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Date: Sun, 17 Mar 1996 14:37:54 -0700 (MST)
From: Todd Ferguson 
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To: Ken McVey 
Subject: Fromm Run Out of Edmonton! (fwd)
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 17 Mar 1996 14:26:02 -0700 (MST)
From: Todd Ferguson 
To: Anti-Racist Action Toronto 
Subject: Fromm Run Out of Edmonton!

March 17, 1996
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
ANTI-FASCIST LEAGUE SHUTS FROMM DOWN!
 
 
On Thursday, March 7th, the Edmonton Anti-Fascist League received an 
annonymous tip.  Paul "Fuhrer" Fromm was planning to give a speech in our 
town on Friday, March 15th.  The lecture was organized by his group, the 
Canadian Association for Free Expression (a.k.a. Cracker Apologists For 
Ernst) and was sure to be a major draw for the local bigots and boneheads.
 
Since 1992 the AFL had been largely inactive in Edmonton, having chased 
all the Final Solution boneheads and Aryan Nations sympathizers out of 
town the year before.  Our actions against Fromm would test if we were 
still capable of initiating valid and successful street-level anti-racist 
work and would also show us if Edmonton's reputation as a strong 
anti-racist community was still well-deserved.  Quickly, we sprang into 
action!
 
Fromm was booked to speak in a meeting room in the Best Western City 
Centre (11310-109 St.), next to the airport and right across from a 
shopping mall.  We scheduled the meeting point for our rally a half-hour 
earlier in the mall.  We called and e-mailed everyone we knew, and 
encouraged them to tell their friends.  We contacted other anti-racist 
groups in the country, warning them of Fromm's speaking tour.  
Anti-Racist Action Toronto couriered out some excellent pamphlets about 
Fromm and his history, which complented the ones we had custom-made.  
Soon we received calls of support from student groups, multicultural 
societies, and political organizations of all types.  After much debate, 
we decided against contacting the media, for fear that they would give 
Fromm a platform on their programs to spout his rhetoric, or else contact 
the hotel, causing the hotel to cancel and Fromm to move his meeting to a 
secret location.  
 
On the day of the meeting Fromm enjoyed an hour of free air-time courtesy 
of 630 CHED radio talk show host David Rutherford.  Besides his usual 
anti-immigrant, anti-foreign crap, Fromm boasted of carrying around a 
book banned in Canada as hate literature (Will America Drown?).  But the 
big surprise for us was when he announced that he had seen the leaflet we 
had made announcing the protest posted on the internet.  He called the 
AFL "terrorists," "law-breakers" (never mind the banned book you brought 
to the radio station, Paul!) and "loonies", and went so far to state that 
all the violence he's heard of was instigated by the left.  When the 
program's host tried to counter by referring to the Oklahoma bombing (not 
to mention the murders of 3 gay men by boneheads in the last five years 
in Canada, and countless assaults) Fromm actually defended the bombing, 
saying "...there hasn't been a trial yet and we still don't know who did 
it or why."
 
So, we had lost our element of surprise and had to change our tactics 
from arriving en masse to going to the meeting invdividually or in small 
groups and causing pandemonium once inside.  We anticipated maybe 30 
protesters and had made enough flyers (including copies of the latest On 
The Prowl) for 50.  By 7:30 p.m., the announced time of the protest, 
between 100-150 protesters had arrived!  There were representatives from 
the Jewish Students' Association, the Muslim Students' Association, Food 
Not Bombs, the Anti-Fascist League, Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice, 
the University of Alberta New Democrats, the Edmonton Multicultural 
Society, the STudent Organized Resistance Movement, and numerous punks, 
anti-racist skins, street kids, and concerned citizens.  Unfortunately, 
there was also lots and lots of police and security guards, who had 
presumably also been tipped off by the posting of our pamphlet on the 
internet.  They ushered us out of the mall and "informed" us that Paul 
Fromm had packed his bags and skipped town.  Given the police's history 
of protecting and even collaborating with racists, we took this "good 
news" with a healthy dose of skepticism, and after promising to disperse 
and go home, we proceeded directly to the hotel where Fromm was scheduled 
to speak.  There we were met by even more police officers who stuck to 
the story that he had left and the meeting was cancelled.  After we soon 
made them realize we weren't going anywhere until we were sure that they 
weren't lying, they agreed to let one representative search the hotel, 
accompanied by police and hotel staff.  While negotiating this, three 
demonstraters snuck into the building under the guise of hotel guests.  
Between the "official" representative and our anti-racist "ninjas", not a 
single bonehead or aging anti-Semite could be found!  The police had 
actually told the truth!  According to hotel staff, the police had called 
at 5:00 p.m. to inform them of the true nature of the meeting Fromm had 
booked and advised them to cancel, which they did.  Fromm had arrived to 
set up for the meeting at 7:00p.m., only to find himself uncerimoniously 
evicted from the premises, suitcase in hand, by two Edmonton cops!  The 
cops had been there since 5:30, throwing anyone there for the meeting off 
the premises.  One old Confederation of Regions crony was actually 
arrested for tresspassing when he tried to re-enter the building!
 
While it wasn't the confrontation so many of us had planned for, the demo 
was certainly an unqualified success.  Fromm had wasted time and money 
planning for and flying out to a meeting that never happened.  He wasn't 
able to spread his message of hate or sell any of his propaganda, and 
he'll certainly think twice before he comes out here again!  The 
anti-racist community in Edmonton proved that they have a large following 
of committed people, willing to confront racists at a moment's notice, 
even if it means giving up a Friday night.  Over 150 flyers, and 
pamphlets about Fromm, as well as the latest issue of On The Prowl, got 
distributed to people that can use the information, demonstrating that 
all the networking and organizing anti-racist groups across the country 
have been doing is finally starting to pay off.  The local police were 
made to realize that if they treated us with respect and courtesy and 
were honest with us, we'd reciprocate.  The hotel (and hopefully the 
entire Best Western chain) was put on notice as to what Fromm and his 
group was really about.  It was most certainly a victory for everyone who 
opposes bigotry and hatred, and hopefully it will prove to be the impetus 
for even more successful anti-racist action in Edmonton!  As we stated on 
our pamphlets, "If 'free speech', not bigotry, is the issue that Paul 
Fromm claims it to be, than all Canadians have the right and the 
obligation to counter lies, deceit, and hatred as vocally as the 
proponents of racism who espouse it.  It is for this reason that we are 
determined to confront, disrupt, interfere with, and shut down the 
activities of Fromm and his ilk, no matter where they go."-Anti-Fascist 
League  

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