Anti-Fascism, Anti-Immigrant, populism, Right Wing Politics

#AllOutPDX Against Patriot Prayer on August 4th: What You Need to Know

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On Saturday, August 4th, there will be one of the largest actions against Patriot Prayer, and their acolytes the Proud Boys, in the two years they have been terrorizing the West Coast.  Coming from Washington and areas around Portland, they have been converging on the city to hold far-right rallies with deep anti-immigrant, Islamophobic, homophobic, transphobic, and incredibly violent rallies where they have been attacking leftists.  Patriot Prayer, while using the civic nationalist rhetoric of “independent Trumpism,” have made themselves a vessel for white nationalist groups, including the active support and participation of groups like Identity Evropa, the Traditionalist Workers Pary, Cascadian Legion, Operation Werewolf recruits, as well as members of neo-Nazi skinhead gangs and “Patriot” militia groups like the Oath Keepers and 3%ers.

The last several rallies and marches from Patriot Prayer have increasingly become centered on the Proud Boys, the civic nationalist street gang that is known for its violent attacks.  On June 30th, the Proud Boys brutally attacked counter-protesters, critically hospitalizing community members, and this came after several unprovoked street attacks from various Proud Boys in the weeks before.  This Saturday they will be holding another public rally, centered on founder, and Senate candidate in Washington Joey Gibson.  This event has a vague goal of “freedom” and other buzzwords, but the point is to attack the left.

This action is being countered by a massive coalition.  Pop Mob, which means “popular mobilization,” has organized a mass coalition to march and amass on Patriot Prayer.  Rose City Antifa and other militant organizations will be having a huge direct response to Patriot Prayer, and both projects are coming together in mutual aid to shut down Patriot Prayer.

Here are the critical things that every attendee on Saturday should know.

10:30am

There will be a rally at City Hall in downtown Portland made up of a number of community groups and labor unions to stand against Patriot Prayer’s hateful rhetoric.  This will include SEIU Local 503, the Western State Center, Portland Jobs With Justice, and others.

11:30

Converge on Tom McCall Waterfront Park at the Salmon Street Fountain.  This is where Patriot Prayer will be coming.  This action will be frontlined by militant antifascists, including Rose City Antifa, Eugene Antifa, PNW Antifascist Workers Collective, SHARP, and RASH NW.  This will be backed by Pop Mob, which makes up the large mass of participants.  This coalition has been endorsed by a range of groups, from the one’s listed on the 10:30am rally to other groups like KBOO, Black Rose – Rosa Negra, the Democratic Socialists of America, and many other churches, labor unions, and community groups.  This is one of the largest coalition actions of the year.  This means that there will be spaces for both type of participation, and the “green zone” behind the militants intended to be a space where protesters can be protected to speak their views and support the protest of Patriot Prayer.

People are no longer meeting at Chapman Square, that was a placeholder location until Patriot Prayer revealed their actual location.

Patriot Prayer will have the ability to carry guns, and many promise to be armed.  If they are in Terry Shrunk Plaza, where they often amass, they are banned from bringing in weapons because it is a federal park and their are regulations preventing that.  This is not the case for Waterfront Park, and they have been open about bringing guns.  The announcement of the guns is intended to frighten counter protesters, and in a recent video from Joey Gibson he included a young boy playing with a semi-automatic weapon.

Patriot Prayer is also saying that they are going to be putting upwards of 35 members of their own group, including Proud Boys, dressed in black bloc clothing into the antifascist crowd.  Those people can then attack counter protesters or try to catch them being foolish.  This groups is supposed to be run by Russell Schultz, one of the violent Proud Boys doxxed by Rose City Antifa.  This is likely bluster to create a sense of internal discord, but may be something to watch for.

The far-right side is raising money to bring in Proud Boys from other state, and they had between 60-80 at the June 30th rally.  They could be bringing even more this time, and they will all be coming in at least four busses from Vancouver, across the river in Washington.  Those busses will have armed security on them.  The Proud Boys are the most violent contingent, and will come in body armor specifically to fight.

