From the Refuse Fascism protesters vs. Ann Coulter:

“When you work with fascists, you normalize the road to horror”

August 2, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

On July 29, protesters with Refuse Fascism courageously and righteously disrupted fascist Ann Coulter at the Politicon conference in Pasadena. We received the following from one of the protesters.

On the weekend of July 29, refusefascism.org attended Politicon, a liberal-inspired political conference that invites fascists onto the stage for discussion. Although people from different parts of the political spectrum were present, the fascist presence predominated. While seated in the audience of a panel titled, “Censorship on Campus,” featuring leading Nazi intellectual Ann Coulter, the sea of people become a blur as I gathered my strength for what we were about to do.

As we slipped on our red arm bands painted with swastikas, I thought of Coulter’s declaration that there is a white genocide being perpetrated by Muslims and immigrants and the colorful ways she describes the assassinations of various liberals. I then turned my thoughts to what is already happening to immigrants, women, Muslims, Black people and how all of the above was being normalized right in front of me. This drove me insane.

After the band reached my upper arm, a man turned around and saw the swastikas. Astounded, he brought over a security guard and pointed out our armbands. The security guard nonchalantly dismissed the man’s fear. The security guard’s reassurances worked, the man stopped turning around. Just like the many neo-Nazis we were surrounded by, we were welcome so long as we remained seated and respectable.

As the emcee began to introduce Ann Coulter, we stood up and clapped, radiating the enthusiasm of Hitler’s youth. In full Nazi regalia, we stepped out into the middle of the aisle, did the Nazi salute, and exclaimed, “Heil Trump, Heil Hitler, Heil Coulter.” Then, pandemonium erupted. Some people in the audience stood up and clapped in what appeared to be genuine adoration, others were dumbfounded, unsure if this was theater or real Nazis praising Coulter. Others seemed to express support. Dozens of Trump supporters stood up, and chanted, “USA” over and over again. I encouraged them. After all, they are a part of the program our brown shirts represented.

We continued, “We are the children of the sun. Heil Our Victory.” A security guard gently grabbed my arm, and I said, “Why are you taking me away. Ann is my Nazi leader.” She let go and we went on, “Heil Trump, Heil Hitler, Heil Coulter.” All the while, we continued to give our Nazi salutes. Surrounded by cameras and people recording us, we were pushed out by security. While exiting the doorway, I looked across the room at Coulter, she seemed to be looking right at us. I said, “Why are you taking me away? This is a Nazi rally. I came to see my leader, Ann Coulter. I am a child of the sun. We are children of the sun. Heil Our Victory.” My fellow fake Nazi friend continued to chant, “Heil Trump, Heil Hitler, Heil Coulter.” As we were escorted out of the venue by the police, my friend stayed in character even as the police told us we were banned from the event. He said, “We came to see Coulter. She is our leader.” People continued to film us.

The pig then responded with what appeared to be a genuine apology, “I’m sorry. It’s a private event. We can’t let you back in.” The police thought we were real Nazis! The officer who was writing me up forgot to cut off my wrist band, but was reminded to do so by a fellow officer as I was walking away. We then yanked off our swastikas and as we stomped on them chanted, “In the name of humanity. We refuse. A fascist America. No. No. No. No. No.” A small crowd gathered around and watched and filmed as we defaced our armbands (which the police ended up keeping).

During the time we were outside, two other refusefascism.org volunteers disrupted the event. They courageously stood up and held up the sign “Trump and Pence Must Go” and chanted “Trump and Pence Must Go” and “RefuseFascism.org.” One volunteer went on to say, “Trump and Pence are fascists. Ann Coulter is a Nazi. You’re a Nazi. You’re a pig. You’re a fucking white supremacist. Donald Trump is a white supremacist! Say NO! to a Muslim ban! Say NO! to a transgender ban!” They were not treated as kindly as we, the fake Brown Shirts, were. A Trump supporter puffed out his chest that read “TRUMP,” and they were roughly pulled out. A man came over and grabbed the female volunteer. The young woman righteously said, “Do not normalize fascism” and “Do not normalize white supremacy.” The people seated next to them got up and clapped in support of this message. She ended with, “This is not free speech; this is fascism.”

As my friend and I were chanting outside in the front, we were joined by the two other volunteers. One officer grabbed the young woman’s wrist in ways that insinuated she was about to be handcuffed. The officer who had written me up said we could not be on the public sidewalk! I responded, “Why don’t you tell that to those Nazis?” as I pointed at the Trump supporters (who were protesting outside the event) as they chanted “Build a Wall.” The officer just walked away after that. We continued to chant, “In the name of humanity. We refuse. A fascist America. No! No! No! No! No!” Finally, we made a pledge to humanity and vowed we would not stop until we drove out the Trump/Pence fascist regime.

We posed the question: If you think these swastikas are extreme, you need to wake the fuck up because what Coulter and the Trump/Pence regime represent is NO LESS EXTREME! This action put a spotlight on the reality that “When you work with fascists you normalize the road to horror.” There is no debating people like Coulter and it is up to us to defiantly disturb the air and to not only force others to see the Trump/Pence regime in it’s true fascist nature, but to inspire them to act before the Trump/Pence regime proceeds to do what Hitler already accomplished.

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