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​Rose City Antifa opposes fascist organizing through direct action, education, and by maintaining
political and cultural Left spaces. 

Direct action includes all activity that immediately stops, subverts or opposes public organizing by fascists. Our two goals in this are: prevention and/or consequences. We assess each scenario to determine which of these two directives seems most relevant, and proceed accordingly. When it is not logistically possible to prevent fascist organizing itself, we provide consequences to the organizers. An example of this is our successful “outing” campaign in August of 2008 revealing the organizing efforts of several key Volksfront members to their neighbors and co-workers. (Volksfront is an international white supremacist organization that originated in Portland.) The boneheads in this case were "outed" as a result of their participation in a nationwide white pride event in Missouri. Some lost their jobs, some even moved out of state after this campaign. The direct action component is supported by the constant research and monitoring of fascist organizations.

Education is crucial to creating a real grassroots resistance to the insidious doctrine of fascism. In these uncertain times people are vulnerable to the easy answers that fascist theory offers. No need to worry about complex systems of international Capital, blame it on a secret cabal of Jews, the Mexican living down the street, or the homosexual teaching your child immorality. Fascism offers tangible and accessible enemies, enemies that can easily be beat, often because they are already in an underprivileged position in our society.

The new face of fascism is much more sophisticated than the shaved-head, tattooed stereotype of the 80s--though those guys are around too. Fascists often couch their racist agenda in the language of anti-globalism. They know how to appeal to environmentalist sensibilities, they are often anti-war, and they can even be mistaken for feminists now and again.

We want to arm people with the analytical tools necessary to effectively unveil the underlying racist/sexist/ homophobic agenda beneath the pleasant veneer. We also strive to offer a more radical analysis of the dynamics of oppression to people that may not have access to it. Often people don’t really know what fascism means, let alone how it manifests or can be prevented. We strive to provide a more in-depth, sophisticated analysis than the liberal or conservative narratives on fascism. To this end we produce and distribute material that we believe serves this purpose.

Solidarity organizing helps us create antifascist spaces, culture and relationships that are, at least for the moment, inoculated against the oppressive norms that define our broader society. We believe it is important to know what you are for, in addition to what you are against, and to model these values in principled and cooperative relationships within a community network.

Social and cultural events can be as important to weaving a more cohesive resistance as any formal meeting. We believe that being antifa is a measure of what you do, not simply a measure of what you don’t do. Simply not saying racist things does not make you anti-racist. We must actively work against a larger society, which is built on oppressive relationships, and find ways to carve out pockets where new values can emerge. Part of this is simple mutual aid; we ally ourselves with groups that hold common values and support their work in any way we can. The other part of this is offering an attractive vision for the future to the disenfranchised youth that are actively recruited by neo-Nazis, as well as Christian right and other hate groups. The young, white, working-class men that are recruited to the radical right often have legitimate cause to feel anger and frustration. They have been cast aside by a dehumanizing world, and the Left has abandoned them. We want to offer a culture that they can see themselves signing on to, one that seeks to build a classless, free society. A vacuum will always seek to be filled, and while we are perfectly willing and able to eject those values and people that are toxic to a free society, we must also be willing to fill that space up with meaningful and imaginative new solutions. This principle essentially dovetails with the education principle. Intellectual understanding alone will not stop fascism without real world application, and a lifestyle is shallow and ineffectual without a strategic, theoretical framework.

If you are interested in learning more about Rose City Antifa or getting involved in the work we do, please feel free to leave a voicemail message for us at 971-533-7832, or email us at fight_them_back@riseup.net.