Protocols

  • Go in groups, do not walk by yourself.  Stay with the large crowd of protesters.
  • Prepare for police repression, depend on antifascists for defense and not the police.
  • The large mobilization is safer when they are all together, and the militant bloc is prepared for community self-defense.
  • Rose Hip Medics will be there, they are street medics trained to provide support to protesters injured by far-right thugs and the police.
  • InfoWars “reporters” are going to be there to try and harass protesters on camera.  Gibson and Proud Boys have gone on InfoWars to celebrate brutalized community members and to erroneously claim antifa are bringing guns.
  • Reporters and photographers/videographers should respect boundaries, including avoiding close-up shots on masked protesters.  Movement photographers should be aware that PP members are going to be using cameras in your crowd, so make sure to check in with others in advance so they know what you are filming and you can get good boundaries.
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Anti-Fascism, Uncategorized

Alt-Right Not Welcome: An Antifascist / Abolitionist Bloc on August 12th in Washington, DC

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A call for an antifascist and abolitionist bloc on August 12th to show that the Alt-Right is not welcome in DC.

On Sunday, August 12th 2018, Nazis, white nationalists, and others fascist groups comprising the so-called ‘alt-right’ will descend on Washington, DC to hold “Unite the Right 2” in front of the White House at Lafayette Square. The rally will coincide with the 1-year anniversary of the cowardly attack against anti-racist demonstrators in Charlottesville that took the life of Heather Heyer and brutalized members of Charlottesville’s Black community, including residents Corey Long and Deandre Harris.

Here at the heart of the white settler-colonial state in America, communities of the DMV have learned well how to defend themselves against oppression. On a daily basis, in Black and Brown neighborhoods between DC and Baltimore, police act as an occupying army—a criminal gang in blue leaving a trail of broken lives in their wake. Days before Unite The Right in Charlottesville last year, Nazis rode through Southeast DC—a historically black neighborhood—openly brandishing guns and confederate flags. In the suburban communities around DC, sheriffs openly cooperate with ICE through 287g kidnapping our neighbors and tearing apart our families.

Make no mistake, the violence of the US police and prison systems and the genocidal agenda of these fascist groups are two sides of the same white supremacist coin: systems of racial domination predicated on state-sanctioned violence, murder and terror with impunity. The United States was and continues to be built on oppression, enslavement and mass extermination, today manifested in the form of police terror, mass incarceration, and imperialist war-making against racialized ‘others’ abroad.

The regime relies on and is sustained by the imposition of coercion and terror aided and abetted by its non-state allies and auxiliaries drawn from the far-Right like the KKK and neo-Nazi groups. As we have seen time and again, the fascist formations marching on Washington, DC on August 12th are working in close collaboration with law enforcement, including in Virginia State Police and the Metropolitan Police Department.

In the US and around the world, the rising tide of authoritarianism and fascism is fueled by the fomentation of violence against our communities: the retrenchment of long pervasive patriarchy and misogyny; the murder and degradation of Black and Brown lives; the criminalization of immigrants; the oppression and dehumanization of the LGBTQAI+ and two spirited communities; the normalization of Islamophobia and the expansion of the national security state; the intensification of anti-Semitism; and the ongoing war against working people waged by the corporate elite and their political cronies.

In solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Contingent, the Queer Bike Bloc, aligned community groups, congregations, and individuals planning direct action, rallies, and occupations against fascism in the DC-Maryland-Virginia area, we are calling for an explicitly Anti-fascist / Abolitionist Bloc on August 12th. We call on all people of good conscience to support our community’s self-defense, confront the fascist filth, and shut them down.

Anarchists, anti-authoritarians, abolitionists, and all anti-fascists: let this be a call for unity with all oppressed peoples in a sustained struggle for our collective defense and liberation.

“It is our duty to fight for our freedom, it is our duty to win, we must love and protect each other, we have nothing to lose but our chains.” – Assata Shakur

Look and listen for the black flags and sound system on August 12th in Washington, DC. Watch for time and place on August 11th on @ShutItDownDC

Mask up, dress up in black, no phones, no live streams, solidarity and love one another. We’re not going it alone.

To see organizing updates, and who is involved please go to www.shutitdowndc.org

Alt-right not welcome #DefendDC #AllOutDC

Alt Light, Anti-Fascism, populism

Patriot Prayer Releases Their Rally Info, Meeting at Waterfront and Canceling Berkeley Rally

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Joey Gibson, the founder of Patriot Prayer, is finally putting out more information about his intentions for the August 4th rally, which is informing the antifascist organizing plans.

