Saturday 10:30 am Emancipation Park

    Fights are breaking out, people are bumping bodies, and throwing fists and an old man, clad in black, wearing a helmet and sunglasses, bashes his club into the back of a man’s head three times. The Alt-Right are carrying tactical shields and wear protective gear, appearing much like soldiers. Everyone is gathered in the area surrounding Emancipation Park, after being forced from the area by local police. Police officers swarm the area and break up fights as they begin. Here, Christopher Cantwell, a white nationalist, speaker “Unite the Right” and main figure in the video is maced for the second time during the rally — the presence of mace another testament to the war-like nature of the rally. As he pours milk into his eyes, and mutters angrily, his supporters chant “Heil Cantwell”.

The rally began in Emancipation Park, as a protest against the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee, however, the real purpose of the gathering is clear: it is meant to assert white dominance. The movement had long been growing online, but it sought to bring itself into a physical space to display the sheer presence of its followers. Robert “Azzmador” Ray, a Neo-Nazi, and writer for the Daily Stormer website says “I believe as you can see, we are stepping off the internet in a big way. For instance, last night, at the torch walk, there were hundreds and hundreds of us. People realized that we are not atomized individuals, we are part of a larger whole…”

As riot police order, the mob begins to move, going toward their backup location, McIntyre Park. While walking, Cantwell and his followers talk about their “rivals” on the Left, calling them “criminals”, “criminal niggers”, “jewish communists” and “commies”. The name-calling continues, the individuals on the other side always being referred to in ways that de-personalize and demonize them. When asked if the Alt-Right was non-violent, Cantwell said “We’re not non-violent. We’ll fucking kill these people if we have to.”

In the car, Ray is asked about the meaning of the protests. He states that “It means that we’re showing to this parasitic class of anti-white vermin that this is our country. And it was built by our forefathers and sustained by us and it’s going to remain our country.”. His answer only stands to further the Us/Them divide, further painting the other side as inhuman, evil and necessary to remove, even comparing them to pests, like an infestation. He echoes the sentiment later when he says “...we have been organizing on the internet, and now as you can see today, we greatly outnumber the anti-white, anti-America filth. And at some point, we will have enough power that we will clear them from the streets forever. That which is degenerate in white countries will be removed.”  

By this time, the governor has called a state of emergency, thereby making all assemblies unlawful, as we are told by Matthew Heimbach, a white nationalist. Heimbach also expresses this divisiveness in his language. Heimbach says “the left wasn’t able to beat us”, going on to call the Left the “good-boys of the capitalist class and the bourgeoisie and the status quo” and “left-wing, militant radicals”. He also draws a false, but eerily reminiscent allusion to Jewish people as a scapegoat, saying “If that doesn’t go to show that the radical left, the corporations and the state are all on the same Jewish side, a moment like this proves it.” Heimbach’s statements also echo the perception of being at war when he says “We’re gonna keep having a great time and we’re gonna keep fighting.”

    Just hours later, at nearly 1:40pm, nearby Emancipation Park, the fatal car attack would take place.

    The views expressed and language used by the Nazis directly relates to the language of Liberalism and individualism. Liberals had a great fear of the minority being overruled and enslaved by the majority, in the context of the governed being overtaken by the governor, and their belief in the freedom of the individual was often centered around the necessity of their freedom often at the expense of the freedom of others. Two quotes from white supremacists at the rally illuminate these principles. David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the KKK, complains that despite having a federal court order for their rally, they weren’t being allowed to speak. He says “they” wouldn’t let them speak because “they” didn’t want the truth getting out about “the ethnic cleansing of America ad the destruction of the American way of life and this Bolshevik style society with no freedom”. He goes on to say that there is “no freedom of speech in this country. That’s really where we’re going in America and that’s gotta change.” This displays his fear that his right to free speech is being infringed upon, and his belief that the larger systems are government are at work to personally quell the spreading of his message. Cantwell expresses a similar sentiment: “we’re here obeying the law, doing everything we’re supposed to do. To express opinions and the criminals are over there getting their way, and that is a foundational problem in our society.”, going on to threaten that if his speech offends others, that they will be in danger. He, too, believes that the government is working to oppress his ability to use his rights to free speech, even if his speech would insult or endanger others, he sees his right to speak as being a right in any context, and as more important than other’s rights. Their freedom of free speech deserves to infringe upon the freedom of others to be safe and not discriminated against, much in the way that Smith said “the freedom of the free was the cause of the great oppression of the slaves”. Both these men have the fantasy that their freedom is being infringed upon, firstly, by the existence of these racial and ideological others, and, secondly, in their not being allowed to openly express their (hateful) beliefs.