Anonymous Submission to Jersey Counter-Info
In November 2023, Stomp Out NJ, a NJ hardcore show and event planning project run by Jay Baluski, announced it would be hosting a show on April 20, 2024 featuring nationalist punk band Condemned84.
Condemned84 has decades long ties to Britain’s nationalist socialist and white power movements. Immediately upon the shows announcement there was understandable outcry from the local hardcore community over the organization of the show.
Baluski/Stomp Out NJ played dumb and tried to shrug off people’s legitimate concerns like Condemned84’s nationalist and racist history, the date of the show overlapping with Hitler’s birthday (a well known and celebrated ‘holiday’ among national socialists), the event flier having a coded swastika on it, and the location of the show being a secret.
While Baluski tried to play coy about the show and offered half-assed excuses to avoid any heat, the NJ hardcore scene and antifascists started to apply pressure to get the show cancelled. With consistent public pressure applied to Baluski/Stomp Out NJ, information about the scheduled April 20, 2024 show went dark for several months. In March 2024, Baluski made a public announcement on his social media that he had cancelled the Condemned84 show and was refunding ticket sales.
The cancellation of the Condemned84 show can be attributed to the collective effort between the NJ hardcore scene and NJ antifascists, who created an inhospitable environment for racist nazi bullshit. Baluski/Stomp Out NJ do not currently have plans to reschedule the show or host future national socialist shows but both should be regarded with extreme caution. Nazi sympathizers and their ilk have no place in NJ.