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On Jan. 26, members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation entered the classrooms of white supremacist Professor Kevin MacDonald at California State University, Long Beach and initiated a campaign to bring about his dismissal.
The PSL members, who are also students at the university, launched the campaign in response to MacDonald’s acceptance of position as national director of the newly founded white supremacist American Third Position Party.
The American Third Position Party, like fascist parties of the 1930s, disguises itself as the friend of the working class by falsely promoting the racist idea that immigrants and people of color are to blame for the predicaments faced by workers. The American Third Position Party demands an end to all non-European immigration and pledges to repatriate all non-white peoples living in the United States. The group even demands an end to “multiculturalism” in education, which flies in the face of the diversity of CSU, Long Beach.
MacDonald’s role in the American Third Position Party, which is inspired by the British National Party, leaves no doubt to his credentials as a white supremacist. In an interview on the right-wing Radio Free Mississippi Show, MacDonald expressed that it would be “ideal” if the country were 90 percent white.
PSL members passed out flyers in the classrooms, calling on students to boycott all courses taught by MacDonald and urging walk-outs. As MacDonald entered each classroom, he was confronted about his role as director in the American Third Position Party and his ties to the Freedom 14 neo-Nazi group responsible for the founding and operation of the American Third Position Party.
These ties, exposed by a journalist in the OC Weekly, were tacitly accepted as factual by MacDonald in each class. Several students walked out immediately, with many searching a list of available courses provided by the organizers as alternatives. Faculty members in MacDonald’s department have been largely supportive of the effort, and reserved seats in their classes for students participating in the boycott.
Psychology student Shavanda Williams said, “Why is he here if he has these white supremacist ideas?” Williams was among the students who walked out of one of MacDonald’s classes.
Another student majoring in human development, who identified himself only as John, came to the course in hopes of adding it because it was one of the few courses with available seats, but refused to take the course after learning of MacDonald’s political aspirations.
“His connection to the American Third Position [Party] makes me unwilling to take his class,” John said. “We have a right to know as students about his political affiliations. I will not be taught by a Nazi.”
The actions were covered by KPFK, the CSU, Long Beach Daily 49er, and the Southern Poverty Law Center. PSL members Marylou Cabral and this writer were invited by KPFK Radio 90.7FM to participate in a panel discussion on MacDonald’s political affiliations and the effort to organize a student movement for his dismissal.
