Community Responds to Vandalism Hate Crime
On Monday morning February 1st, janitorial staff at the University of Oregon discovered the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Alliance had been broken into computer screens and the TV were spray painted over and a swastika had been spray painted on the carpet. Being former staff at the student organization, myself, I was one of the many people deeply impacted.
Students responded by swiftly organizing a series of rallies. Only one day after the vandalism was discovered, 300 community members turned out for a vigil and speakout – an impressive number considering Eugene’s relatively small size. Many community members came up to the mike to speak, including the mayor.
Public Safety on campus came to collect evidence, which it will be turning over to local police soon. After they cut out a square in the carpet where the swastika was painted, student government quickly replaced it was a message of love and concern to help the LGBTQ population know that the larger campus values them.
As the story gets repeated and spread throughout the news, many people are baffled and wondering why. Locals who know the community, however, aren’t wondering at all. There’s been a brewing conflict over the past few months with a community organization that is accused of promoting a nazi ideology, the Pacifica Forum.
It is hard to definitively assign an ideology to the Pacifica Forum, listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, as they tend to welcome a wide variety of perspectives. It just so happens that they include holocaust deniers, presentations of NARTH research on homosexuality as a pathology, as well as those who believe the Jews caused the holocaust, those who believe the Jews deserved the holocaust, and at least one self-identified nazi who conveniently posed for a picture doing a nazi salute (see update below). 
The non-campus group meets in campus rooms reserved for them by a retired professor. Students have recently been organizing to eject them from the space, pointing out that they do more than explore an unpopular perspective but actively threaten students. For example, after a student challenged them on the idea that the Jews deserved the holocauset, her features were scrutinized and she was asked if she was Jewish. More recently, and documented by the local paper, one Pacifica Forum member declared that a community member was “too ugly to rape.” When a student pointed out the sexism in his statement, he responded that she wasn’t unattractive -the veiled implication being that she could be raped.
There’s nothing so far to tie the crime to the Pacifica Forum. It’s far more likely that the recent conflict has stirred frustrations among local neo-nazis and white supremacists. But regardless it’s clear that this did not happen in a vacuum, and it’s no accident that the vandals chose swastikas as their preferred symbol of hate. The intersection of oppressive ideologies was an issue that many of the speakers picked up on. I recorded some of the speakers, and rather than describe their words, I’ll close by letting them speak for themselves.
Correction: The woman pictured giving the nazi salute is not the same person who self-identifies as a nazi, Jimmy Marr. The woman pictured above has not publicly identified herself as a nazi.
Women and Gender Studies Professor Ernesto Martinez
LGBTQA co-director Alex Esparza
Ethnic Studies Department Chair Michael Hames-Garcia
Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy
Comments
Comment from Tobi Hill-Meyer
Time March 24, 2010 at 11:07 am
Raul,
My sources say that the specific point she was trying to make was “Look, a silly gesture doesn’t hurt anyone,” then she proceeded to do the gesture and hurt several people. Intent is irrelevant here, but if you want to get into it, it has since come to light that she has been having an affair with the Pacifica Forum member who self-identifies as a nazi, which has ended her marriage and put a strain on his to the point where minor physical violence has broken out between Pacifica Forum members at a recent meeting.
If we were to guess at her intent, it seems most likely that she is trying to minimize and dismiss the impact of her illicit lover’s neo-nazi activism. Whether it is to defend his public image or justify her attraction to herself, she is clearly not concerned about how her behavior, her lover’s behavior, or the Forum’s behavior might impact the community.
I do try to be very clear in my criticism. I do not believe the Pacifica Forum is a neo-nazi group, but a group that supports and gives platform to neo-nazis on a regular basis. I do not believe the Pacifica Forum committed this hate vandalism, but I do believe that the increased focus and condemnation on neo-nazis brought about by the controversy with the Pacifica Forum has spurred local neo-nazis to defend their ideology using their own tactics.
You can be anti-racist and pro-LGBT and attend the Pacifica Forum, but you can’t support the Pacifica Forum without being complicit in supporting hate. I won’t deny you the distinction between being a hate group and supporting a hate group, but ethically there is not much difference. And the fact that the group allows people to come and say non-hateful things does not negate the fact that it regularly invites presenters who deny the holocaust, believe that Jews deserved the holocaust, present fake research about gays being dangerously promiscuous and pedophillic, support the current neo-nazi movement, and so on. The organizations, both locally and nationally, that monitor hate groups have identified the Pacifica Forum as one, and the group gets no brownie points for the times when they don’t spread hate speech.
