The audacity of racial hate activists in the unfortunate events, like that of Charlottesville, has shocked us to the core. However, by sticking together for love and humanity and with a few smart tactics we can certainly put down the hate groups for good.
Author and activist Cleve Jones recently shared a witty example of how people of a small town in Germany came up with a brilliant idea to counter their neo-nazi problem. It began like this:
“In a small town in Germany where the Nazi leader Rudolf Hess was born, every year right wing [activists] have been showing up to commemorate his birthday,”
Instead, they came up with a brilliant idea to use their presence for good. In a beautifully poetic way. So Wunsiedel decided to turn its neo-Nazi event into some kind of a walkathon.
And the best part, they didn’t tell the neo-Nazis about their plan.
Under the instructions of Rechts gegen Rechts(Right Against Right), businesses and locals came together to sponsor Germany’s “most involuntary walkathon,” as The Guardian reported.
For every meter the neo-Nazis walked in their annual march, a donation of 10 Euros was made to the Exit Deutschland — a European organization that fights extremism. So every step that neo-Nazis march is a step against their own cause.
And that’s just the beginning. The Walkathon organizers came up with interesting ways to troll the neo-Nazis while they march.
“10,000 Euros for the neo-Nazi opt-out initiative Exit Deutschland,”.
The video continues to explain, “10,000 Euros to help right-wing extremists safely defect from the right-wing extremist scene — personally collected by right-wing extremists.”
Wunsiedel’s walkathon was so successful that other German towns with neo-Nazi problems planned similar events, The Huffington Post noted.
The story of Wunsiedel shows that the recent surge of racial bigotry is nothing new. But it also tells us that there are far more of us are standing on the side of love than there are on the side of ignorance and hate. And together we can defeat the Nazis as we did so well in 1945.
Here is the footage from the 2014 walkathon in Wunsiedel. Do not forget to share your thoughts in the comments below.