Joey Gibson is calling for people to be at the Fred Meyer on Columbia Way in Vancouver, WA at 10am if they want to take the busses down to Portland that he has secured.  He is promising to have armed security on each bus.  He is suggesting that everyone rides the shuttles, which he says are personally owned by attendees and not rented, so they will be there after the rally.  He is putting several teams on call for in and out transfer for people needing to get out, no matter at what point he feels his people will be at risk during the rally.

These are the same busses that were used when Joey came down to harass people at the ICE encampment, and gave them some cover to get out easily.

He has also announced that they will be at the Waterfront Park in Portland, though he has not released all the final details yet.  He promises that the full info will be out this weekend.

Though Joey tried really hard to keep everyone together for the August 5th rally in Berkeley, after the August 4th rally in Portland, though he did not organize it.  He suggested that people “back stabbed” him in regards to the rally.  The American Guard, founded by Klansman, had been a part of the organizing.  Gavin McInnis, the founder of the Proud Boys, eventually pulled the Proud Boys from appearing, and so Joey Gibson decided that he did not want to be a part of it.  In a recent video, Gibson expressed anger of the results of this rally, and blamed it on infighting and personal problems inside their movement, calling them “little demons” and suggested it was a “spiritual problem.”  Joey ended up doing a second video as well, discussing the growing infighting in their movement, especially between the people in Vancouver and Berkeley, and they are desperately trying to keep their movement together.  As far as we can tell, the August 5th rally in Berkeley is over and all of their attention will be on the Portland one.

The Portland rally he expects to be one of their largest, including better preparation and no coordination with the police.  Their position at the Waterfront means they will be out in the wide open space.  There is also some reporting that suggested that Gibson called the location so his people can bring weapons, which they could not do in the federal park like Terry Shrunk Plaza where they have held past rallies.  Rose City Antifa has changed the meeting location for their action to the Waterfront to meet Patriot Prayer, and Pop Mob is continuing their pre-protest rally at City Hall with the support of organized labor and community organizations.

Below is the information for Patriot Prayer’s rally, as put out by Joey Gibson.  This is the information they are giving to their rally participants.

The Portland Rally will start at Salmon Street Springs at the waterfront in Portland Oregon at 1000 SW Naito Pkwy, Portland, OR 97204.

It will be secured and ready for buses to drop off Patriots in large groups. Stay together and inside the security.

The bus will be picking people up at 108 Grand Blvd, Vancouver, WA 98661. If you look at the two satellite photos there is a red circle along the road and side walk where people will load onto the bus. There will be armed security on the public sidewalk and the Vancouver Police are aware that we are going to be there. As most of you know the Vancouver Police do not put up with masked criminals like they do in Portland.

Shuttles will start leaving at 10 am. Last shuttle to leave 11:35 am

It is highly encouraged to show up at 10 am to guarantee a seat.

Parking: There is a giant parking lot next to the drop off spot and is extremely busy so it will be hard for people to go after your car but it isn’t a guarantee. People with flags and other obvious items are parking about a mile away and taking Uber in or just get dropped off by a friend.

We have 5 fast buses with armed security on each bus. These are the best way to get in safe and to leave safe. Please come to Vancouver to catch a bus.

People not taking the Shuttle

Those coming into the water front on their own should not be wearing anything that identifies you are with the Patriots. Wear normal clothing and get to Salmon Street Springs from the multiple different ways in.

 

This is the flyer for the Pop Mob pre-event rally, afterwards that crowd will then join the larger antifascist block protesting Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys.

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Anti-Fascism, Antifa, Uncategorized

Pop Mob and Rose City Antifa are Organizing a Mass Antifascist Resistance to Patriot Prayer on August 4th

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Portland has become a center of antifascist resistance as civic nationalist, Alt Light organizations riding the Trumpian populist wave take to the streets in public displays of bigotry.  Following the far-right “free speech” rallies that Lauren Southern started in Berkeley after the cancelation of events for Anne Coulter and Milo Yiannopoulos in 2017, Patriot Prayer formed by provocateur Joey Gibson to celebrate Trump and accost the left.  They started in violent fashion, and one of their attendees went on two murder two people in an Islamophobic attack on a Portland train.  Since then, Portland has been generally disgusted by Patriot Prayer and Joey Gibson, but he keeps coming back to the city to hold his rallies and attack counter-protesters.