Comment from Raul
Time March 26, 2010 at 6:20 am
Thanks, Tobi, that’s a very well written response, and thanks nodesignation.com for allowing the discussion. Better than some leftish sites, which delete anything I post, though I have never posted hate. Your speculation about the lady in question is based on an email sent by an ex-Pacifica presenter (a homophobe – good riddance!) about her personal life. A despicable tactic, and she denies most of it. The guy in question is NOT a self-identified Nazi. The organizations that ‘monitor’ ‘hate groups’ are mostly Zionist fronts, or hate groups themselves, which have painted ‘X is a Nazi’ on someone’s workplace and produced internet messages and a poster indicating their intention to commit violence against people of that persuasion. No-one has denied the Holocaust at a Pacifica meeting. The two presentations on that subject reduced the usual figure by about a third – hardly the same thing as ‘blaming’ its innocent victims. Etc., etc.. Thanks again, but get your facts right.
Comment from Tobi Hill-Meyer
Time March 26, 2010 at 11:08 am
Raul,
No one at the Pacifica Forum has ever denied the Holocaust? So are you saying that Mark Weber doesn’t deny the holocaust, or are you saying that he wasn’t invited to the Pacifica Forum back in late 2008? Wasn’t there a video about how the holocaust didn’t happen at your last meeting? Wasn’t the meeting before that about how the holocaust did happen but wasn’t all that bad? What about the idea that Jews started the whole thing? That’s what I’m talking about when I say “blaming.”
As for being a self-identified neo-nazi, I checked with my source who isn’t 100% sure but has heard members of the Pacifica Forum say that he was. He also hands out nazi propaganda and seems to have enough connections with neo-nazi/white supremacist groups to have them show up and virtually co-present his presentation. So I may have to come up with something more specific to call him, but it’s clear he’s promoting nazi/white supremacist/aryan nation/Stormfront/something along those lines.
And finally, you can’t just call a group a zionist front just because they disagree with you. It might be tempting to see the world as a big conspiracy out to get you, but when you link it to a Jewish cabal that’s infiltrated all your critics, that’s when your paranoia becomes bigotry as well. You’re talking about organizations and people who have taken a stand for Palestinian solidarity, many of whom frame themselves as anti-zionists. I’ve worked with many of these folks — had conversations about middle east politics — and the idea that they are ideologically aligned with zionists, let alone a front organization secretly run by them is one of the most ludicrous ideas I’ve ever heard. I’ve heard this kind of thinking before and I’ll say it’s certainly possible to oppose the human rights abuses perpetrated by the state of Israel without being anti-semetic, however, it’s also possible to oppose zionism and be anti-semetic. The Pacifica Forum always leaned toward the latter, but has made it significantly more clear after presentations shifted away from Palestinian solidarity and toward “rethinking” the holocaust, learning about a secret cabal of Jews, and dealing with a persecution complex by vast zionistic network where all of it’s critics are secret zionist front groups.
I’m happy to continue this conversation, but I must warn you that I will not debate anti-semitism. My readers don’t need to be exposed to it, and it’s not a very effective use of my time. So far you haven’t crossed the line and only your unsupported “Zionist fronts” comment has come close, so hopefully it won’t be a problem. But if you need further clarification, check out my Comment Policy. Although it was originally based around issues that arise in discussing trans issues and is certainly not exhaustive.
Comment from Tobi Hill-Meyer
Time March 26, 2010 at 11:16 am
Oh and while you mentioned that “the homophobe” went away, it’s worth pointing out that he wasn’t kicked out for his homophobia or that he was made to feel that homophobia isn’t welcomed at the group, he left because he felt like the folks with neo-nazi/white supremacist/aryan nation/stormfront/whatver connections and extreme anti-semitism were taking over the group and made him seem un-credible.
