Monday, September 03, 2007

Street theatre, front row

This Indymedia article about a neo-Nazi protest and counter-protest in Knoxville is great. Counter-demonstrations (in the U.S., at least, where they're largely nonviolent) usually turn into either vicious screaming matches or just two huge events that pretend not to notice the people on the other side of the street, and this seemed like it merrily combined both. Nobody expects intellectual discourse at protests: the organizers are for the most part preaching to the choir and trying to gain visibility, and the antis are usually just trying to make a statement to show that some segment of the population (however small) doesn't agree with the protestors. That's the same whether the counter-protestors are pro-immigrant, anti-immigrant, Nazis, homophobic, or happy rainbow people. Gotta love the First Amendment!

I love the use of the word "apparently" and the pretense of disassociation with the clowns on the part of Anti-Racist Action!

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