Now, Patriot Prayer has basically merged with the Proud Boys, the “Western Chauvinist” crew that is known for its street violence.  On June 30th, Patriot Prayer came with dozens of Proud Boys from multiple states and brutally attacked counter protesters in one of the most savage, and unwarranted, attacks in recent history.

Antifascist organizations like Rose City Antifa, the Pacific Northwest Antifascist Workers Collective, and Eugene Antifa, have fought back against Patriot Prayer, continuing to stop them from doing full-scale marches and having free reign of public space.  In response to the violence of June 30th, many organizers from Portland wanted to form an additional coalition to support the existing antifascist work, and to increase the numbers to include people that have not been involved in the more militant antifascist actions against Patriot Prayer.  Pop Mob then will create multiple “zones” of protest, respecting a diversity of tactics while also creating a safe protest space for many people who have felt threatened by the Proud Boys violence at previous Patriot Prayer events.

“We tried ignoring them, and that didn’t work,” points out Effie Baum, from Pop Mob.

Our plan is to bring together a wide coalition of folks in as large numbers as we can to show Patriot Prayer and other groups that he is associated with that we are not going to continue to tolerate this kind of hate in our city.  This is why it is so important for as many folks as possible to come out.  When all of us are together it can stop their attempts at taking over the city while also keeping each other much safer.

Patriot Prayer has continued to escalate in the weeks after the June 30th event, including coming down to the Occupy ICE PDX encampment to harass protesters in the process of cleaning up amid police repression.  The video of Proud Boy Ethan Michael Nordean (Rufio Pan Man) punching a protester went viral in Proud Boy circles, and he went on Alex Jones’ show to celebrate the action.  Jones himself has seemed to ally with the Proud Boys, and may even make an appearance on August 4th.  This particular date is just the first of other events, and August 5th has Patriot Prayer returning to Berkeley where they were pushed out in 2017 by a coalition of labor unions and community groups.

Rose City Antifa has continued their great work of doxxing the Portland area Proud Boys involved in this violence, and is also calling for militant antifascist resistance against Patriot Prayer on June 4th.  They will be working along with other militant antifascist organizations to mobilize in direct opposition to Patriot Prayer, not a distance away, but directly across from their supposed rally.  According to the RCA spokesperson we spoke with, this is to stop the ability of the far-right to organize, and grow, in Portland.

The goal of our action on August 4th is to show that the community will not allow violent nationalist opportunists to threaten our city and target our people.  We will overwhelm them both by force of numbers and commitment to defending our community.  Whatever it takes, we won’t allow Patriot Prayer’s political violence to become the new status quo in this country.

This also relies on direct confrontation as a way of eliminating Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys’ ability to operate with impunity.

Without direct confrontation, PP and other white nationalist groups will feel entitled to threaten people wherever and whenever they like.  First they target antifascists and anti-ICE activists, then they target Pride, marginalized community spaces, minorities, and migrants.  They believe “might makes right,” and unless the community steps in to stop them, there is no telling who they will attack next for political gain.

All the antifascist groups, working in concert, get at different aspects of resistance, creates multiple fronts to push back on Patriot Prayer, and creates the space to get a huge wave of people involved.

“The entire purpose of [Patriot Prayer’s] event is violence.  From what I have seen, they have instigated the violence at all of the past rallies,” says Baum.

“Their speech has consequences, and we have the right to stand together against their hate in our city.”

Below we are posting the links to several of the FB event pages, starting with Pop Mob’s event page for the broad-based protest action that will be happening simultaneously.  Pop Mob will be having a large rally of unions and community organizations at 10:30 at City Hall, which will then, at 11:30, move to join the larger contingent at Waterfront Park.

Stop the Hate Event Page

Resist Patriot Prayer: Violent Alt Right Bigots Off Our Streets

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immigration, Uncategorized, Videos

The Police Unsuccessfully Try to Break Into the Occupy ICE Encampment, But Start Brutally Arresting Protesters [VIDEO]

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The Occupy ICE PDX encampment has been a leader for the Abolish ICE movement across the country, erupting into a permanent protest first and expanding to involved over a hundred tents and hundreds of people practicing direct democracy.  While they successfully cleared out the ICE building in Portland at first, DHS officers later snuck back into the building in the night and then arrested 8 protesters who were continuing to block ICE entrances.

