anti-fascism – Page 5 – The Hungover Pundit

Pride 2019 Part 4 – The Dumpster Fire

I was really hoping to write about something – anything – else, but the crisis in Hamilton continues and it’s pretty much dominated my life for the last week, so this is what I have to offer as part of the ongoing saga of Pride 2019.

As of time of writing, Friday morning, Cedar Hopperton is still in jail. Their hearing in front of the parole board was yesterday… but there was a bit of a twist ahead of time. Police had revoked Hopperton’s parole because it was alleged they had violated it by participating in the Pride defence action when fascists and religious zealots attacked the Hamilton Pride gathering in Gage Park on June 15th. On Wednesday, July 3rd, Hopperton’s lawyer announced that the hearing was not about this alleged parole violation, but rather because Hopperton had spoken at a public meeting on June 18th during which they called out the police for their inaction.

Let that sink in for a moment: Police now allege Cedar Hopperton violated their parole for speaking at a public meeting.

Free Speech vs. Propaganda

About two months ago, before I started this blog, I responded to a Facebook post about that swastika-wearing asshole in NYC’s Union Square who was egged by a passer-by. My comment was Anyone who walks around saying “Hell yes, I’m a Nazi” deserves whatever happens to them and they should be grateful it wasn’t worse.

It’s been eight weeks, and I keep getting harassment on Facebook over that comment. Some threats of violence, lots of pedantic crap from alt-right undergrad boys “just trying to have a discussion”, and so forth. It seems to come in waves, so I assume that the link is being shared and re-shared to some subreddit frequented by alt-right incel edge-lords whose basement apartments reek of ramen, B.O. and poor lifestyle choices.

But the thing that irritates me — far more than being threatened with axe murder, by the way — is the repeated claim by the morons defending a swastika-wearing homophobe who was shitting-up everyone’s public space in New York that day that I’m suppressing his free speech with my opinion.

Solidarity

It’s been seven days since anarchist and activist Cedar Hopperton was arrested for parole violations in relation to the fascist hate-group attack on the Pride festival in Hamilton, Ontario. Ironically, it appears that the very “parole violation” they were accused of — attending a rally that became violent — simply didn’t happen. Several members of the community have testified that Hopperton wasn’t at Pride, knowing that there was the potential for violence by fascists and religious zealots, so they stayed away, intending on keeping their parole in good faith. The Hamilton police, with no evidence, simply told the parole board to revoke Hopperton’s parole and they were arrested. To date, Hopperton has not been given any sort of court hearing or judicial process.

I’m not going to dive too deep into the absolute shitshow that is municipal politics in Hamilton at the moment. There’s plenty of media coverage about it, if you care to study how institutionalized homophobia and racism and impact a community. This post is about the fallout, and how people come together — or don’t — in support of each other.

Pride 2019 Part 3 — Cops and Nazis

It’s been a long, ugly week for LGBTQ people in Hamilton and the Niagara. The fallout from the fascist attack on the Hamilton Pride Festival has dominated the community since the 15th. Last Thursday Hamilton Police Chief Eric Girt doubled down on blaming the LGBTQ community for the slow and completely inadequate police response to the hate groups’ violence, infamously stating “We were not invited to the event. We were asked not to be at the event and we remained on the perimeter.”

A quick recap for clarity, if you’re just joining us: The Hamilton Police Service, like Hamilton city officials, were asked not to have an official presence at Pride ceremonies, and the HPS were specifically asked not to run a police recruiting booth at the Pride festival. This request was made because Hamilton Police have a very poor record of interacting with the LGBTQ community, including the perception of selective policing and especially with racial profiling, to the degree that many LGBTQ people in Hamilton feel uncomfortable around, if not outright threatened by, uniformed police.