Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Scary Photos
The current news focus on American Nazis brought back memories from the 1980s when Aryan Nations (or one of their militia friends) blew off the back of Bill Wassmuth's home with dynamite.
Little known to the Pollyannas, or to anyone outside the couple dozen investigative researchers in the Public Good network, SPLC did almost nothing about the militias of the 1990s until they were in a position to cash in through a major lawsuit against Aryan Nations--largely made possible by the heroic field research of Paul de Armond and the exemplary grassroots regional organizing of Bill Wassmuth and Eric Ward.
SPLC cranked up its well-oiled PR machine and legal machinery and effectively killed funding for Bill and Eric. To this day, many people still think all it takes to defeat domestic terrorism is a slick lawyer and a lot of pious posturing.
I'm not suggesting we stoop to such methods, but it's good to be aware of how shallow the understanding of the violent right-wing is, and the emotive force of scary photos. Mostly what I object to is the impression that this is our major problem, rather than the very widespread and entrenched system of exclusion from power and decision-making in this country, and how mainstream thuggery really is.
It's the guys in suits behind the scenes that cause most of the trouble. Nailing them takes a lot more than PR campaigns.
Part of the problem is that philanthropy in this country does not provide any infrastructural support for building and maintaining regional pro-democracy networks, where authentic activists can meet up and find mentors. Within that climate of deprivation, what should be a cooperative, reciprocal arrangement has become a very unhealthy competition.
I see no resolution of this social disaster.
