David Irving’s Holocaust-Denial Speaking Tour: The Show that Must Not Go On
From Three Way Fight…
This July, David Irving, a British neo-fascist and fraudulent historian, goes on the road in the United States, planning to hold approximately one and a half dozen speaking engagements over the course of a month. As militant anti-racists and anti-fascists, we are making a public call for resistance at each stop along the way of this tour.
Who is David Irving?
David Irving is a British writer of histories who has been involved with the fascist political scene since the 1960s. Always known for the pro-Hitler bias of his books, approximately two decades ago Irving made the transition to being a fully-fledged Holocaust-denier, when he testified at the trial of neo-Nazi Ernst Zündel in Canada, and also arranged the publication of Fred Leuchter’s widely-refuted report on gas chambers at Auschwitz. In addition to spreading blatant historical lies, Irving has publicly stated that “The Jews are the architects of their own misfortune”. Unsurprisingly, Irving has been an extremely popular speaker at neo-Nazi rallies in Germany.
In the British libel case Irving v. Penguin Books and Lipstadt, the final ruling in favor of the defendants confirmed that Irving “is an active Holocaust denier” and that “he is anti-Semitic and racist and that he associates with right-wing extremists who promote neo-Nazism.” In 2006, Irving was jailed in Austria after pleading guilty to a charge of “trivializing the Holocaust”, which is a crime in that county. Since his release, Irving has been marketing himself as a former “political prisoner”.
Why Oppose These Events?
Irving’s current tour focuses on “”Re-writing history, using the decoded Nazi messages” (see: http://www. focal. org/speaks/index. html). The re-writing of Third Reich history—especially in relation to the Nazi “Final Solution” for Europe’s Jewish population—is a major preoccupation for modern neo-Nazis and neo-fascists, who correctly believe that memory of the Holocaust is a significant barrier to the mainstreaming of their beliefs. The Holocaust is denied so that, paradoxically, it can be repeated. Wherever Irving appears, he is backed and promoted by virulent anti-Semites and fascist organizers.
Irving’s bogus history is both blatantly offensive and incorrect. However, we oppose Irving not for what he thinks, but rather for what he does. As the name of his own publishing project suggests, Irving serves as a “focal point” to bring Jew-haters and goose-steppers together. He is part of a political tendency that is actively organizing for ethnic and racial hostilities, and in particular to persecute Jewish people. (James von Brunn’s murder of a security guard at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is one recent example of where this anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi tendency can lead. Von Brunn moved within many of the same circles that promote Irving’s work.)
We believe that fascist activism and movement-building should meet with organized resistance. As the Anti-Racist Action Network states in its Points of Unity:
“Whenever fascists are organizing or active in public, we’re there. We don’t believe in ignoring them or staying away from them. Never let the nazis have the street!”
We invite you to help this effort along, by organizing in your own community.
When and Where?
At present, the dates for Irving’s speaking tour are as follows:
July 3 Friday: Kansas City, 19:00
July 6 Monday: Oklahoma City, 19:00
July 8 Wednesday: Albuquerque, 19:00
July 10 Friday: Phoenix, 19:00
July 12 Sunday: Las Vegas, buffet, 19:00
July 13 Monday: Salt Lake City, buffet, 19:00
July 15 Wednesday: Boise, buffet, 19:00
July 16 Thursday: Spokane, buffet, 19:00
July 18 Saturday: Seattle 15:00
July 19 Sunday: Portland, OR, buffet, 15:00
July 22 Wednesday: Sacramento, buffet,18:30
July 23 Thursday: San Francisco, buffet 18:30
July 25 Saturday: Costa Mesa, 18:30
July 26 Sunday: Sherman Oaks, 15:00
July 29 Wednesday: Denver, 19:00
July 30 Thursday: Omaha, 19:00
July 31 Friday: Chicago incl. de luxe dinner, 19:00The exact location of Irving’s talk in each city has not been made public, due to Irving’s fear of encountering the opposition he so richly deserves. Any determined group of individuals ought to be able to pinpoint the event location in their city, however. Many of these events are probably booked under false pretexts, and venue owners may not necessarily know who they are hosting.
