This is someone else’s story but I think its an important one to share:
My friend “J” no longer lives in a town recently visited by a white supremacist rally. He posted from another facebook page a Nazi Watch image which was being distributed at a university. In his sharing this image the image was intern shared more times than the number of friends he has and it caught the attention of some of the ppl in the image. His facebook page obviously turned into a long screed of arguing between people.
I was struck most by the number of shares of an image exceeding the number of friends he currently has. I was also shocked by his shock. The result was him having some non-violent discussions via private message with some of the ppl on the flyer…mostly pertaining to their denial of being racist or denial of Nazism.
He has also now ended up with his own image on a crudely pasted into an Antifa Watch flyer.
The internet has created a space in which Antifa and Nazi’s are having continuous back and forth. I can’t tell how thankful I am for a platform for discussion but doubtful as to the productivity. The internet seems to have brought some people of diverse backgrounds close and some people with seemingly identical backgrounds closer. The posting of someone else’s picture does read like a hit list. Police departments fabricate similar flyers and private security companies create them with beautiful avatars: The Intercept
Identity listings like these are meant to keep many of these ppl away through social pressure and intimidation. At this point these seem to mostly create an interesting back and forth between Antifa and Nazi’s. In the defense of such images, groups like Antifa are functioning as a loud watch dog against the fascism which escaped many white liberal’s attentions until the election. I have no idea how to do any of this antifascism work any better at this point.
Some of these individuals I can vet myself but I can not vet that all of them are Nazi’s. This is where trusting your source as an activist and internet user gets pretty hairy. At the end of the day. I am thankful for free speech and hope that people know that the desired result of working towards a better world means maintaining the entire bill of rights. 