[news] Paul Fromm's fascist meeting shut down... twice!

[ARA Toronto]

 <aratoronto at yahoogroups.com>

  *Paul Fromm's "Alternative Forum" Meeting Shut Down...Twice!*
*Fromm flees Tim Horton's coffee shop, leaving supporters confused and
angry.*

January 18th, 2007

Tonight over a dozen anti-fascist youth from various locations in southern
Ontario joined together after receiving a last minute notice about a
far-right meeting happening in Toronto. The purpose was to expose and shut
down the gathering of Paul Fromm's inappropriately named neo-nazi group,
CAFE (Canadian Association for Free Expression).

Anti-Racist Action (ARA) Toronto had obtained information on short notice
about the planned coming together of elderly German, eastern European and
other fascists and fascist sympathizers, to listen to the ramblings of
neo-nazi leader Paul Fromm. The theme of the night's meeting was supposed to
be "Richard Warman Exposed", featuring a talk by none other than longtime
white supremacist webmaster, Marc Lemire. Warman is a prominent Ottawa-based
human rights lawyer, who is famous for his human rights complaints against
individuals and groups in the far-right.

Upon receipt of the information about the meeting, which was initially set
to take place at the Quality Hotel and Suites (located at 2180 Islington Ave
North), a phone campaign was initiated to persuade management to cancel the
event. The entire hotel was also flyered, to ensure that all guests were
well aware of the event (many of whom placed complaints with the front
desk). After receiving a high volume of phone calls, management decided to
cancel the meeting out of concerns for the safety of their guests given the
fact that white supremacists were planning to congregate on their premises.

At this stage, the location was monitored in order to ensure that the
meeting was actually cancelled. Reports had it that about 15 elderly bigots
showed up, only to have hotel staff inform them of the meeting's
cancellation. Arguments began between the bigots and management. No one
could manage to get Fromm on the phone to figure out what was going on, so
the white power wankers ambled aimlessly around the hotel lobby disturbing
the paying clientele while muttering about "the Jews" and awaiting
instructions from their absent fuhrer on where to go next. Shortly after
8pm, the hotel's manager, saying they had a respectable family
establishment, vowed never to allow Fromm and his crowd access to the hotel
again and ordered the assembled rabble of fascists to leave the premises
immediately.

When their caravan began to leave, we followed closely behind, expecting to
arrive at another hotel conference room or other fairly formal
establishment. But alas, we arrived at a Tim Horton's coffee shop, which was
heavily populated with Fromm fans. We exited our vehicles and brought more
literature into the Timmy's. We informed staff of who the fascists were, and
they were thankful for the information and said we could do as we liked to
make it uncomfortable for the racist scumbags.

Shortly after we arrived, Marc Lemire instructed a man of about 80-years-old
to begin filming us. An irate Tim Horton's manager marched over to the Fromm
supporter and demanded he immediately stop filming while on the premises.
The elderly fascist protested that he was filming people who he believed
were communists, but the manager would hear none of it. Turning the camera
off, the old man sulked and went outside where he paced and sought comfort
from his friends.

Paul Fromm anxiously looked over his shoulder to see a long line of
anti-fascists streaming into the coffee shop. Marc Lemire isolated himself
by the washroom, strategically shielding himself behind two senior citizens.
Fromm did the same, and huddled himself within a group of elderly women.
Before getting up, and heading straight to the arms of Lemire. They spoke
for a few moments, and as they noticed anti-fascists heading towards them,
they bolted for their cars. In brave Nordic fashion, and reminiscent of Nazi
leaders at the end of World War II, they abandoned all their supporters
without notice and fled in terror of the anti-racists who were doing nothing
more menacing than sipping coffee. What courage! What leadership qualities!
How like Jack Astor's when Fromm ran from ARA at a breakneck speed to a
hiding place in the pantry.

After 10 minutes had gone by with still no word from their fearless leader,
Fromm's supporters were visibly worried and upset, repeatedly asked "Where
did Paul go?" and "Why did he leave us here with them?" They also asked one
another why he didn't say anything before leaving, and why he hadn't called
them since. One woman with an eastern Europe accent was heard to remark
"This is ridiculous! Why are we here?" The supporters were getting antsy and
some swore at us and expressed their seething anger at having their meeting
cancelled. However, several laughed when we phoned Fromm and asked him to
return rather than act like a coward.

>From that point on the fascists sat with perplexed scowls, while we mingled
with them and plunked ourselves down to have some interesting conversations
about Hitler's early career as an artist of pornographic postcards, and
about the best recipes we got from synagogues for potato latkes. This
created an atmosphere rife with frustration and stammering, as the Hitler
fans got up, wandered around, and eventually went out to their cars to
leave. While their followers sat around complaining and in dismay that they
were left behind "at the mercy of the Jews", Fromm and Lemire were nowhere
to be seen. As the last frustrated fascist left, members of the general
public at Tim's burst into applause as did the staff who offered the
anti-fascists free coffee for "cleaning" the coffee shop of the racist
filth.

Tonight's successful opposition to Fromm's meeting was yet another step
forward for anti-fascists in southern Ontario, and once (actually, twice in
one night) again a humiliating defeat for Paul Fromm and his neo-nazi front
group. Previously, Fromm had lost his "right" to hold meetings at the
Hungarian House after an anti-fascist protest outside one of his events.
Now, he's lost the Quality Inn. No matter where Fromm and his freakish
followers set up shop next, anti-fascists will be there to expose him and
send him packing. The protracted campaign to expose, oppose, and confront
Fromm and his fellow fascists continues unabated. He, and his efforts to
organize white supremacist activities will, be shut down every time he
crawls out from beneath his rock.

¡Antifascismo para siempre!
 __._


__,_._,___
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.resist.ca/pipermail/news/attachments/20070121/39404c9f/attachment.html>