Another blow to the Conservatives' bet on the politics of fear and division. Another blow to diverting concerns about standard of living to accepting unfair wealth distribution because of xenophobic fears. PEGIDA's anti-Islam protest in Montreal flopped, while anti-fascists organized a mass counter-rally.
Fascist movements sell illusion and live on tragedy. There is no surprise if those who created the "Judaization" illusion in the last century and victimized millions of people are trying to resurrect today creating a new illusion called "Islamization".
The March 28 anti-Islam event set the time for 3.00 pm in the corner of Pie-IX and Belair street in Montreal. By 2.30 pm, the area was dominated by those who came to denounce the fascist organization. They were mostly French Quebecers, students and socialist activists. No one had shown up for PEGIDA except four people with no protest signs. The call for a PEGIDA protest ended up being a successful anti-fascist rally.
From the protesters you could hear condemnations of what was said to be a "call for hatred" by the Conservative Party of Canada, including Jason Kenney's Facebook hate stories and Stephen Harper's ISIS recruiting scandal. The 167 European right wingers that promised to show up ended up being four.
PEGIDA found no place in the minds and hearts of people in Montreal.