http://www.straight.com/content.cfm?id=13173

Activists target Minutemen
By harsha walia

Publish Date: 29-Sep-2005



The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a right-wing U.S. paramilitary group, is bringing its binoculars and armed, border-watching volunteers to the B.C.–Washington border on October 1. Activists and community residents across the country, including groups from Vancouver, are gearing up to counter its message.

The Minuteman project has been steeped in controversy, including claims of racism and vigilantism, since its announcement in October 2004 by Tombstone Tumbleweed newspaper owner and editor Chris Simcox, along with Vietnam War vet James Gilchrist. It formally began on April Fools’ Day this year with a 30-day patrol of a 36-kilometre stretch of the Arizona-Mexico border, for which Gilchrist and Simcox claimed to have 1,300 recruits. However, fewer than 150 volunteers came and were outnumbered by a swarm of reporters, camera crews, protesters, and American Civil Liberties Union legal observers.

The Minuteman northern project is scheduled to dispatch patrols to a 32-kilometre stretch of the border, from Blaine to Sumas. Gilchrist has said that criticsâ€â€