Since then, and for the last several weeks, the Occupy ICE PDX encampment has continued as a site of continuous protest.  On July 9th, five police entered the camp and, despite pleas from residents, tried to push through a barricade.  After they were unable to, they accused a random protester of assaulting them and tackled her to the ground, contorting her limbs and accused her of “resisting arrest.”  The video shows that she was being compliant, as well as the officer’s caustic attempt to destroy a peaceful protest camp.  A total of three protesters were arrested, and the police claim two officers were injured. In the second video you see them blitz and attack protesters.

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Anti-Fascism, Antifa, Counter Protest, Creeping Fascism, Organized Labor, Right Wing Politics, White Supremacist Violence

Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys Clash With Antifascists in Portland in Bloody Confrontation [VIDEO]

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Video by Daniel V. Media

On June 30th, far-right provocateur Joey Gibson brought his group, Patriot Prayer, back to Portland in an effort to stoke the anger of a city grieving from violent racist attacks.  On June 3rd, Patriot Prayer held a march whose sole purpose appeared to be to fight the left.  Lacking in political content, the repeatedly marched their crowd into counter-protesters, attacking them at will.  The Proud Boys, the Alt Light street-gang started by Vice Media co-founder Gavin McInnis, has become the dominant portion of Patriot Prayer’s base as the rest of their larger support by Trump republicans slowly recedes.  Over the past year many their key young participants have joined the Proud Boys, to the point that Patriot Prayer seems to be simply an extension of the regional Proud Boys crews.

On June 3rd they attacked people with increased brutality, though were fought back readily by a crowd of antifascists organized by Rose City Antifa.  They eventually were unable to continue their marching and were chased off the streets as their numbers dwindled.  They vowed to return to “stand their ground,” announcing the June 30th date.

On the day of, it was clear that they had dug into their connections across the country and had Proud Boys from crews in multiple states including, reportedly, California, Washington, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and others.  The crowd was dominated by Proud Boys in their yellow/black Fred Perry shirts, and after a school bus of additional Proud Boys arrived from over the river in Vancouver, they numbered around 80 participants. (Note, some people have listed the number closer to 60, some closer to 100.  For our part, we counted about 80.)

They held their typical round of speeches, with long-winded diatribes from Joey Gibson comparing himself to the “founding fathers.”  Then a Proud Boy rapper named Political Muscle, a white guy with clunky rhymes, did raps about Antifa.  Another speaker discussed the Book of Revelation and the Satanists that control the government, and who were communists, were going to install all of us with RFID chips (The Mark of the Beast).

Once it was time for their march they got into multiple, well-planned formations and put on body armor, preparing to attack.  They were open about this, mentioning that they were there to push back on the left and to fight if they deemed it necessary.  They were hit with bottles, eggs, and other projectiles right out of the gate as they turned the corner away from the park.  Two blocks later they took a left and were met, without obstruction by the police, counter-protesters.  After a short standoff the Proud Boys charged protesters and attacked in brutal fashion, often ganging up on individuals and beating them on the ground.  Several people went completely limp on the ground and had to be rescued by passersby, and could have died without that support.  Ambulances had to come through to pull out the critically injured, including one protester who had cranial bleeding and a fractured skull.

Once the Proud Boys were pushed back, the police declared their permit pulled and the scene a riot, amid the dozens of flash grenades and pepper-balls they were firing.  The Proud Boys continued their march despite this, yelling at the police even though it was clear that law enforcement had let them attack protesters without objection and had aimed their crowd-control weapons almost exclusively at antifascist protesters.  One local reporter wrote that they had heard the police talking in a coffee shop nearby and saying that they were tired of this and would “just let them fight.”

As the march continue there were more and more disruptions from antifascists that were swarming on all sides, resulting in dozens of street brawls.  In several of these situations, as is clear in the video, the Proud Boys were allowed by the police to continue their beatings, and sometimes even appeared encouraged to do so.  Eventually Patriot Prayer was forced back into their park under police protection, unable to complete their march.

