About the Event
In the past few months we’ve seen an uptick of attempts to attack Jewish establishments by white supremacists in Texas. Recently, a synagogue was burned down in Austin after a series of anti-Semitic actions by the Goyim Defense League. There has also been an increase in the distribution of antisemitic propaganda throughout the U.S. by various groups. This week, we’ve seen another attempt to threaten the Jewish community in Houston.
On Saturday, December 18, Neo-Nazis and white supremacists affiliated with White Lives Matter (WLM) organized a demonstration outside of the local offices for the Anti Defamation League. After weeks of planning, they managed to get a dozen Neo-Nazis to show up and stand in the rain with antisemitic signs. The Screwston Anti-Fascist Committee was informed of the event by another Anti-Fascist group, and within a day managed to organize twice as many people to protest against them. We were proud to stand in solidarity with everyone who showed up to fight white supremacy, both those in formal political organizations and those who went alone. The Houstonians who came out showed white supremacists that they are not welcome in our city, and that we will not tolerate bigotry against our neighbors. White Lives Matter was late to show up, and it was already raining by the time they had come. After a brief clash between the two sides, cops came to separate us and protect the fascists. The police were clear in their intentions, having openly stated that they were there to protect the Nazi’s right to “free speech”. WLM even admits to this, as can be seen in their gab post about the event:
It’s clear that the police don’t protect the people of Houston,but instead aim to make sure Neo-Nazis can safely organize events and spread their genocidal message.
The fascists in WLM forgot to bring umbrellas, so their signs ended up getting washed out by the rain. After about an hour of trying to show off their faded and nearly incoherent ramblings to the few cars passing by and getting their shouts drowned out by our significantly larger crowd, the WLM members scurried away within the police escort. The event was a clear success for the Anti-Fascists, and Houstonians who showed up in solidarity with our Jewish neighbors. Not only did we significantly outnumber the WLM members and take their signs, but we got them to leave and drowned out their message, reminding them that antisemitism and fascism wont be tolerated in Houston.
About White Lives Matter
White Lives Matter is a decentralized network of white supremacists. They mainly organize in various regional telegram groups divided on the state level, and country level for groups outside the so-called U.S. After a few years of dormancy since they first appeared in 2016, the group got off to a rocky re-start in April after they attempted to coordinate rallies across the so called U.S. Their rallies failed to attract more then a handful of people at each location in the instances where they weren’t cancelled completely. Anti-Fascists infiltrated local telegram groups and vastly outnumbered the few fascist protestors who did show up. Now, their protests struggle to attract more then a dozen participants, and they mainly distribute white supremacist and white genocide conspiracy content in an attempt to indoctrinate white Americans and to terrorize marginalized communities. Most members of White Lives matter are explicit fascists, using usernames with references to the third reich and, in the case of many of the WLM members on the 18th, wearing swastikas, SS bolts, or other symbols of Nazism. They’ll sometimes try to obscure this fact to seem more respectable for the sake of “optics”, but as this event shows, they still have a hard time keeping hate symbols out sight.
Statement on the ADL and Zionism
The Anti-Defamation League was likely chosen as a target by “White Lives Matter” for multiple reasons. For one, it’s one of the most prominent Jewish organizations in the country and is featured prominently in many conspiracy theories about white genocide, so they intend to terrorize and intimidate all Jews by targeting it. They also likely chose it as a target in order to sow divison among the left —WLM seeks to bait their enemies into supposed hypocrisy so they can accuse us of being zionists, but there is no hypocrisy in our position. The ADL is a firmly right-wing zionist organization with a history of surveilling and maligning social justice movements and support of law enforcement, including sponsoring israeli trainings for NYPD. Loyal to the israeli settler-state, the ADL silences criticism of israel’s apartheid, ethnic cleaning and war crimes by targeting and smearing Palestinians and their Jewish anti-zionist allies as anti-Semites. While their purported mission as a civil rights organization is to combat antisemitism, they are unabashed in their public support of anti-Semites and right wingers in the US and elsewhere.
The Screwston Anti-fascist Committee stands in solidarity with all oppressed people worldwide. We stand in solidarity with Jewish people in the US and elsewhere who are among the most frequent victims of hate crimes and whose communities are constantly under attack. We stand in solidarity with the millions of Palestinian refugees in exile who are barred from returning to their homeland by the israeli settler-state and those who are resisting occupation and apartheid in Palestine. We do not support the ADL in any way and did not call this rally to defend the ADL specificaly.
Conclusion
The counter-protest on December 18th may have been a victory, but it’s just one battle in the war against fascism. We must continue to organize against white supremacy and fight it wherever it rears its head. We ask the readers to cover up and deface any fascist propaganda they might see, inform Screwston Anti-fascist Committee or other Anti-Fascist groups, and to otherwise do everything you can to fight to keep your community safe from fascism, white supremacy, antisemitism, and bigotry in all forms. It’s only by working together and practicing care and solidarity towards those around us that all of us will be able to defeat fascism.
Email us at: screwstonafc@riseup.net
Special thanks to Red Fog 161 and the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club for helping make this event possible, and to the Houston Socialist Movement and Houston United Front Against Fascism!