The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund was called on earlier this month to help with the legal defence of 31 anti-fascists in Denver, CO. and Oslo, Norway.

Halloween in Denver this year was marked by the emergence of a small group of anti-semitic ghouls calling themselves the Goyim Defense League.  These disgusting assholes kicked the day off with an anti-semitic banner drop over a freeway, then moved on to harassing Jewish-owned businesses and threatening Jewish community members with violence.  Fortunately, Denver anti-fascists were there to confront them and shut them down.  Pretty soon the police got involved and now guess which side is now facing charges?  So there is now a crowdfunder set up to pay for the legal defence of the three Denver anti-fascists who were arrested and we were able to make a sizeable donation to it, thanks to the contributions of our donors .

Meanwhile, two days later and 4,660 miles away in Oslo, Norway: the location of a top-secret neo-nazi get-together got leaked to members of Antifascistisk Aksjon, who managed to out-maneuver both the fascists & the cops, shutting down the entrance to the meeting spot, convincing the landlord to ask the police to evict the nazis from the meeting space, and basically ruining the nazis’ entire day.  The Oslo cops, perhaps a bit hurt that they had been outwitted, waited until the end of the day and then attacked the antifascists, arresting 28 of them and fining them a combined total of 300,000 Norwegian krone (which = about $32,000USD).  AFA Oslo & AFA Bergen are calling for donations to help pay off these outrageous fines and we were again able to make a contribution to help our 28 friends in Oslo with that.  Here are the details if you’d like to help with that as well:

International solidarity with 31 antifascists in emergencies really demonstrates why The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund exists.  But the month is not over and we know that more anti-fascists will be counting on us to help them get out of dire and dangerous circumstances; something we’re only able to do with your support.  Please make a donation today!

In 2018, when alt-right troll and supplement peddlar Mike Cernovich announced a publicity stunt in NYC, David C. did what anyone of us would do – really what everyone in NYC who cares about people should have done – he went out to protest it.  What he couldn’t have predicted was that his life & future would be put in jeopardy as a result – not by Cernovich and the bigoted goons he counts as his fans, but by the New York Police Department.  A scuffle took place that David was not involved in and one of the NYPD officers “keeping the peace” took that as his cue to tackle the closest antifa to him, which happened to be David.  He broke David’s leg in two places.  This meant that David couldn’t work until his leg healed.  When The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund heard about this, we did what we could to make sure David could make his rent & pay his bills while he was healing up.

Of course, the cops & the courts weren’t happy with just breaking David’s leg.  The leg-breaking cop doubled down/covered up his brutality & violence by making up a story about David had stalking, punching, and strangling a Cernovich lackey and then trying to strangle the cop himself!  This total fabrication fell apart when surveillance footage revealed that none of that had actually happened.

So what did the NYC DA’s office do?  Did they drop the charges and let David go back to living his life?  Oh hell no they did not.  Instead, they came up with “gang assault” charges – this basically means that any group of three or more people involved in a fight are legally responsible for each other’s actions, and it carries a steep mandatory minimum of 3.5 years.

Again, while there was a small scuffle at the event, David was in no way involved and this was another fabrication of charges against him.  But this time, facing 3.5 years and a lengthy & expensive court battle, David took a non-cooperating plea deal and an 18 month sentence in Rikers.

David has some thoughts about gang assault, the NYPD cop that assaulted & arrested him, and the justice system in general that are worth a read.  He states what is clear to anyone who examines this case: “I’m an antifascist, and I’m going to jail for it.”

David has a great support team in the world that have set up a site where you can find out how to write to him, visit him, send him books & packages, and make a donation to his commissary (basically the store inmates can purchase food, clothing, stamps, and other items from, which keeps an account for his inmate that their people can contribute to).  Speaking of that, we recently made sure that he had enough in his commissary to keep him as comfortable as possible for the next three months.

