Athens, GA – Some Athens residents found an unpleasant surprise when they woke up this morning: anti-Semitic flyers that had been tossed onto their driveways overnight.
The flyers were delivered to homes in the Cobbham and Normaltown neighborhoods, according to several reports from residents. Former mayor Gwen O’Looney, who lives in Cobbham, said they were tossed onto driveways wrapped in plastic baggies with a rubber band.
Flagpole is not publishing the images to avoid spreading their message, but the flyers listed members of the Biden administration who are supposedly Jewish, linked Judaism to Communism and contained anti-Semitic slogans.
Such flyers are uncommon in Athens, said Cas Mudde, a University of Georgia political science professor who specializes in right-wing hate groups and white nationalist movements.
“As far as I know, there are no groups in Athens, and UGA has not been targeted by far-right groups that operate outside of the broader Republic Party subculture,” he said. “I remember coming across a flyer before the pandemic, but it is really rare.”
Mudde said the group responsible is most likely the Goyim Defense League, which was behind the widely publicized “Day of Hate” scheduled for Saturday.
“That whole action looks like a massive media stunt, as very little actually happened,” he said. “Most of their actions are directed at capturing media attention with very extreme messages. But these groups tend to be small and poorly staffed. The flyers look like 1990s far-right propaganda, pretty basic in terms of design and production. It is hard to say who is behind it here in town. It probably is just one or a few people, mostly likely younger. They might be actually active within the group or just wanted to do something ‘edgy’.”
One Cobbham resident told Flagpole she had filed a police report, but Athens-Clarke County police said they no information about the case as of Monday afternoon. According to O’Looney, it looked as if the packages were tossed onto driveways from the public street, so it’s unclear if a crime like trespassing occured.