Comment from Raul
Time March 26, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Look at the difference between your treatment of alleged Jewish and alleged white racism. You are prepared to describe someone as a ‘Nazi’ based on rumor. But I say ‘Zionist fronts’ – a political analysis – and you say my unsupported claim has come close to anti-Semitism. It’s not difficult to find the connections between the soft left and Jewish racists in any American city, including Eugene. Hillel showed ‘The Case for Israel’, an overtly racist movie. It allows Chabad, an overtly racist group, to meet on campus. At the same time, its leaders are involved in the ‘Anti Hate Task Force’ which ‘monitors’ ‘hate’. It’s so transparent – I’m amazed that radicals like you can’t see what’s going on. And you’re right – no-one has been kicked out of Pacifica because of homophobia.
Comment from Tobi Hill-Meyer
Time March 26, 2010 at 2:56 pm
Does the anti-hate task force hand out zionist propoganda? Do they invite known and self-identified zionists to give presentations? Do they hold events to give platform to zionists? Have any of their members ever said that the organization sees itself as zionist?
I believe the disparate treatment is well deserved in this case because:
1 – The suggestion that he identifies as a nazi has some basis in supported information, and I’ve shared that information. You’ve shared no supporting information that the anti-hate task force sees itself as a zionist. Organizations will always step on each others feet, but supporting minority campus student unions (including Hillel) is a far cry from being controlled by secret Jews.
2 – Your example fails to meet a comparison of scale. If you look, it’s not hard to find an LGBTQA poster that’s racist, an MCC movie that’s heterosexist, or an NSU event that’s sexist, and so on. I wouldn’t expect Hillel to be any different. But I’m talking about perpetuating messed up messages like the once you see in mainstream publications all the times. We can still be critical of those, but it’s a different scale than what is going on at the Pacifica Forum.
3 – There is a power disparity here. Have zionists ever shot anyone in Eugene? One of my highschool classmates’ dad was shot by a neo-nazi in Eugene. Have zionists ever shot up any buildings or thrown bricks through the windows? Neo-nazis have been convicted of doing both while I’ve lived here. Have zionists ever beat someone up? I’ve known a few folks who have been beat up by neo-nazis. I’m not even pointing to the holocaust, I’m talking about in Eugene in the past ten years.
4 – The “secret cabal of Jews” is a well known and played out oppressive power dynamic. Claiming that all your critics are “zionist fronts” plays directly into that and plays on the power of centuries of societal bigotry. That’s why some people are willing to buy into it without any supportive reasoning. Of course I’m going to come down on that harder than a supported claim that someone identifies as a nazi. The impact is different based on the history of oppression. It’s in my policy:
It’s one thing to say that all democrats are stupid, the impact is far different to say that all people of color are.
Comment from Raul
Time March 26, 2010 at 3:38 pm
No, the Anti-Hate Task Force does not claim to be Zionist. Pacifica Forum does not claim to be Nazi. Hillel, which is in the Anti-Hate Task Force, does try to convince young American Jews that their homeland is Israel – in other words, to convince them to support ethnic cleansing. It is true that they haven’t shot anyone in Eugene. It is not in their interests to do so. Currently, the victims of Jewish racism are mostly in the Middle East. You are concerned about ‘the history of oppression’. How about oppression now? It is true that some people with neo-Nazi opinions have committed violent crimes in Oregon. This is also true of anti-fascists. Compared with Zionism’s threat to Palestinians, the Middle East, US soldiers, and the world, concern with idiots in Oregon is idiotic.
You claim I talk of ‘the secret cabal of Jews’ which ‘plays directly into’ an ‘oppressive power dynamic’, ‘bigotry’ and so on. How can I prove I am not ‘playing into’ something? This is just as unscientific as the homophobic garbage spouted by that former Pacifica speaker.
By the way – this is a cool ad on your site -
http://refer.ccbill.com/cgi-bin/clicks.cgi?CA=934717-0000&PA=1866947
Pacifica’s site http://pacificaforum.org is very boring in comparison.
Again – thanks for your openness.
Comment from Tobi Hill-Meyer
Time March 26, 2010 at 8:13 pm
Perhaps you could indicate that it’s not your intention to play into oppressive power dynamics, but it has impact beyond intent. Let me give you a few more examples. “Dirty Mexican” has a lot more sting to it than “Dirty college student.” “Promiscuous gays” has a lot more sting than “Promiscuous lawyers.” And “Zionist front” has a lot more sting than “Republican front.” But let’s not make mountains out of mole hills. I said it was coming close to the line of anti-semitism, I didn’t say that one line by itself made you a horrible bigot or a nazi. It’s the kind of stepping on each other’s toes that I expect when engaging in the world in general.
