Yesterday I was outside the library when a person handed me a piece of paper. The A4 leaflet read “it’s okay to be white”. He then demanded to know whether I was white or Jewish!

The guy who handed me that leaflet was not a stranger to me. I’ve seen him and his friend around campus before—sieg heiling when I’m doing left wing stalls, handing out leaflets advertising Adolf Hitler, postering pro-Trump propaganda and threatening people who speak up with “physical force”.

They are our campus representatives of the so called alt-right. An amorphous grouping of fascists, Trump supporters and the posters of oh so ironic racist memes. What are they all about? Well these guys seemed to dislike left wingers; according to them lefties and socialists should be “removed by force” from campus. They aren’t huge fans of Jewish people and say the Holocaust never happened—the Russians built the concentration camps! And they were very adamant that you should be proud to be white and “not race mix”!

Since the election of Donald Trump we’ve seen a rise in the number of fascists confident to proudly identify as lovers of Nazi Germany or people who desperately pine for an ethnically pure state to call their own. I think it’s really important that we take a stand. When anti-Semitic Holocaust deniers organise on campus it is up to us all to show that their views won’t go uncontested.

That’s why I’ve helped organise a speak out for 1:30pm this Wednesday, 28 February, at Arts West. We need to stand up to all forms of racism and bigotry. Most people on campus probably find the stuff the fascists said pretty shocking. A lot of people probably assume though that someone else will stand up to the fascists. I think how little resistance they have faced over the last year has really increased their confidence. Everyone who’s outraged by what they’ve said should come to Arts West to stand up to fascism and spread an anti-racist message on campus.

Here’s the facebook event. Please click attending and invite your friends.