Neo-Nazi NPI forced to run gauntlet of protesters at Reagan Building
On the 5th of March, the racist "National Policy Institute" met in the government-owned Ronald Reagan Building. To get there many of the white supremacists had to run a gauntlet of angry anti-racist protesters.
Each time spotters identified a possible NPI attendee, a horn was sounded and anti-racist protesters swarmed in. This was greatly complicated by the presence elsewhere in the building of a convention of dermatologists entering by a different door, but which was behind the protest area. The doctors had to be identified and permitted to pass. On top of all else the "Capitol Steps" band was also performing inside. Fortunately one entrance was used only by the Nazis, this one protesters covered closely. At least one of the Nazis was driven off by highly motivated antiracist activists. Others relied on help from police to push through protesters.
One of the keynote speeches inside NPI was about the "Trump Phenomenon" that has so energized white racists in the past year. Since Trump began his campaign the number of KKK chapters in the US reportely has doubled.
Background from the press release issued before the protest:
The protest targetted the National Policy Institute (NPI), which planned its winter conference to examine “the future of European identity and consciousness.” The NPI, designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) watchdog arm, was hosted at the Ronald Reagan Building, which is managed by the Facilities Management Office of the Capitol Region, General Services Administration (GSA).
The NPI event has drawn outrage from community organizers who have initiated a campaign to demand the GSA terminate its contract with the NPI. Besides interviewing on community radio and reaching out to tens of thousands through community and activists networks, the ad hoc coalition has used daily leafleting teams at the Ronald Reagan building to urge tenants, office personnel, and visitors to make their concerns known to the GSA.
“We are deeply disturbed that a hate group has been allowed to use government resources to spread their message,” said local organizer Mike Stark. “No matter how much they try to hide behind their custom-made suits and academic-sounding titles, they mean only one thing: racist violence. Haven’t we learned a thing from Dylann Roof and the massacre in Charleston?”
The NPI was founded in 2005 to “elevate the consciousness of whites ensure our biological and cultural continuity.” The SPLC notes that the group has been “able to do something many similar groups have failed to do – attract lots of young people.” Recently they appear to be buoyed by Donald Trump’s campaign, praising Trump for having “taken celebrity culture and turned it into nationalism.”
According to the SPLC, the NPI is one of the four leading radical-right think tanks it designates as hate groups. While the NPI avoids crude expressions of racism and anti-Semitism, they maintain ties to groups and individuals known for racist violence. (Many of the latter-type of hate activists are expected to attend the winter conference of NPI.) Despite the “softer” rhetoric, the NPI has consistently pressed an agenda of racism, white nationalism, and immigrant-bashing.
Past Speakers at NPI conferences have included: · Kevin MacDonald – Psychology professor at California State University, Long Beach, known for antisemitism and racism. · Guillaume Faye – French writer and journalist known for his anti-Muslim views. · Jared Taylor -- Former spokesperson for the Council of Conservative Citizens; a white supremacist group named as an inspiration by Dylann Roof, the shooter who murdered 9 people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015.
“In a time where a black liberation movement has gained serious momentum, extremist right-wing backlash is unsurprising. But we cannot let the white supremacist ‘thought leaders’ quietly advance their agenda of ‘ethnic cleansing,’ eugenics and forced sterilization in our federal buildings. We cannot wait for a group like this to act on its expressed intentions,” said anti-racist organizer Lyndie Borne.
Setting up to confront Neo-Nazi "National Policy Institute"
Cops helping push the Nazis through crowds of anti-racist protesters
A scrum at the door as the Nazis enter