The video below clearly shows the Proud Boys level of violence, which is only increasing.  This was one of the most brutal situations of far-right violence in a city that has been marked by skinhead attacks, and as it escalates it seems that the Proud Boys could easily become murderers.  Without the antifascists there, including Rose City Antifa, the Pacific Northwest Antifascist Workers Collective, and Labor Against Fascism, a lot more people would have been hurt.  They successfully pushed back their advance and denied them unopposed use of the space, a victory that has continued for two years now.

Joey Gibson will be returning on August 4th with a similar strategy, and antifascists will be out there to stop him.

Alt Light, Anti-Fascism, Anti-Fascist Prisoners, Videos, White Supremacist Violence

Donate to Support the Legal and Medical Costs of Antifascists Who Stood Against the Proud Boys in Portland

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On Saturday, June 30th, the far-right organization Patriot Prayer came out in Portland, Oregon to hold a rally and march.  The organization has been known for its allyship with white nationalist, patriot, and fascist organizations, and is now made up predominantly of violent Proud Boys.  Over the last two years, Patriot Prayer has repeatedly held their violent events in Portland while being rejected by the city at large.  Last June, after Patriot Prayer follower Jeremy Christian murdered two people in an Islamophobic rage on a Portland train, Patriot Prayer decided to still hold their public rally despite desperate pleas against it from the community.  They were met with 4,000 protesters from dozens of organizations, showing a unified voice against their hateful agenda.

 

Since then Patriot Prayer has only gotten more violent, even though its leader, Joey Gibson, believes he could be elected for Senate in Washington.  On June 3rd they came out to Portland with nothing on the agenda other than fighting people, and after antifascists pushed them back they were unable to complete their march.  On June 30th they came back to “stand their ground,” which meant bringing in Proud Boy crews from multiple states prepared for violence.  They pushed their march into counter protesters where they began attacking them in gang-style beatings, leaving many people in the hospital after cruel assaults.  Antifascists again stopped their march from continuing and overwhelmed their numbers, and several antifascists are also facing criminal charges for these defensive action.

Between the medical and legal costs, they need people’s support now!  Below is a fundraiser controlled by Portland Anarchist Black Cross that will go to support those protesters affected by what happened on June 30th from multiple organizations.  The money will go directly to their support, so you can count on it getting to the people that need it.

Please donate if you can and share widely!  They need our help!

Click Here to Donate to the Fundraiser for Portland Antifascists

Anti-Fascism, Creeping Fascism, Militia Movement, populism, Right Wing Politics, Videos, White Supremacist Violence

Antifascists Confront Patriot Prayer and Proud Boys in Portland on June 3rd [VIDEO]

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By Daniel V. Media

A year after Patriot Prayer, and it’s leader Joey Gibson, brought in white-nationalist and neo-Nazi speakers for an Alt-Right rally they returned with another rally labeled as a “Free Speech” event.  This came one year after the action they held in the same location on June 4th, 2017, where almost four thousand people came out to oppose them. This charade quickly became clear when they showed up with the white-nationalist and misogynist hate-group Proud Boys and attacked journalists, one incident involving a Portland Mercury reporter being shoved and then questioned who she was reporting for.

Anti-fascist groups Rose City Antifa, Eugene Antifa, Rash NW, Pacific Northwest Anti-Fascist Workers Collective, and others organized to shut down this rally and prevent white-supremacists and those that give them a cover to organize under from marching in the streets and instilling fear in the at-risk communities that they target.

Police struggled to keep Patriot Prayer’s numbers protected which lead to panic and anger from their crowd. After several attempts by Patriot Prayer to march, all of which were prevented by the large coalition of anti-racist activists, Patriot Prayer returned back to Terry Shrunk Plaza and called it a day.

Several core members of Patriot Prayer, along with Tusitala “Tiny” Toese, who has been arrested for fighting at past events, were chased throughout the streets of Portland and finally found police protection at the Portland Waterfront. The numbers of the crowd opposed to Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys had swelled from random onlookers who only had to hear who was being chased to join in on defending their town from hate.

Rose City Antifa has continued a series of articles outlining exactly who these Proud Boys are and a call to hold them publicly responsible.

Here is the Facebook event for the June 9th action against Patriot Prayer in Kent, WA, where Patriot Prayer is targeting a Planned Parenthood location

June 9th – Say NO to Misogyny/Say NO to Hate

Patriot Prayer will also be returning to Portland, in the same plaza, on June 30th to further antagonize the city.  There will be a counter action.

