For a variety of reasons — not least of all the weak position taken by the established pro-migrant organizations in town — the so-called “nativist” camp has succeeded in normalizing an extremely reactionary argument on immigration. In Arizona, the debate and policies have lurched so far to the right that outright racist arguments don’t stand out as starkly as they otherwise would. This has had tangible and unmistakable effects, from the massive numbers deported (or, “self-deported” out of fear) to the incarceration, profiling and round ups of hundreds of thousands.
It is this climate that has attracted the NSM here and it has not gone unnoticed that various clownish, though frequently armed, Nazis have begun showing up at pro-migrant marches, sieg heiling their little hearts out. Because of the congruence between the mainstream nativist camp (it pains us to acknowledge such a thing exists) and the positions of the NSM, we think it is useful to point out the cozy nature of their arguments. Ever faithful to their reputation as stooges and government dupes (how many Feds are in the group, we wonder), the NSM is doing the work for us.
If Americans can be counted on for anything, it’s for hating Nazis, and images of brownshirted fascists in full historical reenactment regalia (or, alternately, dressing like SWAT team wannabes) spouting their anti-immigrant nonsense will highlight the extreme nature of what passes for the mainstream discussion in Arizona, and to show that there is strong resistance to it. The NSM’s traveling circus affords us the opportunity to twist their spectacle to our ends.
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Fires Never Extinguished is still always killin’ it.
