Aotearoa: Anarchist report from Anti Racist Rally (Christchurch)
Taken from: http://www.anarchism.org.nz Skapunker writes:
An in-depth look at the anti-racism march held in Christchurch on Saturday the 8th of May. From politicians stealing the
limelight to confrontations with the facist National Front.
The day started off quite busy around town, lots of traffic and lots people. At around 10:30 in the morning, all 13
fascists had turned up at their "secret" meeting spot right next to the fountain near the museum.
Opposite them on the road and around it were people of all ages, ethnicities, religions, and backgrounds. At 10:45 all
of the Black Bloc which were at the Arts Centre went down to the Art Gallery to meet with other Black Bloc members, and
other comrades. After having a little chat and a laugh we all went back to the Arts Centre, where an even larger than
before crowd were gathering. We then got organised and held out our banner. We all waited, until a cop came past and
said to his partner in blue, "We're all go".
After this the organiser of the event Hock Lee began reading out the rules of the march. The rules were to stick to the
route, non-violent methods of protest, and not to stop marching so no collisions would happen. Finaly it was 11:00,
"time for a march".
The march got underway and the Black bloc were right up the front waving black flags, and displaying a large "Anarchists
Against Racism" banner. Unfortunately, much of the protest was basically taken over by two politicians, up infront .
Behind and next to the Black bloc was the Red bloc with all their flags and various slogans, but this time it was not
our differences that were splitting us up, instead we were united with what we both see as a goal, "equality for all".
There were also comrades and representitives from Unite who made themselves seen and stood out with their banners
against racism and capitalism. While there were many people on the march ( 2000 ) there were hardly any chants sung.
Most chants which started were drowned out after a minute. After about 5 minutes of walking we reached our destination,
the Cathedral Square, one of the oldest preserved areas of "White Anglican Christchurch", On arrival there was roughly
100 bystanders, a police presence of about 30 on the ground, 3 police cars, and a paddy wagon waiting near the Police
Kiosk.
On the roofs of the surrounding buildings and in some of the buildings were Police Marksmen in their full gear, waiting
incase anything major took place. The crowd of 2000 marchers then cramped onto the pavement of the Square, Side by side
united were Japanese with Germans, English with Pakastani, all under the banner and slogan of "Harmony Not Racism".
After an excellent speech by two victims of racism in NZ and the organisers and others, we were all bored and annoyed by
the speaking of two MP's. Mrs Pansy Wong, and Mrs Leanne Dalziel, both went along to increase their own profile. While
Leanne was speaking on the topic of racial unity, people in the crowd reminded her of Mr Akhmed Zaoui, and yelled out
"Free Akhmed Zaoui", his imprisonment is only becuase of race and capitalism.
Disincharted by politicians hijacking the mic and the protest, a few others and myself went down to the "Fash Corner".
This was the corner in which the uniformed fascist had pushed the other fascists. It was really a pathetic site. For any
protest, even by racists, the participants should at least be doing or saying something. But instead, they showed off
their big 1 metre high white sheet with blue letters on it, which said "National Front".
There was only one real actual form of movement in their area, that was the movement of their two NZ flags one of which
the patriotic arsonist Kyle Chapman was waving, along with this was the National Front flag which was copied from the
French "Nationale Front".When arriving there only about 50 metres from the main protest I encountered a line of 15
police officers all stopping the fascists from comming closer and forcing them backwards.There was already a group of
inquisitive "Lefties" as Kyle calls them, gathering around, along with camera crews and journalists hoping to get their
"big one".
Unfortunately the Fascist Parade was not very appetizing for their cameras, unless they were going to show the side
effects of "P" or how bad "Skin Cancer" is. The National Front unlike their main idol Adolf Hitler, used a different
tactic, their tactic was standing around, smoking, and looking at the ground, quite an effective tactic if you consider
the strength of these "Aryan Warriors" and "Berserkers". Along with this came the plea from the skins to be allowed to
move towards the main protest "as the National Front want to protect our country". Unfortunately, no budge by the police
and instead all the skins got was TV coverage showing them doodling around, and complaining about "violent anarchists
and communists, who are taunting us, and threatend to throw eggs at us"- of course the National Front does not condone
violence as we are peaceful Nazi Warriors.
Then came the "Final Confrontation" as I like to call it. In blatent terms this was the time period when if any
violence was going to happen, it was going to occur now. There were about 200 protesters, moving towards the 20 fascists
( unfortunately only 15 of Kyles 100 members in CHCH could turn up, and only 5 out of the 30-40 other skinheads could
turn up in fear of reprisals from lefties). Nice odds there, and as more people were joining in and "taunting" the
racist scum, the police decided to pack up their bags as they had done their job ( which was to protect the protesters)
.