Alternative Right, Ku Klux Klan, White Supremacist Violence

The Alt Right in Court Today Trying to Stop the Lawsuit About Their Violence

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After the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville on August 12th, 2017, the Alt Right has been hit hard by organizers, community members, and, now, lawyers.  There have been lawsuits filed against high profile members of the Alt Right who were connected to the rally, such as Mike Enoch (Peinovich) of the Daily Shoah, Richard Spencer of the National Policy Institute, David Duke, and others.

Well known corporate attorney Roberta Kaplan took up the case against the Alt Right and filed the lawsuit in November of last year.  The twenty-five defendants range from individuals like Richard Spencer and Jason Kessler to organizations like the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, all of which were active in the rally and its violence.  On May 24th a hearing was held on motions filed by some of the defendants, including Richard Spencer and Mike Enoch, to have the lawsuit dismissed saying that none of the violence on August 11-12th was pre-planned.  This runs against evidence from places like leaked Discord servers that appeared to have discussions of violence, or the general communication from the white nationalists involved.  These lawsuits are additional to the criminal charges against people like Christopher Cantwell (who is also being named in the lawsuit) and KKK member Richard Wilson Preston, who allegedly discharged a firearm into a crowd of protesters.

Richard Spencer has been trying to find appropriate legal council, especially after his former attorney, Kyle Bristow, decided to leave the white nationalist movement after pressure from activists.  Spencer did a public plea asking for $25,000 in donations, the base fee his new attorney requires to defend him, but only has successfully brought in just over $20,000 by the morning of May 24th, though Spencer alleges he met his goal when crytpocurreny was included.  On May 23rd, Charlottesville-based attorney John DiNucci filed court documents for Spencer, answering the question about whether or not Spencer would have to defend himself in court.

U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon started hearing arguments at 10:30am on Thursday.  Ohio-based attorney Jim Kolenich presented the arguments representing the majority of defendants, arguing that there is no real evidence linking the defendants and the violence of the rally.

These types of lawsuits have been successful in the past.  The SPLC has taken down organizations like the United Klans of America, White Aryan Resistance, and the Aryan Nations by holding those organizations financially accountable for the violence their members carry out, noting that they have stoked that violent behavior.  It is important to note, however, that lawsuits are not a sufficient response, and instead organizing is critical if the Alt Right is to ever really be shut down.

The final decision by the federal judge about whether or not the lawsuit will go forward will be made within the next month.

Alternative Right, anti-semitism, Conspiracy Theories, Right Wing Politics, Scientific Racism, Uncategorized

Alex Jones Goes Full Alt Right Talking About ‘Race Science’ and ‘Jewish Power’

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While Alex Jones and the conspiracy-hug Infowars is often roped in with the Alt Right, it really doesn’t fit.  The Alt Right is defined primarily by its white nationalism, not just its cultural friends and online behavior.  Instead, Jones, at least in his current incarnation, is more a part of the populist radical right sphere that does not commit to full white nationalism, and what we generally refer to as the Alt Light.  While he may like Trump, hate immigrants, and argue for a range of radical right policies, he simply does not validate the open anti-Semitic and white supremacist statements.

That seems out the window as Jones publicly states, on his regular show, his views on racial science (pseudo-scientific racism) and “Jewish Power,” which basically means his belief in Jewish bio-social control of money and social systems.

 

In the rant he talks primarily about Jews, after saying that different ethnic groups have different “traits.” This stems from racist ideas that link up IQ and personality traits, such as sexual restraint and criminality, to race. Obviously the Alt Right and white nationalists simply ascribe all negative qualities and low IQ to non-white races in the Global South. The difference is that they note the Jews high “average IQ,” and then suggest they use this intelligence to destabilize Western nations in an effort to give Jews, as a group, an advantage.

Jones then goes on about Jews’ “innate” ability with money and their use of Usury, a common anti-Semitic caricature of Jews as greedy money lenders.

The importance of these comments should not be overlooked since he has made explicit what many people though was implicit: Jones appears to adhere to a white nationalist vision of the world where race determines individual cognitive function and Jews control the key institutions of the Western world.

 

Taking on Fascism and Racism from the Ground Up.