Speaking of nazis, let’s make something clear. I never said the Pacifica Forum is or claims to be nazi. I said that one person in particular identified as a nazi. I got that from a meeting where Billy was trying to prove the Forum was not full of nazis by saying “I believe Jimmy is the only one here who identifies as a nazi.” Jimmy was present, stayed silent and did not correct him. It’s not an unreasonable assumption to believe this statement to be true and not just a mere rumor. Even if he has since contested it, he has also given a presentation on neo-nazi organizations with the help of members of one such group.
That’s what this is really about. We might agree on some middle east politics, but I don’t really care. Whatever the state of Israel has done or whatever Hillel has done is irrelevant to whether or not anti-semitism exists. It would be like trying to prove that racism in the US doesn’t exist by pointing to several African nations where black people hold positions of power and some of them abuse it.
Beyond that, no matter what bad things other people have done doesn’t make what the Pacifica Forum has done okay. I don’t care if Israel is bombing Springfield — it would not be a reasonable justification to give platform to nazi organizations, holocaust deniers, holocaust revisionists, and all the other bigoted extremists that have been hosted and promoted by the Pacifica Forum.
Comment from Raul
Time March 28, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Once again – thanks so much for debating! Whoever you are, you are so different from my experience of much of the left, which screams ‘hate’ or even threatens violence. The guy who said the other guy is a self-identified Nazi may not have been telling the truth – there is an answer to the 1st guy from the 2nd guy on Pacifica’s web site. As far as I know, Pacifica Forum has not given a platform to ‘nazi organizations’ – it has merely had a video about one. No-one has actually denied the Holocaust at a Pacifica meeting, though I believe there are people who have underestimated it. But plenty of people underestimate Allied war crimes, or say the bombing of Hiroshima was ‘necessary’ so let’s not get too selective. Finally, although hatred of people because of their Jewish ancestry would not be justified even if Israel was bombing Springfield, that’s not what Pacifica speakers say. When he spoke at U of O, Mark Weber did not deny, or even underestimate, the Holocaust, and he did not stir up hatred of anyone – he talked about the Jewish/pro-Israel Lobby. This is of concern, and his far-right background doesn’t mean his contribution is not useful, any more than Malcolm X talking about WASP power is irrelevant in understanding why the US supports Israel so much.
Comment from Tobi Hill-Meyer
Time March 28, 2010 at 8:21 pm
You see, that’s what perplexes me a bit. Admittedly, I did not watch Mark Weber speak, so I’ll take your word for it that he did not speak to the holocaust. However, it makes me wonder what the point is in inviting someone who is famous as a prominent holocaust denier to talk about the pro-Israel lobby. It seems to me that if the intent was to seriously address some of the problems of the state of Israel, you’re eliminating any shred of credibility by inviting such a biased speaker. Wouldn’t that be like inviting the KKK grand dragon to speak on violence in rap and hip hop?
If you want to bring forward criticism of Israel without anti-semitism, don’t invite someone who is so obviously anti-semitic. Why not invite one of the many Jewish anti-zionism activists? Given the circumstances, the most likely conclusion for an outside observer to come to is that the talk was, at best, heavily biased, and at worst, a rational for genocide.
Comment from E.B.
Time March 31, 2010 at 10:04 pm
Whenever possible I like to get my impressions firsthand, so I attended the Mark Weber talk to see if he really was the horrible person everyone had kept telling me he was. I found him to be genuine and personable, with opinions that were, at the least, well thought out.
Comment from Raul
Time April 7, 2010 at 5:58 am
I am always impressed when someone like Tobi refuses the left’s attempts to recruit oppressed people as cannon fodder. The videos above show politicians blatantly trying to take advantage of a (probably) fake hate crime using weasel words about diversity and so on.
Comment from Raul
Time April 7, 2010 at 7:54 am
I don’t know why they invited Mark Weber, but the left hasn’t been very good on Zionism. The Western world ditched white apartheid twenty years ago, but still supports Jewish apartheid to the hilt. The left has a critique of white supremacy, but not Jewish supremacy. Enter Weber & co.
Trackback from Kylie Batt
Time April 11, 2010 at 3:30 am
Очень интересная мысль…
Being former staff at the student organization, myself, I was one […….
