Laugh Away the Nazis

When a group of far-right activists come to San Francisco to hold a rally this Saturday, they will be met by peace activists offering them flowers to wear in their hair.

Also, dog shit. Lots and lots of dog shit.

Hundreds of San Franciscans plan to prepare Crissy Field, the picturesque beach in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge where rightwing protest group Patriot Prayer will gather, with a generous carpeting of excrement.

  Guardian

Well, that's funny, but I'm wondering if they won't meet with some city authority (or maybe it's National Park Service?) estoppel now that their plan is published.

Shannon Bolt, a behavior scientist who works at Crissy Field, intends to confront Patriot Prayer in the spirit of the Summer of Love. “As white supremacists and neo-Nazis gather in our midst, we’ll tune into the love frequency again and meet their hatred with flowers for their hair,” she wrote in a Facebook event description.

If security forces keep the protest and counter-protest separate, Bolt told the Guardian, “We will have to offer our Flowers Against Fascism to them symbolically.”

Flowers Against Fascism. Yeah, that'll work. Check with the flower children of the 60s, Shannon.

“You have a significant number of people who would like to go and punch Nazis, and then you have people who think they should be entirely ignored,” said veteran labor and LGBTQ rights activist Cleve Jones. “In between you have all sorts of creative and crazy ideas. I kind of like that.”

Jones is working with local drag queen Juanita More to host a rally and march for equality beginning at Harvey Milk Plaza in the city’s Castro district. “There’s this desire to create fear,” he said of media coverage showing torch-wielding racists spewing hateful chants. “With these kinds of creative actions, we dispel fear. We say we’re going to fight you and we’re going to have a ball doing it and we’re going to laugh and love each other.”

Never change, San Francisco.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

Rally cancelled.  Good work, SF.  However...

The group said it still intended to attend a rally on Sunday in nearby Berkeley, which has seen a number of violent standoffs between rightwing protesters and anti-fascist activists this year.

  Guardian

Yeah, THAT's not going to be a problem.

However, shortly after, the organizer of the Berkeley rally released a statement urging people not to come to her “No to Marxism in America” rally. Andrea Cummings said she was concerned for the safety of the people who might come to the event.

Not to mention, herself.