Matthew Heimbach's neo-Nazi group tries to co-opt anti-abortion protest in Tennessee
Neo-Nazis from the Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP) are hoping to join with anti-abortion demonstrators on Sunday in Knoxville, Tennessee, to counter that city鈥檚 participation in the nationwide Women鈥檚 March.
Matthew Heimbach, one of the co-founders of TWP, posted a missive on the group鈥檚 website on January 12, calling for his 鈥渃omrades鈥� to join in the counter-protest to 鈥渢ake a stand for life, against the hordes of those who would empty the cradle of our nation.鈥� He encouraged members to show up in party uniforms or wear all black, and wrote that 鈥渕embers in good standing鈥� were also invited to a cookout and oath-swearing ceremony near Knoxville the day before the protest.
Heimbach鈥檚 post said the group was hoping to support the local March for Life rally, which is being organized by Tennessee Right to Life.
鈥淭he gift of having children is a blessing for woman, and the entire nation, and it should be promoted as truly sacred,鈥� Heimbach wrote. 鈥淚t is National Socialists and National Socialists alone who truly fight for women.鈥�
Tennessee Right to Life, however, responded by saying white supremacists are not welcome at its demonstration and that it was working with the Knoxville Police Department to keep 鈥渃ertain groups鈥� away. (A spokesman with the police department could not be reached for comment on Friday.) The group also equated neo-Nazis with demonstrators from the anti-fascist movement.
鈥淎ny group or individual that promotes white supremacy or other dehumanizing world views, are [sic] not in tandem with the position of Tennessee Right to Life on the value of every person鈥檚 dignity and life,鈥� Ed Albin, one of Tennessee Right to Life鈥檚 leaders, wrote on on Wednesday. 鈥淥ur organization's march has a single agenda to support the rights of mothers and the unborn, and we don't agree with the violent agenda of white supremacists or Antifa.鈥�
The Tennessee group also posted a link on to by anti-abortion activists in Chicago who recently worked with the police there to eject the white nationalist group Patriot Front from a March for Life demonstration. Patriot Front later bragged on Twitter, however, that it had handed out 鈥渟everal hundred flyers鈥� at the Chicago march.
The Women鈥檚 March in Knoxville this weekend is part of a larger, nationwide protest against President Donald Trump, whose own rhetoric and policies have energized racist groups nationwide. About 5,000 people took part in last year鈥檚 Women鈥檚 March in Knoxville, according to the local .
If the numbers are similar this year, the Women鈥檚 March will likely vastly outnumber those put on by TWP, whose recent rallies have drawn in the low hundreds.
It also comes at a time of turmoil for the TWP, whose leaders have been bickering with other figures in the white nationalist movement and whose own tenets of 鈥渇aith, family and folk鈥� have come into question with the disclosure of some of the sexual inclinations of its members 鈥斅燼s detailed earlier last week in a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
