[mobglob-discuss] Lyndon LaRouche, neo-fascism and Vancouver activism

[Macdonald Stainsby]

Fascism comes in many forms, from the openly anti-Semitic neo-Nazi movements led
by the now-dead William Pierce (may he rest in peace) and Jean Marie le Pen in
France and his anti-immigrant ravings. There is also the pseudo insane rants of
the anti-Semitic paranoid lizard chaser, David Icke.

Then, we have the "populist" Lyndon LaRouche- fighter against globalisation, big
government ...and the immigration "problem".

Lyndon H LaRouche, a known anti-Semite neo-Fascist, has had a number of his
followers infiltrating our movement for some time. My own first run-in with
these scum was back on October 27, at a teach-in that the now-dormant MAWAR gave
against the War on Terror out on the grounds of UBC. They were there
distributing their "newspaper" and we asked them to leave. They tried to
disseminate the papers en masse and then took off. We tossed these in the
garbage. That was then.

LaRouche-ite pigs apparently then went into long term, ground breaking tactical
thinking, as they joined the End Legislated Poverty group (a local anti-poverty
NGO) and attended meetings for a number of weeks before being spotted again,
wandering around distributing their filth at the G8 ministers meeting in
Whistler on the 12th of July. This was worrisome, but when they were loudly
exposed and brought forward for what they were, they did what the new fascists
do all the time- they denied their affiliations. Now, how did it come out they
were racist LaRouche supporters? I asked a simple few questions about
immigration of one of the men. He refused to answer several vague questions, but
the one he liked enough to answer was "How do you feel about immigration from
places like Pakistan and Israel?" He responded by alerting me and about 5 or 6
others within earshot that "the country was going down the tubes".

The infiltration doesn't stop there, as they attended our victory against Gordon
Campbell on Friday July 14- when the APC-led demonstration chased Gordo away
from the Vancouver Art Gallery. Yes, our friendly fascists were running around
there trying to convince people "they are just like us" again.  Considering the
relaxed attitude of MobGlob (in itself, a good thing!) towards who can and
cannot join, I expect they are on this list serve, and that they have also
attended meetings.

Again, by using "anti-corporate" and "libertarian" rhetoric, they attempt to
appeal to people within our movement as we are young, have a lot of questions to
ask and are full of righteous anger against the forces that currently are
running the world (except most of us aren't pining to stop "the ZOG", but that's
another matter...). In such circumstances, if not just plain ALWAYS, it is
incumbent upon us to be very careful to make it well known to all people of good
conscience that we have nothing to do with their racist conspiracy driven
nonsense. We are about an end to a world order that is so bleak it might lead
some otherwise good people towards racist conspiracy driven nonsense. Yet,
LaRouche appears to be very similar to a Ralph Nader, David Orchard and other
"harmless" anti-globalisation populists. He is not.

Unfortunately, in addition to Paul Fromm articles about immigration being the
cause of September 11, Gordon Watson "debating" abortion (before target
practice, one would guess) and the regular carrying and promoting of
Protocols-of-the-Elders-of Zion-quoting David Icke, the Radical Newspaper has
been carrying LaRouche articles as well. The lead-in to the reprinted LaRouche
article, showing a familiarity with the author and the content, written by
editor Arthur Topham includes the following:

"... Ed John exemplifies this great conspiracy to remove
Canada's water and its sovereignty from out of the hands
of the people and into the waiting mouths and bank accounts
of the ruling NWO elites. This document below will put in
context what is planned and is currently being implemented
using the "Salami Tactics" that Hans Krampe refers to in
earlier instances of implementing global corporate fascism.

Read on and please do comment.
-Editor [Arthur Topham]"
---
Now, to sum up who Lyndon LaRouche and his followers are, here is a clip from a
great article written by one Chip Berlet:

"Unraveling the Gordian Knot that is LaRouche is not difficult when you realize
the multi-faceted nature of LaRouche and his organization. LaRouche is the Elmer
Gantry of American politics; mixing equal parts of cynical con and fanatic
fervor. The terms to describe LaRouche can be gleaned from the pages of any
political science textbook. LaRouche's political ideology is authoritarian. His
view of history is paranoid. His economic theories are similar to Italian
Fascism. His conspiratorial views are laced with racial and cultural bigotry and
a large dose of anti-Jewish hysteria. His zealous stormtroopers are motivated by
an internal organizational structure that is to politics what the blitzkrieg was
to international diplomacy--that distinctive twentieth century phenomenon...the
totalitarian movement. History teaches us that to ignore or dismiss such a
person as an ineffectual crank can have devastating consequences."
(clip)
[the whole article and explanation of Lyndon LaRouche can be found here:
http://www.publiceye.org/larouche/nclc1.html ]

The article run in the Radical was just one more article promoting a
known-racist, a known anti-Semite and there is no doubt as to the Editors' own
personal allegiance to exactly the types of politics that the article and author
produces.

We need to be a movement that takes itself seriously and the threats of
hate-mongerers infiltrating our meetings and our ranks, and the Radical
continues to associate itself with these characters. As has been said before,
this isn't a matter that would take any real trouble in being cleared up by
Arthur Topham. He simply has to publicly assert that these racists and
neo-fascists are not a part of his immediate circle, they are not welcome in his
paper and we never see them and their anti-people garbage (wrapped in
"anti-globalisation" rhetoric) on the pages again. That's simple. Or, we have to
do what has been done by many different places and distributors and
organisations across Vancouver, all of BC and now into Alberta (and anywhere
else the Radical is trying to move into):
We need to make it known this is not a paper that has anything to do with the
world we are trying to build. The People's Co-Op Bookstore has refused to carry
it, as have all but one of the progressive book and magazine retail outlets. We
should ask people within our movement to make a choice: either openly distribute
the paper, or work within our movement. We need to be very careful not to become
paranoid, thinking there are skinheads and fascists under our collective beds.
Nonetheless, this isn't a matter of paranoia- if we do not make this stand, we
will have no legitimacy in the communities of colour we state we want to work
directly with. Moreover, what "alliance" will we really be actively promoting?

Let me make it clear: I'm not talking about people who once read the paper, or
those even who still would. We should all read what the far-right is up to- I
read the National Post regularly. Also the Globe and Mail... and it carries
Naomi Klein and Michael Moore occasionally. What is different is when people
actively use their time to promote this paper, and then want to simply switch
shoes and work with those who oppose the very principles being espoused here.

This is not a game. This is not about personal anything; such actions are not
fun, do not raise anyones "ego" or anything else. They are as simple as keeping
the house clean. If you don't, soon you have ants all over the floors, eating
away a lifetime of hard work, a bit at a time. We have (in and out of any one
organisation) left alone these things for too long, in the name of diversity.
That was a good choice, we shouldn't have a culture of paranoia. Nonetheless, we
do have to have a strict guideline about how people deal with those of "us" who
are known associates of the world we are fighting against, whether they stand in
the shadows or in the sun.

In addition to the statement against racism and for inclusivity, we also need to
have a statement about how we deal with those who associate themselves *on a
personal, organisational level* with groups/individuals who either deliberately
or unwittingly promote these neo-fascist upsurges. The lives of people in our
movement could, ultimately, depend on it. At the very least does our
credibility.

LaRouche-ites we have, I hope, no time for and never will. However, seeing as
how many people want to work with the Radical, I hope the Editor Mr Topham
chooses to use this opportunity to disassociate himself with these scumbags and
racists- and firmly comes down in the camp of diversity, racial, gender and
sexual equality-- and never again do we need to re-visit these matters. The
choice remains with the paper- and those who knowingly ignore the smell of
fascism and work with it.

Macdonald