Friday, August 28, 2020

Canadian Far-Right Responds to the Murder of Two Protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin

Jacob Blake, an unarmed black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin, was shot and paralyzed by police last week, which set off major protests in the city. It was during one of these protests that Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17 year old boy from Antioch, Illinois, who is a member of a right-wing militia, shot 3 protesters, killing 2 and injuring one. He was later arrested by police, after he had fled the state. Numerous videos on social media show the attack, with Rittenhouse shooting a protester in the head, and shooting into the crowd. Initially, protesters had attempted to disarm him of his assault-style rifle. 

We won't go too in depth on what happened in Kenosha, as it's already been reported on at length. 

However, predictably, the Canadian far-right has reacted with their usual callousness and hatred. 

Jeremy MacKenzie (AKA Raging Humanist/Rick Handy), and John Southern (who claims to have been involved in some capacity with Wolfgang Droege of the Heritage Front) were gleeful that protesters were murdered in the street:

On Facebook, members and associates of Yellow Vests Canada were quick to defend the killer: 



Other Canadian far-right groups have also been supportive of the killer, such as Canadian Combat Coalition and the Threepers, both far-right anti-Muslim militia groups: 




A reference to Anthony Huber, who attempted to disarm Rittenhouse using his skateboard 

 
Chris Vanderweide, who is awaiting trial for assault due to his involvement with the attack on Hamilton Pride, is also supportive, as is his girlfriend Leigh Stuart:





Ron Banerjee of the patriot movement and Rise Canada is wondering why he can't carry a gun in Canada and shoot people that confront him:

Sam Bell, who runs the Alberta Separatist Youth League, an Alberta thinly disguised white nationalist group, and is also associated with Wexit, posted supportive memes to both his Facebook page (Make Alberta Great Again) and his Instagram. 


Rittenhouse isn't from that city 





Mark Friesen is a nationalist from the yellow vests and a failed PPC candidate. He is also showing support for the shooter.

 



Kazz Nowlin, formerly of the Threepers and currently of the Canadian Sheepdogs, has been especially vocally supportive of the killer: 





Over on Telegram, the virulently racist and antisemitic Canada First (Public) channel has expressed support: 






And the Proud Boys as well: 



As unsurprising as the reactions are, it is very disturbing that an untrained 17 year old boy in the U.S. can walk around with an assault rifle, and attempt to quell a protest against racialized police violence. He killed 2 people, said so to the police, and the officers on the scene did not arrest him. If that isn't an example of white privilege, I don't know what is. 

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

James Sears Distributing Flyers Claiming Covid-19 Pandemic is a Satanic Hoax

A year after being sentenced to a year in prison for distributing hate via the antisemitic and misogynistic Your Ward News in a Toronto court, James Sears is distributing flyers in a Toronto neighbourhood. 


The flyer dropped off at a Toronto restaurant on St. Clair West, submitted via a tip
from a community member

A tip submitted by a member of the community advised us that the flyer was dropped off to a business on St. Clair West, in Toronto. It was confirmed that Sears, dressed in all black, delivered it himself. The flyer, which details how Sears believes Covid-19 to be a "globalist" hoax, makes the claims that zero people have died from Covid-19, masks are ineffective at preventing the spread of the virus, and indicated it was "satanic." 

Sears goes on to accuse Toronto mayor John Tory of forcing masks due to being a "satanist who rejects the Christian trinity" and participates in "ritual masking." 

Sears' use of "globalists" is explicitly antisemitic; on his website, which we've blacked out on the flyer, he writes about the "Zionist-Marxist Globalists." Sears claims his politics "incorporates the intellect of Dr. Ron Paul, the heart of Chancellor Adolf Hitler, and the soul of Jesus Christ, into one powerful political Chimera that will crush the Marxist beast."

It might be tempting to consider that Sears has hopped on the QAnon train, but he's written about his ideas of "satanic armies of Marxism" before. 

It will be interesting to see if Sears participates in any of the anti-lockdown protests in the city (where his good friend Paul Fromm is already a staple) and whether he gloms onto the larger anti-mask movement, which has found a foothold in Toronto. 

Saturday, August 08, 2020

The Jewish Defence League Targets the Canadian Nationalist Party

Travis Patron, the failed federal candidate who currently faces charges of assault against two women, and leader of the Canadian Nationalist Party, has continued to escalate his party's rhetoric on social media, and confirm for everyone watching, that they are, in fact, a neo-Nazi party. In recent months Patron has photographed himself giving a Roman Salute, called for the recruitment of "Roman Salute people," released a video implying he is continuing on the work of the fascist 1933 Canadian Nationalist Party led by William Whittaker, and posted about Oswald Mosley, of the British Union of Fascists. 


