(The following article is from the January 1-15, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By Kimball Cariou

There has finally been a break in the escalating violence generated by a racist gang which has been active in southern Alberta for the past few years. A leading member of the Aryan Guard is on the lam, accused of bombing the home of a fellow neo-Nazi, and the group has officially disbanded.

     As reported in People's Voice, anti-racist activists Jason Devine and Bonnie Collins, who are also Communist Party members, have been among the main targets of the neo-Nazis. Their northeast Calgary home was firebombed in 2008, and attackers recently smashed their windows and painted swastikas and other nazi graffiti. Members of the neo-Nazi group have committed many other criminal acts (see PV, Nov. 15-30, 2009).

     These crimes have usually been treated as the isolated actions of individuals. Spokespersons for the Calgary police expressed little concern, calling the violence simply part of a struggle between anti-racists and the local Aryan Guard. Police even hinted that a previous bombing against an Aryan Guard member was probably the work of anti-racists. This claim was denied by Devine and other members of Anti-Racist Action, and by other progressive and democratic movements in Calgary.

     Then on November 23, police issued warrants for Aryan Guard member Kyle Robert McKee, and for an unnamed 17-year-old male. Both men face charges of attempted murder, possessing, making or controlling explosives, and possession of a weapon or imitation weapon for a dangerous purpose. The teenager is under arrest, but McKee has apparently headed east to escape the charges.

     On Nov. 21, police had responded to a complaint of gunfire in the Rundle neighbourhood in the city's northeast. They found that a pipe bomb had been detonated in a parking lot between two apartment buildings. Nearby residents were evacuated, and a second detonated bomb was found nearby. The intended victims had heard noises on their balcony, and spotted McKee lighting the devices, which they tossed away moments before the resulting explosion. Police called it a targeted attack, since McKee and the victims know each other and share similar beliefs.

     In the wake of the charges, a statement was posted on the neo-Nazi "Stormfront" website, announcing the disbanding of the Aryan Guard following internal disputes.

     "Over the past six months," the statement concludes, "the group continued to degenerate, falling further from the ideal the main membership body strived for the group to become... It's sad to say that in the final months the membership body dissolved, leaving only one founding member, one associate and a few new faces striving for membership in something that they could be proud of... With this, The Aryan Guard is officially disbanded."

     Unfortunately, this bizarre episode may not be the end of the neo-Nazis in Calgary. Subsequent website comments indicate that some members may try to reorganize under another name. But in future, it will be more difficult for the police to ignore violence carried out by this group of racist thugs.