People in Madison Wisconsin rapidly mobilized to protest a rally on Saturday by the Wisconsin Patriot Alliance at the state capital. Two hundred people joined for a “Unite Against Fascism” counter protest, including our crew from Chicago Refuse Fascism. 20+ persons with the fascist Wisconsin Patriot Alliance showed up, several carrying rifles.
Some at the “Unite Against Fascism” counter protest joined in chanting “No Trump, No KKK, No Fascist USA!” People chanted “No Hate, No Fear, Immigrants are Welcome Here.” And protesters carried signs saying, “Migrants welcome in Wisconsin,” “No wall, asylum for refugees,” “White supremacy is terrorism” and a professor with a “Product of refugees and teaches at UW” poster. This anti-fascist counter protest was organized by International Socialist Organization, Democratic Socialists of Ameria, Indivisible, Wisconsin Bail Out the People and other organizations.
“Unite Against Fascism” began the rally on a corner across from the state capitol building, while the Wisconsin Patriot Alliance across the street on the Capitol grounds. After an hour, the anti-fascist counter protest surged across the street and up the steps to confront the fascists, changing “Bigots Go Home.” The fascists soon departed as anti-fascists chanted, “Whose Streets? Our Streets!” You can see video and photos of the protest at the RFChicago FB page.
RefuseFascism brought into the protest a focus on the fascist border wall and also on the whole Trump/Pence regime through chants like, “No Ban, No Wall! Trump regime Has Got to Fall!” These chants were widely taken up by the “Unite against Fascism” protesters. This is important, because “Unite Against Fascism” was directed at the fascist foot soldiers, not the regime mainly. And there wasn’t a lot of focus on the border wall. Our crew had a banner and some NO! signs and got out the RF Call and “Trump/Pence Must Go” film palm card. We connected with several Madison people about taking up the RefuseFascism mission to drive the regime from power.
Who is this Wisconsin Patriot Alliance? The Madison media portrayed them and their protest very innocuously as simply “pro-gun” and pro-constitution.” Media quoted the Madison mayor saying there is no conflict here and this is just an opportunity to talk about equality. The organizers of the anti-fascism counter protest said organizers of this rally included the Three Percenters Patriots, a militia group that organizes armed vigilante squads at the US-Mexico border to hunt down and detain migrants crossing the border and turning them over to the Border Patrol. They’re a national militia with a chapter in Wisconsin, including a person in Madison.
The timing of what came down here is important. This armed fascist rally in Madison was happening right amid Trump’s government shutdown to force through the fascist border wall designed to accelerate ethnic cleansing. This confrontation also happened during a major move by Wisconsin Republicans to strip newly elected Democratic Party state officials, including the governor, of its power through a “legislative coup.” A large protest happened at the Capitol earlier in the week to support the new Governor’s inauguration.
Our crew also went to Madison to meet with some Wisconsin immigrant rights organizers. We learned a lot from them about the conditions of undocumented immigrant workers in the dairy farms and factories. And we were inspired by their urgency to organize stronger, meaningful resistance to the ethnic cleansing and whole Trump/Pence regime, and we got a lot out of strategizing with them.