Fighting hate is not a crime.  Solidarity is our weapon.  If you agree, help us to support the Davids of the world by making a donation to the Defence Fund.

 

We have to apologize for the lack of updates over the last six weeks or so, but the month of October kept us much busier than we were expecting to be.  We received at least one new request for support from an anti-fascist in trouble every single week and this kept us hopping.  Since we’ve managed to find a spare minute, let’s tell you about what we got up to last month:

• In 2016 Antifascists headed to the Austrian-Italian border crossing at the Brenner Pass to protest Austria’s inhuman & xenophobic migration policies and were met with a battalion of well-armed riot cops who attacked them.  83 antifa were arrested: 5 were convicted of various charges, 13 have been acquitted of all charges, & 65 more are still waiting to go to trial.  We were contacted by friends of one of those awaiting trial and asked to help cover his legal defence costs.  Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we were able to cover the majority of the costs he’s facing (crowdfunder here in case you’d like to donate directly)!
• Last April, antifascists converged on Newnan, GA. to confront a nazi march through town.  The antifa were met by 400-800 heavily-armed kkkops that pointed assault rifles in their faces and tackled anyone wearing a mask.  When one antifa tried to speak to the cops and de-escalate a potentially lethal situation, she was body-slammed to the ground and arrested (some of you will recall that we were able to cover nearly half of her legal defense costs, again thanks to our donors).  A second defendant, charged with the crime of wearing a mask in public, is fighting the charge as far as possible in order to challenge the constitutionality of Georgia’s anti-mask ordinance.  We were happy to be able to pay for a big chunk of the fine he’s received so far & some of his lawyer bills (if you’d like to contribute directly, here’s his crowdfunder).
• Poland has been a flashpoint for violence against LGBTQ+ civil rights activists.  The governing political party is openly homophobic and the mayor of Lublin banned a Pride march this fall.  Queer people were not having it and went ahead with the march anyway, which led to attacks by far-right homophobes who blocked the march route and assaulted Pride marchers.  When two of our friends left the march, they were pursued by a pack of screaming homophobes who were threatening to kill them in the street.  When the homophobes charged, our friends gave them a blast of pepper spray and fought them off.  So of course the homophobes ran to the nearest police to play victim and now our friends are up on charges!  We’ve ensured that both our friends have competent legal representation to defend them against these fictitious charges and are looking forward to the good news of their acquittal when the whole mess goes to trial.
• Last but not least: Jock Palfreeman is a name familiar to many of you.  The Australian national was backpacking through Sofia, Bulgaria in 2007 when he witnessed a mob of bigots attacking two young Roma boys.  Jock stepped in to intervene and was set upon by the mob.  In the ensuing altercation, one of the attackers died of a stab wound, Jock was charged with the stabbing, and a sham trial led to a 20-year prison sentence for him.

  Since then, Jock has not only been a model prisoner, but has founded and run the Bulgarian Prisoners’ Association, which fights for the inalienable human rights of prisoners in Bulgaria.

  Last month and after serving 11 years in prison, Jock was suddenly and unexpectedly granted parole.  But before anyone could pop champagne corks, Bulgaria’s Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov intervened, seizing Jock’s passport, placing him essentially under house arrest, and demanding that the supreme court review the parole decision, .  This move was unprecedented, appears to have no basis in Bulgarian law, has been condemned as political interference in the judicial system, and was likely motivated by pressure by Bulgarian extreme-right groups.

  While Jock holds up in a safe house in Sofia awaiting the Bulgarian supreme court to decide his fate, we were able to provide an amount to make sure he’s taken care of (you can too via this crowdfunder).

All this supporting of anti-fascists costs money.  So far this year the Defence Fund has spent 25% more defending and supporting anti-fascists the world over than it did in all of 2018 and there are still two months left in 2019.  Where does this money come from?  100% of our funding comes from individual donors around the world.  So if you believe in the work we’re doing now would be a great time to show your support by making a donation.