 May 2005
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Filed under: News / Labor : Race : Social Welfare |
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Solidarity shines through on a rainy May Day, Part 1 |
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by Pete Stidman, photo by Anarchist Heart, |
 SUNDAY, May 1st- A rainy May Day kept many marchers away but a small and jubilant crowd of celebrants gathered for a march called by BAAM in downtown Boston. (http://baamboston.org/)
To the peal of a bugle call, marchers waving Anarcho-syndicalist Black and Red flags, beating on plastic drums, and chanting took to the streets. The crowd left the Boston Common, wound around the public garden, and enthusiastically sounded out chants down Newbury.
Along the way standers-by were handed informative, well written flyers about the history of May Day and the Haymarket Martyrs. One group of men, looking haggard and dusty from a morning’s work, read the flyers intently while waiting for a bus. They each admitted it was the first time they had ever heard of the international labor day. |
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02 May 2005
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Filed under: News / Labor : Organizing |
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Anti-Vivisection Activists Had A Busy Month |
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by Petrina Vegan (article) / Homefries (audio doc), |
 On Saturday, April 16 and Saturday, April 30 members of animal rights groups such as The Animal Defense League of Boston (ADL), The Massachusetts Animal Rights Coalition (MARC) and Stop Animal Exploitation Now! (SAEN) marched, rallied, chanted and otherwise expressed their disdain for the animal experimentation that happens with help from their tax dollars in their own home state.
viv·i·sec·tion - n. -The act or practice of cutting into or otherwise injuring living animals, especially for the purpose of scientific research. [from dictionary.com]
Harvard Medical School's "New England Regional Primate Research Center" or NERPRC was the focus of these protests although many universities and private companies in Massachusetts experiment on animals, including M.I.T., Tufts University, and Charles River Laboratories. |
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02 May 2005
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Filed under: News / Environment : Globalization : Human Rights : Labor : Organizing : Politics : Social Welfare |
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