I've been to events like this before. I lived with anarchists like this, who would jump on a bus and go to sweden, and germany and other places and fight neo nazis in demonstrations.
What I've learned from my experience of hanging around anarchists like this is that they are deformed warped version of the totalitarian right. "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster" is always the thinking that comes to mind the fastest.
If your way of life is about peace, prosperity and progress, being degenerate violent psychopath is not a very smart way of living that ideal. If you are above others in that your political opinion allows for you, and your group to lax the rules and stab those who are a threat to your ideal. It's the philosophical and moral question of tolerance for intolerance or intolerance for intolerance.
If bad thoughts has to be ostrized like this and this is something to applaud, would you also support violence against republicans? Prominent republicans who have done more real-world impactful damage. Are they also to be stabbed? Because you're essentially arguing that physical harm should be done to those with bad morals.
Reminds me of violent religious fanatics who tout about how peaceful their religion is- after they go fuck up people from other religions. Fucking laughable hypocrisy.
I've had this discussion more times than I can count, and I've still yet to see any evidence to the idea that Neo Nazi rallies do harm or that their protests have any effect in recruiting. They are trolls. They want attention in the media, and the counter-protesters feed into them. Nobody even knows or cares to give them attention otherwise.
So, like with a troll, you're helping their agenda with engaging them. Secondly, ostrizing or attacking them doesn't make them less likely to be racist. Then you don't understand the socio dynamics that make people join a group like this - Be it KKK, a facist front, a biker gang, or whatever. They do it because they feel shunned from the outside, and joining a group is a new home and family and life system. When you're a neo nazi you suck of the negative attention like a vampire and seeing violence against them is perfect PR for any conservative who feel liberals are too progressive.
Meanwhile, these events are another piss fire for good and decent anarchists to keeping having their reputation tarnished because these assholes think the way to solve problems if through violence.
Nobody becomes a neo nazi because its fun or sounds like a great life. I'd guarantee you that there is something wrong in the past of everyone of those misguided idiots. From neglible shitty parents to abuse and mistreatment from their surroundings which makes them fly of the hinges.
There is a lot of psychological studies on the inner workings of how people get out of their groupings and leave that life behind.
What is the value in having Nazi protests? The value in it is that there is a fantastic irony in having such right and good morals that you can handle- as a society to allow and accept hate groups like this. After all, had these hate groups been the government in power, they would have killed and cracked down on any opposing ideology.
Therefore it shows a great deal of power, wisdom and "we're better than you" by allowing them. Nobody sees them marching thinking that they have any great ideas. It has no effect, but it has all the effect in the world for everyone else.
You also have to look at this historically. Historically, when groups have been cracked down and burned, they have a tendency to grow stronger through presecution and vengeful retribution by the oppressing and violent majority that is totalitarian to not let them exist. That has happened many times in history. Neo Nazis want confrontation because they want to be proven right that just because they are violent, it doesn't mean the opposition is not just as bad.
Do you ever go in? Of course you do. Free speech extends itself to where something becomes so heinous that it makes it possible to incite violence outright. Countries who preach free speech often have laws against burning their flags, drawing certain symbols on the ground, talking bad shit about their monarchy / religious leader, simply due to the fact that they cannot control the outcome as people go ballistic on a nationalistic level.
You also engage with hate speech once it starts hurting people. Once there is proof that unrest groves to a point where minorities feel unsafe.
But I've not seen that with neo nazis. Neo nazis have held these rallies for decades- In many places they need to seek sanction to protest, and usually nobody cares. It's not reported on in the news, nobody talks about it. But it becomes a firestorms once the counter protesters take the bait, and make it worse.
We wouldn't be having this discussion if there had not been a violent response. Now the news of these idiots have become free PR and shows them being clubbed and stabbed horrifically. It's a fucking disaster and disgrace.
