Toronto Anti-Fascist Stabbed, Nearly Dies

     Early on Saturday, February 4, there was confrontation
between a group of anti-racists and some neo-nazis at Kennedy
subway station in Toronto. Two anti-racists and two fascists were
injured in the fighting. One anti-racist came close to dying
after he was stabbed once in the arm, three times in the stomach,
and had an artery in his neck slashed open. Police have arrested
and charged two fascists. They are:

- Adrian Kaddie, 22, of Weir Crescent in Scarboro, charged with
attempted murder.
- Kristian Stefan Brandes, 19, of West Hill, charged with having
dangerous weapons, assault with a weapon, and aggravated assault.

     The police and media were quick to condemn the anti-racists
involved in this confrontation, depicting them as a "mob" which
had preyed upon a group of presumably helpless fascists. Never
mind the fact that these fascists nearly killed an anti-fascist
comrade. One clear aim of such disinformation and media smear-
tactics is to make anti-racist and anti-fascist activists afraid,
to cause splits within the movement, to make people shy away from
militant and confrontational tactics.
     To put this into a wider context, let us cite the example of
Berlin, Germany after the April 4, 1992 death of Gerhard Kaindl.
When a group of anti-fascists stormed into a dinner meeting of a
group of neo-nazi leaders, one of the fascists, Gerhard Kaindl,
died after being stabbed. The anti-fascists had not planned on
this happening, and many people in Berlin's anti-fascist scene
distanced themselves from the action. That was wrong to do.
Militant actions are justified and necessary, and sometimes
mistakes may happen, but that does not invalidate the method.
     Another example is the case of Kieran Frazier Knutson, an
anti-fascist activist in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. When a pair
of nazi boneheads attempted to disrupt an event organized by a
progressive student organization, Kieran defended himself after
being attacked by one of the fascists. The fascist, who was armed
with brass knuckles, was never brought to trial; Kieran, however,
faces a potential 10-year sentence on assault charges when his
case goes to trial this April. The media and police in
Minneapolis have been trying to say that Kieran is a criminal,
but people haven't been fooled and he has received a lot of
support.
     It's not easy to carry out militant anti-fascist politics at
the street level. There are bound to be confrontations, and our
friends and comrades could be injured. At the same time, if
fascists suffer bodily harm, the anti-racist movement will be
confronted with increased repression. We must be willing to deal
with this repression, not be silenced by it.
     We also have to be fully aware of the fact that both the
media and the police have a vested interest in trying to make
militant activists appear like violent criminals in order to
lessen public support for their politics. Indeed, we must
articulate these politics well, if we wish to gain support.
Distancing ourselves from our politics is not the correct
approach, however.
     But to begin with, we need unity and solidarity within our
own ranks. Therefore we, Arm The Spirit, give our full support to
the anti-racists involved in the confrontation in Toronto's
Kennedy subway station. And we are both sad and angry that one of
the anti-racist comrades was seriously injured and nearly killed.
     Nazis should not be allowed any public space. They must be
driven out of our communities. They are the ones that should live
in fear and isolation, not Blacks, Jews, Asians, gays and
lesbians, and other peoples targeted by fascist violence.

Stop the criminalization of the anti-fascist movement!
Attack the nazis everywhere!

Arm The Spirit
February 9, 1995