UPDATE: Once you’ve read this report, click here to see steps you can take right now to force venues to refuse to book fascist acts.

Friday, December 16, 2016

Press Release

From the Secretary Treasurer of the

Industrial Workers of the World General Defense Committee, Local 14

For Immediate Release

Contact: tc-gdc@iww.org

Twin Cities Anti-Fascists Kick Out Neo-Fascist Luke Tromiczak

On December 15th, Anti-Fascist community members confronted known neo-fascist Luke Tromiczak at the Triple Rock Social Club. Luke was scheduled to perform at the venue that night under the name Blood and Sun (A description of Tromiczak’s fascist affiliations and past appears at the bottom of this post.) As Antifa removed Luke from the venue, he was given a clear message:

NAZIS ARE NOT WELCOME IN MINNEAPOLIS.

[A profile of Luke Tromizcak is at the end of this statement]

We will not allow fascists or their associates to gain a foothold in the city. Our cities have kicked organized fascists like the National Socialist Movement (NSM) and the bonehead crew White Knights out of town, and have kept them out for decades now. We have no intention of relaxing our refusal to allow racists and fascists a platform to spread their poisonous ideas (To learn about the anti-fascist policy of “No Platform,” start here.)

Fascists like Luke use shows to organize and spread their message of hate. Shows are a prime recruiting ground for young people who have been exposed to far right politics. White Nationalists become members of a subcultural music scene, and then recruit fellow members into their ideologies.

In addition to recruitment and legitimization efforts, fascists use popular culture venues to fund their other, more directly threatening actions and organizations.

We are the community that Luke despises, and against which he preaches and promotes genocidal violence. We are workers, women, people of color, LGBTQIA, disabled, immigrants, Muslims, Jews, and more. We do not have the luxury of “ignoring fascists in the hope that they will ‘go away.’” We’ve seen how that ends up, historically.

We are powerful; far stronger than a bunch of spineless children that think playing Nazi dress-up and spouting racist garbage is tough. Our diversity and our common opposition to all forms of oppression is our strength. Our solidarity with each other is our weapon. Our complete and non-negotiable hostility and eternal opposition to fascist and racist hatred requires our action.

A famous quote from Subcomandante Marcos of the Zapatistas expresses this solidarity:



Yes, Marcos is gay. Marcos is gay in San Francisco, black in South Africa, an Asian in Europe, a Chicano in San Ysidro, an anarchist in Spain, a Palestinian in Israel, a Mayan Indian in the streets of San Cristobal, a Jew in Germany, a Gypsy in Poland, a Mohawk in Quebec, a pacifist in Bosnia, a single woman on the Metro at 10pm, a peasant without land, a gang member in the slums, an unemployed worker, an unhappy student and, of course, a Zapatista in the mountains. Marcos is all the exploited, marginalised, oppressed minorities resisting and saying `Enough’. He is every minority who is now beginning to speak and every majority that must shut up and listen. He is every untolerated group searching for a way to speak. Everything that makes power and the good consciences of those in power uncomfortable — this is Marcos.”

These things are ‘Marcos.’ Similarly, we in the General Defense Committee (GDC) are all these things. We stand together against all attacks and support others who do so as well. Solidarity breaks chains.

Anti-fascism is a necessary part of Community Self Defense. Community Self Defense means that we defend, prepare, and serve the community. We do this in many different ways, from anti-fascist actions to support of survivors of sexual assault, know your rights trainings, copwatch, and harm reduction programs, as just a few examples. If people who want to oppress and murder any one of us shows up in our town, you can be certain they’ll be met by us.

We won’t permit Luke or his band Blood & Sun to play in the Twin Cities. Blood & Sun is hereby banned from the Twin Cities, as are all bands or cultural acts with fascist, racist, or white nationalist sympathies. Don’t come back; you won’t like it here.

Demands

We call on Luke Tromiczak to publicly renounce fascism and break all ties with fascists, including all fascist acts or groups.

We demand all Twin Cities venues refuse to book Blood & Sun or Luke Tromiczak. Anyone who provides fascists with a platform for fascist propaganda and recruitment provides direct aid and support to enemies of humanity.

For more on the General Defense Committee, our values and our work, click here. [Unionism and Antifascism; Community Self Defense]

Who is Luke Tromiczak?