Trackback from Kylie BattName
Time April 11, 2010 at 11:23 pm
Нет, я не смогу сказать Вам….
Being former staff at the student organization, myself, I was one […….
Comment from Steve
Time May 28, 2010 at 4:32 pm
No, the Anti-Hate Task Force does not claim to be Zionist. Pacifica Forum does not claim to be Nazi. Hillel, which is in the Anti-Hate Task Force, does try to convince young American Jews that their homeland is Israel – in other words, to convince them to support ethnic cleansing. It is true that they haven’t shot anyone in Eugene. It is not in their interests to do so. Currently, the victims of Jewish racism are mostly in the Middle East. You are concerned about ‘the history of oppression’. How about oppression now? It is true that some people with neo-Nazi opinions have committed violent crimes in Oregon. This is also true of anti-fascists. Compared with Zionism’s threat to Palestinians, the Middle East, US soldiers, and the world, concern with idiots in Oregon is idiotic.
You claim I talk of ‘the secret cabal of Jews’ which ‘plays directly into’ an ‘oppressive power dynamic’, ‘bigotry’ and so on. How can I prove I am not ‘playing into’ something? This is just as unscientific as the homophobic garbage spouted by that former Pacifica speaker.
By the way – this is a cool ad on your site -
http://refer.ccbill.com/cgi-bin/clicks.cgi?CA=934717-0000&PA=1866947
Pacifica’s site http://pacificaforum.org is very boring in comparison.
Again – thanks for your openness.
Comment from Amy
Time June 5, 2010 at 6:38 am
Once again – thanks so much for debating! Whoever you are, you are so different from my experience of much of the left, which screams ‘hate’ or even threatens violence. The guy who said the other guy is a self-identified Nazi may not have been telling the truth – there is an answer to the 1st guy from the 2nd guy on Pacifica’s web site. As far as I know, Pacifica Forum has not given a platform to ‘nazi organizations’ – it has merely had a video about one. No-one has actually denied the Holocaust at a Pacifica meeting, though I believe there are people who have underestimated it. But plenty of people underestimate Allied war crimes, or say the bombing of Hiroshima was ‘necessary’ so let’s not get too selective. Finally, although hatred of people because of their Jewish ancestry would not be justified even if Israel was bombing Springfield, that’s not what Pacifica speakers say. When he spoke at U of O, Mark Weber did not deny, or even underestimate, the Holocaust, and he did not stir up hatred of anyone – he talked about the Jewish/pro-Israel Lobby. This is of concern, and his far-right background doesn’t mean his contribution is not useful, any more than Malcolm X talking about WASP power is irrelevant in understanding why the US supports Israel so much.
Comment from Tobi Hill-Meyer
Time June 9, 2010 at 3:22 pm
Sorry I’ve neglected some of this dialog. I’ve been incredibly busy and with everything else I’m working on unfortunately this will continue to be a lower priority. Let me clarify that the videos above are of a student, two professors, and one mayor. Mayor Kitty Piercy has a long history of supporting the LGBT community and has made a point to come to every LGBT event that she is invited to (schedule permitting). I have no doubt that she came because she was asked to come and not because she wants to take advantage of the community.
On a personal note, I take great offense at the suggestion that this crime was probably faked especially when there is no supporting evidence to that unfortunately common speculation. The dismissal of the very real hurt and pain my community is going through does not inspire confidence in the similar denials of the impact of the holocaust or denials of the impact of racism, and so forth coming from the Pacifica Forum.
And finally, it’s become very clear that the entire discussion of the Pacifica Forum has become a derail from the posted topic. The latest responses are not taking into account what I’ve already written on the subject and so I will simply refer you to my comments above. If I make a post on the Pacifica Forum in the future that will be an excellent place to continue this discussion, but until then the reality is that it’s a discussion which is off topic in this forum.
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Comment from Raul
Time March 24, 2010 at 6:19 am
I know the woman giving the salute. She is trying to make a point about freedom of expression, foolishly forgetting that she would be photographed and shown all over the internet. The swastika painted inside the LGBTQA center looks very much like a false flag. This group, Pacifica Forum, has allowed people to defend reactionary views on gay issues because of freedom of speech. That does not mean it is a hate group. One can attend its meetings and be pro-gay, pro-immigration etc..