As such, they have been distributing a print version of their antisemitic video from 2019 referencing the "parasitic tribe" throughout Canada. In addition to the language of the video in written format, it includes an image of Patron giving a Roman Salute. 

Back in the summer of 2019 when he first released the video, Patron gained the attention of the RCMP, who subsequently began investigating him for hate crimes. Patron told CBC that the "parasitic tribe" referred to "globalists":
Patron told CBC News his statements are directed at "globalists." "They go by many different names," he said. "We refer to them simply as the globalists because they conduct their business everywhere while simultaneously calling no place in particular home. We would remove [them] from our country. We have no use for them."

Patron also tweeted his denial that he means any ethnic group, instead choosing to double down on the "globalist" explanation (which doesn't hold any water anyway, given the antisemitic origin of the term.) 

Except it turns out he really does mean Jews: 

The closing language on the flyer distributed by the CNP. Quite the defense against hate allegations to argue that it's not antisemitic because they're "not Jews."

This has caused Meir Weinstein and his far-right and anti-Muslim Jewish Defence League to set their sights on the Canadian Nationalist Party. On one hand, we say "finally," while on the other we say "at least they're leaving Muslims alone." 

On August 6, 2020 Weinstein and company visited the Mississauga home of another failed CNP federal candidate, Gus Stefanis. Weinstein posted a short livestream in front of the house. Claiming this was "phase 1," Weinstein spoke about the flyer campaign, and advised his audience that the JDL will not stand for this hatred of Jews. Regardless of one's thoughts of protesting at someone's actual home, the sentiment behind it is of merit - until you are reminded that it's one hate group going after another hate group. Their only difference is who they hate the most. It's also interesting that they're targeting Patron when they've befriended other white supremacists and neo-Nazis in the past. Perhaps their judgment is getting better, or perhaps Meir just sees an opportunity. 

Video has been cropped to hide the house number.


This isn't the first time the JDL has confronted neo-Nazis (although, again, they're known for taking on strange bedfellows.) While Weinstein claims credit in the above video for taking down Terry Long's Aryan Nations in Alberta, it didn't quite happen that way. While Weinstein and the JDL visited Long's compound in Caroline, AB in the 1986, it was actually the assault on retired journalist Keith Rutherford in 1990, by Long's followers, that caused Long to flee to BC in the mid-90's, ultimately resulting in the Aryan Nations collapse.


It's also interesting that Weinstein frames this as a protection of sorts for the overall patriot movement, who has largely accepted Patron, Stefanis, and the Canadian Nationalist Party. Weinstein doesn't want them making "inroads" into the movement, except they've already parked their car, gone in, and made themselves at home, while being wholly welcomed. It's almost like the "patriot movement" is actually part of the problem. 

While Patron is the leader of the CNP, Stefanis himself has only himself to blame. After joining a particularly vile neo-Nazi Telegram chat on July 17, Stefanis, posting as "Gus Smith," confirmed he is a member of and promoted the CNP.  He also promoted neo-Nazi Kevin Goudreau's Canadian Nationalist Front, and admitted that it was antisemitism which brought him to that channel:

Stefanis' introduction post, confirming it was an antisemitic poster that an
antifascist account tweeted about that brought him there

The antisemitic poster uses the archaic antisemitic trope that Jews are responsible for debt
and shows a Star of David being broken in half, proclaiming "break debt slavery"

Have you tried not being a neo-Nazi? I hear prospective employers really go for that. 





Both the CNP and Stefanis have been quiet about the incident, at least publicly. Weinstein, on the other hand, has assured his following this is just the beginning. 

Folks may remember Never Again Canada as a 235,000 member strong pro-Israel and anti-Palestine/anti-Muslim Facebook page. It ran a recruitment campaign for the JDL, and NAC and Weinstein/JDL were/are close allies. It was unpublished by Facebook in March, 2020 only to seemingly return on April 14, 2020. Except this time it exists to spread virulent hatred against Jews by weaponizing the Palestinian plight for liberation. The content is less about Palestinian liberation, an entirely and wholly righteous position, and moreso about how evil Jews are. It currently has only 144 followers. 

(A private, real Never Again Canada group still exists, although with a fraction of the followers of the original page.Their Twitter is also still active.) 

It seems like a classic case of name-swiping, made more interesting by support of the CNP and Patron. If one didn't know better, they might even think Patron and the CNP could be involved. 

Page transparency from Facebook showing the new page's creation date 

Back in July, Weinstein was taunted by the new "Never Again Canada" page, challenging him to target Patron:
So that's what Meir plans to do. The JDL plans to travel to Patron's hometown of Redvers, SK, and confront him. 

Looking forward to it, Meir!