There were then a few speeches which directed towards the National Front, upon which came a representitive all the way
down from Auckland with the support of other local members of UNITE, to tell the white trash, that they do not represent
the white or any of the people of the working class. After this the police gave a warning to one young lad who
challenged the Fasci to have a talk on a megaphone. They said anyone who wanted to talk would have to talk over outside
the Cathedral church. From then on came the funny "taunts"from the "leftie" "anarchist" and "communist" crowd, towards
the NF. One of the best of the day was "Look they can spell their own name properly". Along with other taunts came a few
replies from Chapman who had just found his voicebox, he said "The National Front arent racist" even though their
members had SS, Nazi and white symbols displayed all over their bodies, even on their sunburnt heads, it was then
pointed out by the audience that it looked like the National Front indeed had a large number of Asians, Blacks, and
Maori's amongst them, all adding up to a total of 0.
It is around this point that we got the quote and speech of the day, from the albino-looking skinhead "Yes I'm A Nazi
And I'm Fucking Proud Too". After this the crowd started moving in closer towards them to box them in and fortunately
for the fascists and probably for peace ( unless bloodshed is to happen tonight as the skins get their kicks out of
gang-bashing someone) there was a gap in the crowd in which they left through, in a hurry to the chants of those they
passed by "National Front are a bunch of cunts". After this most people gathered in groups talking to comrades who were
united in one common goal "equality for all men and women". Then we all went our seperate ways.
Here is a post from Kyle and another NF member about their views and interpretations of the events........
Well it is all over. We are free, we are alive. The public that were there supported us more then the lefties. The
lefties talked real tough. The police had a line between us and them. The police then said they were going. We said we
were not worried to stand without them. As soon as the police marched away the lefties and anarchists fell silent and
withdrew into the crowd, some mouthed off after that from behind the crowd. The people clapped at our point of view and
the right to stand and to say what we need to. They ended up chearing lowder then the anti's could bad mouth us. It
looked like we had a good following. The media will have to go real hard to make up bigger lies and bad mouth us even
more to make sure they dont support us in future. The NF is growing. We have more people joining us all the time. To any
NZer who has some comments on how the march went we welcome positive feed back. Anything negative, unless you were there
shut your mouth. Only those who have the guts to show up have the right to complain. We could have had way better
numbers, but lots of guys made up their excuses on the day. Thats fare enough, but dont tell us how it is when you didnt
do the right thing and be there. I comend the guys who showed up. I am so proud of them. They are the heroes of the
movement. Anyone who bad mouths them is a traiter. We have made history in NZ, the guys and girls who were there have
become part of our history. They will never be forgoten, they did their part to make the change. They made the sacrefice
for our movement. Those who missed out. ITS TOO LATE TO BE THERE! The only way to make it better is to be at the next
one! If your not there, you need to think about what you are. If your a covert activist, then help us now and order the
flyers to put in the mailboxes. The time is ripe to get support for the NF and the movement. Get the flyers from PO Box
1627, Paraparaumu. Send a donation.
We will be getting Tshirts made soon. "I had the balls to support the National Front on the 8th of may" So some chicks
have proved to have bigger balls then some men. Nothin new ah.
Again, I am so proud of the Brothers and sisters who stood side by side today. They are our family forever and we have
eachothers loyalty and comradship sealed in action and courage. We faced 3000 asians and their freaky supporters. To the
punks who mouthed off over the police line, did you feel tough? when the cops left, where were you???
Hail
March went bloody well, Media is full of **** there were a lot more than 20 people there ,in the end ,close to 200. Note
how they managed to edit every single bit of culturally sensitive and P.C words out of kyles speech at the end. There
were a few fruit loops but thanks to our security boys ,that was dealt with professionally.If any of you Commies or
little wannabe Anarchist - i mean since when does an Anarchist get involved in anything apart from blowing **** up ? The
things between their legs aren't big enough to be considered men as far as they go, acting like a bunch of pansies and
ducking down each time they yelled a threat or protest against us.Pussies.You wanna talk like men,act like men as far as
i see it. News coverage was bollocks ,they managed to focus on every hard out looking skin we had there ,and not a
single straight looking guy ,female or any of the children running around.Typical Jewish money hungary companies though
,anything to perpertrate us as Nazis,although one guy stood up and said he was ,which not many would say to a few
hundred people and a assortment of T.V and Newspaper Journalists. Anyone who came and supported us ,whether you were
heard, stood with us or behind us, it made a difference and after all, what we're doing right now makes a difference and
changes history. This is only the begining, and its been a long hard day for all of us.
Stand Tall commrades Victory is near
Anni Thomas Junior Luitenant Womens Represenstative National Front New Zealand