Sander Hicks Interviews Media/Theatre Activist Brandon Welch

First of all, Brandon, what was it like to be behind enemy lines with the

video camera?

It was a tad tense. Crossing police lines is never very easy

but I dress in very neutral clothing (no logos) and I am polite to a fault.

I interviewed a Reverend Fox of the World Church of the Creator (a non-deistic

religion based upon the concept that white man is the creator of all things

good, important and useful. They currently believe they are engaged in a

"holy war" against Jews and their supporters.) Although I find the Reverend's

beliefs repugnant and based upon some very skewed (read: made up) world

history, I conducted the interview without harassing him. He appeared to

enjoy the interview, since day time talk shows have all but dismissed nazi

guests, the show always break down to a shouting match.

I have visited the WCOTC web sites when they were apparently becoming active

in the county where I was a high school teacher a few years ago, but I wanted

to hear the official stance from the horse's mouth. I was not threatened

in any way during our talk but I felt like I was really pushing my luck,

being in the midst of the group and 100 yards away from the cops. I did

not try to speak to any National Alliance members or Hammerskins. Rhetoric

from the brainwashed becomes rather boring.

Long story short, I didn't get arrested or beaten to death, so hooray.

What did you later tell those media students with the TV camera?

The students had no idea who was actually on the white power side (neither

did the cops and a whole bunch of anti-nazi protesters... some thought the

KKK was present?!?) so I told them and told them what they were protesting

(Israel's existence and the US government's support). I was kind of amazed

at how few people knew who was on the other side of the barricades.

I talked to them about how white power groups recruit, who they target (angry,

confused and emotionally disturbed young men) . I mentioned how some of

these people end up becoming lone Aryan mass murderers when they shoot up

synagogues and gay bars (successful human bombs) or freak out and kill their

parents (the brainwashing did not work).

How did the protest compare to how you thought it would go?

I expected a lot more violence. The riot police (so macho in their Darth

Vader gear) had a pretty good plan to keep the two sides apart, but I figured

there would be stragglers - small groups from each side that would get isolated

and attacked (apparently this happened in a few instances after the march

was over, but I did not witness anything). I also figured the cops would

gas us, especially when some young people were throwing rocks and bottles.

I put off some dental work just in case.

What was your take on the Anti-Nazi violence you witnessed?

I don't know what people expect to accomplish by tossing water bottles and

Rocks. It did not stop any of the nazi goon squad from marching, at least

one guy got arrested in the first thirty seconds of the procession leaving

Union Station and it endangered the non-violent protesters (including some

elderly people and children in strollers, who would have a tough time getting

out of the way of a charging, armored cop). We need to look out for people

unable to protect themselves and even pedestrians. I helped a rather

bewildered elderly man who was trying to go to the post office out of the way at

one point.

I suppose I could argue the point of using violence to stop violent people

involves a good bit of wrong thinking, but better organization might have

actually thrown a wrench into their scheme: imagine if three hundred of

us, including elderly and children, had simply sat down with arms linked

and blocked the street about four blocks away from the station. Cops will

gas the elderly and children but it makes them look like assholes (more

like assholes I should say) and it is harder to say ?they were being violent?

when we would be sitting down. It would be even better if we all had American

flags, then the TV cameras might bother to film a group of people getting

attacked by police and the networks might air it.

As it was, nothing was accomplished. I can completely disagree with and

even hate a person's belief system without wanting to kill them.

We need better chants than "Death to the nazis, power to the workers," too.

I tried to start "Your mothers didn't hold you enough (or perhaps too much)?"

but it was too long.

Before everybody starts saying "What kind of anarchist are you anyway?"

let me say I took an oath of non-violence when I was protesting the Death

Penalty with the Living Theatre and I take that very seriously. I will defend

myself if I must, but I get no pleasure from watching other people suffer.

What did you believe about the role and behavior of the police? Be specific.

I do not love cops. It?s a tough job, blah, blah, blah but DC's riot squad

can be A-1 assholes. One cop roughed up a sixteen year-old punker kid and

tossed him on the ground, because he had cursed at him. Some of the cops

were belligerent, some acted as if they were scared (charging into a crowd

and then whirling around, expecting to be jumped upon), many cursed the

counter protesters and threatened them for no good reason. I was detained

several times for being places that I shouldn't be. I was polite (I didn't

want to have my video camera confiscated), I showed my ID and I complied

with the police's wishes.

I was very surprised that the cops did not know anything about who was present.

I asked a commander if he knew who was on the lawn of the Capitol and his

response was "I try not to know. It is my job to protect everyone's right

to protest."

I named three groups, and informed him that these people would gladly pull

a trigger on him for being a police man and African American. He promptly

ignored me after that. He also knew nothing about the white power rock concert

planned for later.

I had several similar conversations with riot police. Several African American

officers thanked me for the info, some were told we (the counter demonstrators)

were rival nazi factions (talk about misinformation). What I would love

to see next time, because there is always a next time, unfortunately, is

a rousing case of the "blue flu." If two thirds of the police had called

in sick, how could the white power morons march? Maybe the police union

needs letters next time.

What were some of the memorable things you think you'll remember

that people said years from now?

I applaud the mom who brought her children and a "Hate is not a family value"

sign. I chatted with her a bit and think she is very brave.

I always talk to the street medics. They rule (so thank them next time you

see them). I asked one a tough question: "Would you treat a nazi if his

life was threatened?" He admitted he would rather walk over to the park

and perform CPR on a squirrel but if one was dying, he would do everything

he could to save his life.

What could have been improved at the protest overall?

It is easy to make suggestions after the fact. I think we need to use the

media better. There was soooo little coverage of this and many people who

might have shown up didn't even know about it. Also it might have helped

if our side actually knew who we were facing. As far as hate groups go,

these were some heavy hitters.

I think the white power faction was shown a very vocal opposition. They

saw they were out numbered and they had to be escorted back to their busses.

I would love to have seen their faces if they had walked down the Union

Station ramp and there was twenty thousand counter protesters chanting "Go

the fuck home."

If the City Papers had been persuaded to write about it and radio stations

contacted, maybe a bunch of people who would never consider marching on

the Capitol would have swelled the ranks? (maybe not, but this is theoretical

at the moment). But now I'm talking about how to involve mainstream America...

if I knew the answer to that one, this country could be a lot different.

More info on Brandon's Upcoming Show:

George Bush's Nuts

(or How I Learned to Enjoy Real Time War Footage on LSD)

National Fringe Tour 2002

San Francisco Fringe Festival Sept 5 to 15 

Seattle Fringe Festival - Sept 19 to 29

Surf Reality, 172 Allen Street, NYC Sat Oct 19 and Sat Oct 26 at 10 pm 

See: http://www.daredevilpre.org/

Date of interview: Sat, 31 Aug 2002

From: brandon@daredevilpre.org

Read HICKS' view on the weekend, too.

Oh, and don't forget—

How Can you Tell the Difference Between President Bush and the KKK?
You Can't Sometimes.