The residents of the German town of Wunsiedel grew so fed up with hosting an annual neo Nazi march that, in 2014, they decided to fight back.

But instead of fists, their weapon of choice was irony.

Without telling the hate group what they were up to, Wunsiedel residents and businesses organized a fundraiser. For every four feet the Nazis marched, they gave 10 Euros to EXIT Deutschland, a group that runs programs to help people leave right-wing extremist groups. Residents even offered the marchers free water and bananas so the would-be Nazis wouldn’t lose their energy.

In all, about $12,000 was raised by the Nazis to help an anti-Nazi cause.

It’s a lesson that could resonate in Southern California.

In the past month, conflicts involving white nationalists and those who oppose white nationalists have become increasingly common and increasingly violent.

Most famously, on Aug. 12, the rally in Charlottesville, Va., turned deadly, when a car allegedly driven by a neo Nazi accelerated into anti-Nazi protesters and killed a woman. But on Aug. 27, in Berkeley, 15 people were arrested and five were injured after members of Antifa, an anti-fascist group, attacked a small showing of Trump supporters and people accused of being Nazis or white supremacists.

And earlier this year, in Huntington Beach, a conflict involving pro Trump forces, some white supremacists, and Antifa protesters, also turned violent.

On Friday, according to a report in Politico, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the FBI formally classified the Antifa acts of violence as domestic terrorism, a label that previously was applied to violence perpetrated by white supremacists.

In that context, counter-terrorism experts — including former neo-Nazis and other former extremists — are calling on those who don’t agree with hate to come up with non-violent ways to fight back.

“Violence from groups like Antifa basically gives the white supremacists a great way to boost recruitment and build their narrative,” said Tim Zaal, a former skinhead who now preaches nonviolence at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles.

“You’re seeing run-of-the-mill conservatives getting beaten up and labeled as Nazis. This actually strengthens the real Nazis.”

Zaal isn’t the only former white nationalist urging creativity over fists and clubs.

“One of the best, most creative responses we are seeing to white nationalists is community members using the rally or protest to raise money for organizations working to speak out, educate and stand up to hate,” said Angela King, a South Florida native and former skinhead who left the movement after spending three years in federal prison for assaulting and robbing a Jewish video store owner.

King pointed to a Maine community that last month used the Wunsiedel strategy, arranging a fundraising event around the Free Speech protest held in Boston, where donors pledged money for every hour the protest went on.

Such tactics work, King said.

“Organized and peaceful actions like that may deter white nationalists from showing up at all,” she said. “That’s because when they do show up, they find themselves raising money for those who speak up against their hateful rhetoric.”

But beyond the tit for tat of individual marches and potential conflicts, terror experts domestically and internationally say the rise of far right groups consolidating and gaining strength is a real threat to civic life throughout the Western world.

Combating them, the experts say, will require much more than mere violence.

Counter programming

Many experts are taking the anti-hate battle online.

Vidhya Ramalingam, co-founder of London-based Moonshot CVE, which fights violent extremism by backing online counter-messaging campaigns, says that while the threat of Islamist terror remains significant, so is the online growth of white supremacists.

“The numbers clearly show that these far right groups are gaining traction,” she said.

“These people have always existed,” Ramalingam added. “But they feel like this is their time to come out of the woodwork and publicly declare their beliefs.”

Online expressions of rage and violence have been shown to be precursors to actual violence among extremists of all types, including the husband and wife Jihadist shooters who in 2015 killed 14 people in San Bernardino.

Ramalingam’s organization is focused on fighting hate online, partnering with Newport Beach-based Gen Next Foundation and technology incubator, Jigsaw (formerly Google Ideas), to run The Redirect Method.

The project combines Google AdWords (a Google advertising service), and curated YouTube videos, to confront online radicalization through a simple process — redirect any search for certain types of hate information to information that directly contradicts that goal.

Initially, the goal was to combat Islamic extremists. And that remains critical, particularly in Europe. But in the United States, of late, the action has leaned toward white supremacists, with “thousands more redirects” among neo-Nazis than from American jihadists, Ramalingam said.

In addition to counter-messaging, Ramalingam said, The Redirect Method uses social workers to engage one on one with those contemplating violence.

“They try and start conversations and do mental health and social messaging campaigns,” she said. “They help them deal with those challenges.”

The online space is unique way to measure this type of activity because not only does it provide large amounts of data, but also information on how users are engaging, Ramalingam said.

She says at a time when the Department of Homeland Security has cut off funds to organizations that fight any groups other than jihadists, the private sector has stepped up and filled the void.

Michael Davidson, leader of Gen Next, said neo-Nazis have been on his group’s radar for some time. And former extremists, he said, help ensure that the counter-narratives make sense.

“In the end, regardless of what type of extremism you are dealing with, you have to draw on real perspectives. Former extremists, in a sense, are our human focus groups. They help humanize the solutions.”

Future looks brutal

While non-violent solutions seem obvious to online experts, it’s more of a struggle for local activists looking for responses in a post-Charlottesville America.

Laura Kanter, director of policy, advocacy and youth services at LGBT Center OC, said that while she abhors violence she also feels sympathy for members of Antifa who, she says, usually respond to “oppression” in a nonviolent manner.

“As long as there is targeting and criminalization of people of color, the Antifa has every right to exist,” Kanter said. “No one has the right to tell you not to fight back when your existence is being threatened.”

She says she has been watching the 1982 film “Gandhi” quite a bit these days just to see what a nonviolent response might feel like.

“We need people to start nonviolent forms of protest and response,” Kanter said. “Instead of trying to convince Antifa members to change, we need to work to change the system so Antifa doesn’t need to exist.”

But others, like Huntington Beach resident Jennifer Sterling, who was pepper-sprayed by a member of the Antifa during the Make America Great Again rally in Bolsa Chica State Beach in March, have a different view of the group whose members are often masked and dressed in black from head to toe.

“These people are invoking violence to suppress free speech,” said Sterling, one of the organizers of the Bolsa Chica rally. “We gather with name tags. They hide their faces behind masks. Why would you do that unless you are doing something wrong?”

Sterling says she finds the Antifa’s antics “scary.”

“They’re like that kid in the park that pushes you off the swing. Is this really how they want to get their point across?”

But based on how things are shaping up, the violence is likely to get worse before it gets better, said Peter Simi, professor of sociology at Chapman University who has studied far right extremism for more than two decades.

“When members of the Antifa act in self defense, I think they absolutely have the right to do that,” he said. “But the segment of the group that’s engaging in unprovoked violent confrontations is hurting the cause, not helping it.”

On the whole, the scene that is evolving is getting more and more chaotic, Simi said.

“The middle ground seems to be dissipating quickly,” he said. “The cycle of radicalization is going to get worse.”

And what really got us to this place is being unwilling to engage in a process of truth and reconciliation as a nation over racial issues, Simi said.

“We don’t want to confront the past. That’s just going to lead to greater polarization.”