Luke Tromiczak is a known fascist and nazi-associate. Trump’s campaign and election have emboldened fascists, as well as fascist imagery and rhetoric among conservatives in general.

When public venues provide a platform for these people, they are complicit in racism/white supremacy. Luke has been confronted before for his close ties with white supremacist militia member, Robert Taylor; his use and love of nazi clothing, imagery and rhetoric. Taylor is a famous white supremacist militiaman who used to be the spokesperson and director of organizing for the “Minutemen.”

Picture description: Luke Rockwell Tromiczak with Neo-fascist and white supremacist militia member – Robert Taylor

In the 1960s the Minutemen attempted to infiltrate leftist groups and bring police violence down on them. He also participated and advocated for race riots against blacks and immigrants moving into white neighborhoods. This is not some edgy artist Luke met in New York. In this picture, Tromiczak is paying homage to, and associating with, a white supremacist icon. Tromiczak’s band Blood and Sun has played sets with well-known artsy-fascists Death in June:

“Blood and Sun at Home Sweet Home nyc 11/16/14 (Opening for Death in June)” Note the “Black Sun” in the background, and the Totenkopf)

Luke pictured in SA regalia, above. The S.A. were the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. Their job was to intimidate Slavic and Romani citizens, unionists, and Jews – for instance, during the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses. His friend Marutgana Rudraksha (anti-equal symbol) calls him a “radical traditionalist,” a term by the occult racist thinker Julius Evola. Luke ‘likes’ this post:

Tromiczak acknowledges his attachment to Julius Evola in this Facebook post:

Luke has a large Valknut tattoo on his chest. The valknut symbol is a central symbol of fascism, with variants in many other organizations, including the Afrikaner’s National Party, which introduced Apartheid in South Africa.



The list of Tromiczak’s connections to white-supremacy, nazism, and racism continue even deeper. Our report on Tromiczak’s fascist activities currently exceeds 20 pages. At a previous show at the Triple Rock Social Club, there were people with Soldiers of Odin shirts spotted. Soldiers of Odin (SoO) is a gang of Neo-Nazis in Scandinavia who “patrol the streets looking for immigrant criminal behavior”. Their organization is currently spreading internationally, with chapters throughout Scandinavia, the USA, and Australia, as a few examples.

The particular brand of racism Tromiczak embraces is a type of paganism known as Wotanism, co-founded by the famous white supremacist David Lane. Wotan is another name for Odin; Lane also uses it as an acronym for “Will Of The Aryan Nation.”

Luke has in the past run a music distro called Anti-Theist Disseminations that distributed many “National Socialist Black Metal” bands (NSBM). Most people who are in the metal music scene are familiar with this subgenre. These are far-right white supremacist anti-immigrant bands.

An example of Anti-Theist Disseminations’ releases includes an album of fascist marching songs from the Romanian Iron Guard:

A quote from band members of the NBSM act “Dark Fury” expresses sentiments typical of members of the NBSM scene:

…Europe full of coloured pigs spreading the words of pacifism and racial tolerance. Every day I see the greater number of niggers and arabs on the streets, trying to be so european. That feeds my anger and fuels me to do something to change this situation.

A different NBSM act offers similar opinions:

The reason of our creation is will of strength! We have to grow up to spread the words of our ideas better. We’d like to change the situation in Europe, Europe [is] full of coloured pigs spreading the words of pacifism and racial tolerance. Every day I see the greater number of niggers and arabs on the streets, trying to be so european. That feeds my anger and fuels me to do something to change this situation. To enlight [sic] white youth about their real heritage from the one side, or just to smash the nigger’s face from the other. We are the voice of White Society! My inspiration is in the first place the philosophy of Nietzsche (Overmanship) and the theory of racial separatism. If you’re asking about musical influences, I like the spirit of old GRAVELAND, OHTAR, ANTISEMITEX, HONOR, WHITE DEVILS, DER STURMER and some others.

These are the sorts of bands Luke plays shows with, whose merchandize he distributes, and whom he includes in his own artwork. His artwork is full of fascist and especially Nazi imagery. Some attempt to pass it off as ‘edgy,’ but Luke actively associates with white supremacist fascists and organizations. This is not ‘edge,’ it’s fascism.

Luke Tromiczak is a fascist, a racist, and a very unpleasant musician. Neither he nor any of his associated acts are welcome in the Twin Cities. Take notice.