Czech right-wing extremists arguing over why racist from USA didn't speak at anti-EU demo

Last weekend’s demonstration on Saturday, 17 September 2016 on Wenceslas Square in Prague, entitled “Together for Leaving the EU”, was supposed to feature an appearance by American racist Matthew-John Heimbach, who was invited by the Workers Social Justice Party (DSSS). Heimbach is linked to the Ku-Klux-Klan (KKK) and “White Power” organizations in the USA.

The US citizen is a member of the Traditionalist Workers Party (TWP), an American Fascist group. Ultimately the organizers of the Prague assembly did not allow him to speak, a decision that has resulted in more arguments among the right-wing extremists in the Czech Republic.

Heimbach is an active neo-Nazi and Christian extremist with strong racist opinions. During his studies at Towson University in Maryland, he established and led the racist group of the so-called “White Student Union” (WSU).

That group organized patrols of five to seven members who alleged they were combating “Black crime” even though African-American students comprised just a small percentage of the student body and the campus was practically one of the safest places in town. Heimbach was not interested in facts, but in exploiting “white” people’s concerns and generalizations about African-Americans.

His Traditionalist Workers Party, which is a Fascist party in the United States, has as its logo a circular white cog or gear with a four-pronged pitchfork-like symbol, tilted at an angle, inside it. Frequently he also uses a version that is very similar to the Nazi symbol, in which an eagle is carrying the TWP logo instead of a Nazi swastika.

A flag with the TWO logo was flown last Saturday on Wenceslas Square in front of the statue of St Wenceslas on his horse. Heimbach is also an active supporter of the Republican Party candidate for the presidency of the United States, Donald Trump.

In the USA, Heimbach most recently became “famous” (or infamous) in March, when he insulted an African-American woman and pushed her at a Trump rally. He considers his role model to be the British Fascist leader Oswald Mosley, who was imprionsed for his activities shortly after the end of WWII.

In 2013, Heimbach participated in a “show” organized by former KKK member David Duke. He is also an admirer of Holocaust denier David Irving.

Heimbach frequently also wears a baseball cap with the logo of the Greek extreme nationalist party Golden Dawn. The TWP was also involved in the unrest that took place this year in Sacramento, California.

That demonstration was planned for several weeks and social media posts indicate that it was very well-organized. A total of 10 people were stabbed during it and taken to hospital. 

More arguments in the Czech extreme-right scene

According to the allegations of the Svitavy branch of the DSSS, Heimbach was supposed to have been one of the speakers at Saturday’s demonstration, but Jiří Černohorský, who later spoke himself on Wenceslas Square, asked organizers not to allow Heimbach to speak. The decision not to let Heimbach speak has sparked quarrels among the extreme right scene in the Czech Republic.

A screenshot of a communication allegedly written by the chair of National Democracy, Adam B. Bartoš, has turned up online explaining why the US racist was not allwed to speak during the event. “That guest might have given the so-called Nazi salute from the podium, which would have harmed the entire event, it would have ben dispersed and I would have been taken into custody immediately. … If I were to appear at any event with a neo-Nazi, I would be taken into custody,” Bartoš apparently wrote before proceeding to call DSSS chair Tomáš Vandas an agent of the Czech domestic intelligence service BIS.

Bartoš denies ever having written such an online post and asserts that the social media profile from which the screenshot was taken is a fake one. Heimbach’s visit to Prague was organized by DSSS members and, in addition to participating in the demonstration, included meeting with the chair of the DSSS and several other members.

A photograph of the demonstration published on social media both by the DSSS and by Heimbach himself shows him, for example with Petr Gunther, Vlastimil Pechanec, and Jiří Petřivalský. He appears together with Vandas in another photograph posted online as well.

Leading representatives of the DSSS, who have “liked” the Facebook page of the TWP and shared posts from it, have harshly attacked the organizers of the Prague demonstration who did not allow Heimbach to give his speech. Pavel Matějný of the National Regeneration (Národní obroda) group has announced on Facebook that he is ending his collaboration with Černohorský and leaving the group called “Honor, Freedom, Respect” (Čest, svoboda, respekt).

Matějný has publicly accused the organizer of Saturday’s demonstration, Lucie Hašková, of being a liar. He is also offended that she invited Olivie Žižková, author of the xenophobic pop hit “Europe, Breathe!” (“Evropo, dýchej!”) to sing on the podium.

The National Regeneration leader alleges in his criticism that Žižková is “one-eighth Romani” and has sung with Romani bands in the past. In his social media post, Matějný explained that he “will never support Gypsies, Communists and Jews”.

This was not the first time that Matthew-John Heimbach was invited to the Czech Republic by extremists. In November 2014 he spoke at a DSSS assembly in Brno.