The "National Socialist Movement" (NSM), a neo-nazi formation with a base in Riverside CA and units around the US, has issued a call for a national gathering of their organization in Los Angeles. It features a rally on Saturday, April 17 at noon on the lawn of L.A. City Hall, for which they have already applied for and received a permit. They will be bringing a substantial number of uniformed nazi thugs and boneheads from around the US as part of their so-called "Reclaim the Southwest Campaign." They pose a clear and serious threat of racist and sexist violence, which always follows open nazi organizing. Two years ago, when a similar nazi group rallied in L.A. to commemorate the death of a founder of the racist Silent Brotherhood Aryan underground, several of their members were involved in a racist shooting incident on their way into town from the Inland Empire.

Open Nazis are not the main enemy in a struggle against colonialism, capitalism and imperialism, but they are a significant element, particularly in a period of ongoing economic crisis and political instability within the belly of the beast. The National Socialist Movement and similar open fascist forces are seeking greater political legitimacy, as well as influence within larger white nationalist and reactionary social and political forces, such as the anti-immigrant movement, the "tea-baggers," and the re-emerging militia movement.

The NSM and similar nazi forces base themselves on two key elements: they present themselves as a paramilitary type operation prepared to use violence (and in fact are violence-prone, promoting racist, anti-immigrant, anti-gay and anti-communist thuggery and bullying). And they claim to be anti-capitalist revolutionaries (as did Hitler). Liberal opposition, which tends to portray them as "extremists," and only to defend "multi-racial democracy and tolerance" within the existing system, essentially concedes these strong points to the nazis. Liberal anti-fascism also relies on the police to "maintain peace," conceding the power of the state, which always protects the nazis in the name of "free speech." It is essential to expose the cowardly nature of the Nazis, as well as the reactionary, pro-imperial nature of their politics, by manifesting an opposition based on pro-liberation, anti-colonial and anti-imperialist politics, supporting the right to self-determination and self-defense, and independent direct action. But it's not simply a question of what tactics to use against Nazis.

Too often, even militant anti-racists, socialists and anarchists opposed to the Nazis have operated without regard to questions of self-determination and international solidarity, functioning independently of the leadership of anti-colonial liberation forces. It is essential, here in Los Angeles, that opposition to the nazis be based on support for indigenous and Mexicano sovereignty, African liberation, migrant rights and de-colonization for Asian and other oppressed people. The provocation by the NSM provides an important opportunity to bring home the point that such counter-action and initiatives must be based on such principles and on anti-colonial leadership.

// complete story is at the link

I thought you guys believed in free speech. Why shouldn't Nazis have the same rights you have? It looks to me like the real haters today where you, the readers of this website. You should be ashamed of yourselves, not letting white people march. Shame on you.

We do believe in free speech! The city let the nazis march! however we have every right to counter their vile hate and bigotry!

These unamerican neo-Nazi teabaggers deserve to be beaten. The world fought World War 2 to put an end to these Republican scumbags and yet here they are showing their unamerican Republican faces in Los Angeles.

These unamerican neo-Nazi teabaggers deserve to be beaten. The world fought World War 2 to put an end to these Republican scumbags and yet here they are showing their unamerican Republican faces in Los Angeles.

This is a prime example of a mental defective, crippled by Scientology, that's allowed to roam free in the streets. 

There were around 1000 people counter-protesting.

There were around 20 Nazis.

It could have become a riot, but it did not. That was good.

Two people got beat up, and I think they should not have. I count that as a mark against us. At least they did not get killed.

If you're white, and at an anti-Nazi protest, don't have a swastika anywhere near you. Just common sense.

It could have gotten a lot more violent.

Times are tough, and people are getting rough.