When it comes to organizing, leftists are bloody geniuses, and that is one of their main sources of power.  That is why they are constantly outmaneuvering us.

A few weeks back, I received an email from Act for America, one of the very, very, very few conservative organizations that actually does something besides issuing proclamations that nobody else reads and then patting itself on the back.  Organizers were going to hold a rally against sharia law and for human rights in various cities.  I looked it up (actforamerica.org/rally), and San Antonio was not one of them.  Now, I know that there are many people in that city who would gladly take part in this – I have talked to them – but where and how to contact the group?  I tried but ultimately gave up in frustration.

Ah!  But there is one going on nearby, in the People's Democratic Republic of Austin, an antifa and rabid feminist stronghold.  So I tried to do my bit and contacted what few people I do have contact with.  I have no idea who or what or where the conservative local radio talk shows are, and I got tired of tracking them down.  However, I am very good at writing and came up with an article to publicize the event, which is put up by American Thinker.

I sent it to a church minister I am acquainted with, and he announced the march on the church's email listserv.  I submitted another piece on the same topic to another conservative website, The Federalist, but it was declined; they needed to make room for more important things, like perhaps movie reviews.  I also contacted the San Antonio newspaper and TV stations; even though Austin is near, they were not interested.  It is at this point that I realized that Act for America did not seem to have done a good job at publicity for the event.  No newspaper ads, no radio spots.  OK...

But surely, since Muslims almost unanimously want to exterminate gays, there would be messages printed in the local gay periodicals?  Nope.

Well, maybe all the churches and synagogues were contacted.  There are hundreds of them all around the area.  After all, the jihadists want to destroy every single Christian church and synagogue.  Nope.

I also receive comments from some conservatives who declined to participate.  One states that such events accomplish nothing.  Another that he's staying home to polish his guns, stroking the barrels.

On June 10, I drove early to Austin and attended the rally.  My wife came because, being Muslim, the idea of sharia makes her go ballistic, and besides, she is an intensely patriotic American.  We arrived, and it was immediately obvious where the site was because we followed the chanting and noise made by the communists.  The communists (flying the hammer and sickle) easily outnumbered the ones advocating human rights.  I looked around for any sign of the Proud Boys.  Nope.  I was hoping they would be there (how to contact them?).

The two groups, although separated by about ten feet, were kept apart by a wall of stone-faced cops.  I was eventually impressed by the communists' lung power.  They do not stop chanting their moronic slogans for one second – the usual bit about fascists and racists and homophobes and white supremacists.  Yadda, yadda, yadda.  Never mind that the anti-sharia group had blacks, gays flying the LGBT flag, Hispanics, and Asians.

The anti-sharia group were standing quietly with their signs and looked a bit intimidated (each one was a stranger there; no one knew anyone else!).  Perhaps it is my ego speaking – probably – but they seemed to change once I joined them and verbally tore into the antifa, screaming every insult I knew in Spanish, English, and Italian.  My memories of the communists in Cuba and my knowledge of the history of the vast crimes of communism were the source of my energy.  The antifa cultists were momentarily shocked at hearing this non-white white supremacist, then they returned to their parroting, with additional hatred toward me.

After a while of this, a change suddenly came over me, and I looked at them differently and started openly laughing at them and ridiculing them.  That, too, was taken up by our group.  (Some of the sunken-chested communists were pretending to be Spartans, carrying a shield made from a plastic garbage can and wearing football helmets.)  If I do say so myself, I did a pretty good job, and others began to lighten up and laugh at the hate-filled communists.  At one point, while I was in the front, I acted like a conductor while they chanted, motioning to one side to chant, then the other side.  When they finished, I yelled out, "Again!  This time with feeling!"

There were no Muslims on their side, although a number of white girls wore what they thought were "hijabs" as a sign of "solidarity" with the jihadists advocating female genital mutilation.  It was obvious that they did not know how to properly wear the "hijabs."  It looked as though they had just tied a napkin or a sanitary pad around their heads.  If I had thought about it then, I would have suggested that they undergo genital mutilation as a further gesture of solidarity.  Oh, well.  Maybe next time.

In the end, there was no mass confrontation, so in a way, it was a bit of an anticlimax.

To say that the meeting is Austin was organized is a misnomer.  True, the venue was secured.  But no one knew each other.  There were no speakers, there was no agenda, there was no local publicity to speak of except for one TV reporter and cameraman who heard about it as it was taking place toward the end and was going from one person to the other trying to identify who the organizer was in order to interview him.

The communists, incidentally,  did organize themselves beforehand.  They had a good showing in de facto opposition to human rights and in favor of female genital mutilation.

Folks, we need to get better organized.

Armando Simón is a retired college professor and is the author of A Cuban from Kansas, The U, and The Only Red Star I Liked Was a Starfish.  They can be obtained at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.