CHARLOTTESVILLE BROUGHT BACK MEMORIES OF 1930’S NAZI GERMANY

…The rioters entering Charlottesville in 2017

Trump blew it when he said: “Both side were to blame for the violence.”

You may recall that one year ago this month, a young 32 year old woman, Heather Heyer, was run over and killed by a far-right white nationalist.  He was then charged with first-degree murder and two federal hate crimes.

But being a follower of WWII history, what I saw that day in Charlottesville, Virginia, was a reflection of the former 1930’s Nazi German Storm Troopers called “Brownshirts”.

Just as it was in Adolf Hitler’s rise in Germany, the far-right paramilitary groups marched into Charlottesville as part of the now-infamous Unite the Right rally. Many of their torch bearing members wore matching uniforms, marched in military-style formations, openly chanted white-supremacist slogans, and invited confrontation with counter-protesters and local law enforcement.

In some cases, their gear and maneuvers totally imitated those actions used by the German militaries of the past, and their weapons, whether firearms or their more crude instruments such as shields, bats, batons and flagpoles, they were deployed to intimidate and signal that they were, “ready to crack skulls,”….. their words, not mine.

But, as bad as that was, and as bad as our president was when he falsely said that, “Both sides were to blame for the violence,” there are those that are fighting back.

In response, advocates of nonviolence and tolerance have developed several strategies for dealing with these and other extremist groups.

The British group Hope Not Hate, they endorse infiltrating, naming and shaming white-nationalist organizations.

In the wake of Unite the Right, a joint congressional resolution called for increased federal action, including through prosecutions against those committing hate crimes motivated by ethnic or racial animus.

The Aspen Institute’s Justice & Society Program suggests that organizations serving young Americans teach tolerance.

But there are those that also advocate counter-violence against neo-fascists.  They argue that it’s okay to “punch a Nazi,” an ugly, illegal vigilante tactic.

Fortunately, there is another tool for dealing with these groups.

Most states have constitutional language, criminal statutes or both barring unauthorized paramilitary activity. Every state except New York and Georgia have a constitutional provision, similar to Virginia’s that requires that “in all cases the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.” In other words, private armies are forbidden in 48 states. “You can’t legally organize with others into battalions to fight those with whom you disagree.”

As University of Virginia law professor A.E. Dick Howard, who formerly directed the Virginia Commission on Constitutional Revision, has written, this provision “ensures the right of all citizens . . . to live free from the fear of an alien soldiery commanded by men who are not responsible to law and the political process”.  This is an accurate description of the militant groups that invaded Charlottesville.

Please note that Washington, D.C., the site of the failed alt-right protests last weekend, had no such provisions.

…The rioters in Charlottesville at the height of the rally.

In addition to constitutional provisions, 28 states have criminal statutes that prevent individuals from forming rogue military units and parading or drilling publicly with firearms.  Plus 25 states have criminal statutes that bar two or more people from engaging in “paramilitary” activity, including using firearms or other “techniques” capable of causing injury or death in a civil disorder.

A dozen states have statutes that prohibit falsely assuming the functions of law enforcement or wearing without authorization, military uniforms or close imitations.

On the books for years, these laws are rarely invoked. But with the invasion of public spaces and intimidation of citizens that we’ve seen in Charlottesville and around the country, it’s time states employ these laws to prohibit the coordinated use of weapons at demonstrations and rallies.  

Many Americans have forgotten that for democracy to work, the state itself must have, as sociologist Max Weber once described it, “the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force.” We often take that idea for granted in the United States.

But the recent tide of political violence has called that concept into question. And it wasn’t just in Charlottesville.

You may remember as I do, that there was also the “Battle of Berkeley”.  This was where protesters and counter-protesters repeatedly clashed over plans to bring right-wing and white-nationalist speakers to the Cal-State Berkeley campus.  And don’t forget the recent Patriot Prayer Rallies in Portland, Oregon.  That operation included a series of violent protests. But most alarming has been the increased adoption of paramilitary techniques and heavy weaponry.

The lawsuit that came from the Charlottesville riot was carefully crafted to respect constitutionally recognized rights. The suit was led by Georgetown’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection on behalf of Charlottesville and several businesses and associations there.

The suit did not seek money damages for injuries suffered during the rally. Instead, it sought court orders prohibiting white-nationalist and neo-Nazi groups and their leaders; militia organizations purporting to defend the First Amendment rights of these groups; and a self-described “anti-fascist, anti-racist” organization.  That group, without authorization, deployed armed members to create a security perimeter around a park used by counter-protesters during the rally.  They are now prevented from returning to Charlottesville as a coordinated armed group during demonstrations, rallies, protests or marches.

In total, 21 individuals and organizations, including Unite the Right rally organizers Jason Kessler and Elliott Kline, and prominent white-nationalist organizations Vanguard America, Traditionalist Worker Party, League of the South, and the Nationalist Socialist Movement, agreed to settlements prohibiting them from returning to Charlottesville in groups of two or more.  This acts in concert while armed with any type of weapon during any demonstration, rally, protest or march. Leftist militia Redneck Revolt also settled. Two other defendants failed to respond to the suit, but they were made subject to similar prohibitions.

Should any of the defendants violate the court orders, they will be in contempt of court and open to prosecution. Such cases are not without precedent: “Violation of a court order prohibiting paramilitary activity under North Carolina’s laws resulted in the conviction of the leader of the Carolina Ku Klux Klan in the mid-1980s.” That’s a powerful deterrent.

Individuals and groups not named as defendants in the case, and not subject to the court orders, also have good reason to avoid attempting to reprise last year’s clashes. That’s because the anti-paramilitary statutes in the lawsuit are criminal statutes, and breaking those laws risks criminal prosecution.

No one can predict what will happen in Charlottesville this year; the rally organizer, Jason Kessler dropped his effort to obtain a permit for an anniversary rally.  But that doesn’t guarantee that smaller groups of white nationalists won’t gather, for which permits might not be required.

However, it does mean demonstrators will have to toe the line and assemble peacefully as citizens expressing their points of view, rather than mimicking Nazi Brownshirt-style paramilitaries.

Copyright G.Ater  2018