Further dates may be added (or subtracted!) as the tour progresses. Irving also plans to speak on the East Coast later this year, although dates have not been announced for this yet. Let’s set the tone for the East Coast wing of Irving’s tour right now!
No platform for fascists, no compromise!
Rose City Antifa / Portland ARA
fight_them_back@riseup.net
971.533.7832 (voicemail)
This entry was posted on Saturday, July 18th, 2009 at 2:03 pm and is filed under Fascism/anti-Fascism, Holocaust Denial and "Revisionism", U.S.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
on July 20, 2009 Thomas Walker wrote:
It is true fascists should be opposed. But the state is not a neutral entity that merely allows the “two sides” freedom of speech and whatnot. The state is an organized grouping of legislative and policing bodies that ensures the “smooth” of a brutal and unjust capitalist system. Fascism is merely an outgrowth of Bourgeois democracy. Bourgeois democracy should be smashed while also opposing its most openly racist and authoritarian forms.
Down with liberalism!
[Reply]
on July 20, 2009 schalomlibertad wrote:
Did you even read the text? It is from a militant anti-fascist group. The report of the disruption of Irving´s talk in 2000, by Chicago anti-racist action, also had nothing to do with liberal anti-fascism. Nor did it suggest using state measures. So I am not sure what you are responding to. I also find your reduction of fascism to a mere “outgrowth of bourgeois democracy” to be overly simplistic and false. If you mean to say that “liberalism” is the real enemy, then we´ve got a lot to disagree about.
[Reply]
on July 20, 2009 Bob wrote:
Thomas Walker’s statement is completely stupid. Anyone that cannot feel the difference between fascism and the normal functioning of bourgeois democracy either has no conception of what fascism is like or is blinkered by ideology that their cognitive functions have failed. While in normal bourgeois democracy the likes of Thomas Walker can say whatever foolish thing they want, in a fascist state they would be facing extermination.
Walker’s comments come in a long line of ultra-left idiocy, starting with the Comintern’s Third Period, which decreed that social democracy was “social fascism” and as bad as Hitler, a mistake that cost the German people, the Jews and Gypsies of Europe, the peoples subjugated by the Nazi empire, not to mention the Communist movement itself, very very dearly. This idiocy has been recycled, despite the lessons of the Third Reich, by Bordigists like Gilles Dauvé.
[Reply]
on July 20, 2009 schalomlibertad wrote:
Bob, I think you’re giving “Walker” too much credit. What makes you think he’s coming from the Left? Neo-fascists love to paint liberalism as fascism, especially when defending actual fascists such as David Irving. I read his comment as a defense of Irving. For him, militant anti-fascism, such as that of the above article, and laws against Holocaust denial in some European states, are equated as an attack on “freedom” (in this case Irving’s freedom to promote neo-fascism). In the neo-fascist imagination, the Left, liberalism, and the bourgeois state are the real fascists. Though you could be right, Bob. “Walker” could just be a very confused person who thinks he’s on the Left. There’s many of those out there. Will have to wait and see if he replies.
[Reply]
on July 20, 2009 Bob wrote:
And of course there is a historical connection between some Bordigists/ultra-leftists and the far right, as exemplifide by La Vieille Taupe (The Old Mole), see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Vieille_Taupe and
http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20071020111053520
[Reply]
on August 2, 2009 negative potential wrote:
“and laws against Holocaust denial in some European states”
For the record, I don’t like those kinds of laws either. I’ve had it out many times with German comrades on this issue, but I think those sorts of laws are irreconcilable with freedom of speech.
This is one of the few things Noam Chomsky is right about: we do **not** want to give the state the power to make decisions concerning what constitutes historical truth.
[Reply]
on August 2, 2009 schalomlibertad wrote:
i see the European anti-Denial rulings more in the negative than in the positive sense. that is, more as opposition to “hate speech” than as “deciding what constitutes historical truth.” I think it really blows things out of proportion to characterize these rulings in such a way.
[Reply]
on August 2, 2009 Hypocrisy? wrote:
This post represents a call to action against fascism by using fascist tactics of threats, intimidation, and silencing of first amendment rights.
[Reply]