Stephen Rees's blog

I got invited to an event by a contact on facebook

“Racists and Islamophobic groups are rallying at City Hall to spew hatred against Muslims, immigrants and people of colour in our communities. We, the anti-racist majority, want to be there in a peaceful counter protest to say no to Islamophobia and no to racism!

This rally is to counter the racist rally at Vancouver City Hall, organized by WCAI Canada (“Worldwide Coalition Against Islam“):

Hosted by the ad hoc group; Stand Up to Racism Metro Van. We are teachers, students and activists who want to stand up to Islamophobia and racism in our community.”

For a while there it seemed like a good idea to go to the counter rally and perhaps photograph the people supporting fascism, as I understand that has had a useful role on social media. In Charlottesville a number of individuals identifying themselves as Nazis have now lost their jobs. (Giving rise to chant “If your nazi, and you’re fired, it’s your fault …clap… clap clap” )

According to CTV

“Joey De Luca, the head of the Worldwide Coalition Against Islam Canada, was expected to address his supporters, according to the rally’s Facebook page. About two dozen people RSVPed to attend.

De Luca was expected to be joined by Brad Salzberg, the founder of the Cultural Action Party of Canada. CAPCDA is a B.C. political party seeking to preserve English, French and First Nations culture, according to its website. The anti-immigration group Soldiers of Oden is also expected to attend.”

I took 48 photos which you can find on facebook or flickr, but here are some of my favourites

This last one summarizes my feelings quite nicely. I do not like large crowds at the best of times, and the idea that there might have been confrontations was a bit alarming, but I was also very much aware of the warnings about being silent about fascism. 

Anyway, as far as a rally by fascists, that didn’t seem to get under way. It was swamped by the number of those who turned out to say the opposite. And those people seemed to quite enjoy the experience.