Tuesday, August 31, 2021

This Week in Fascism #118: Anti-Vaxx & Anti-Mask Movement Gets Violent; Communities Confront Proud Boys; Anti-Immigrant Trump Supporter Threatens DC with Bomb

Welcome fellow antifascists!

We’re back again with another action packed column. We bring you antifascist campaign reports from up and down the west coast and beyond, a roundup of news, analysis, and also a look at how the anti-vaxx and anti-mask movement is accelerating into violence. Plus, new doxxes, a call to action in Eugene, Oregon, and so much more!

There’s a lot to cover, so let’s dive right in!

Action

Hundreds of Antifacsists Hold Downtown Portland, Confront and Push Out Proud Boy Demo & Far-Right Gunman

Hundreds of antifascists mobilized in Portland, Oregon last weekend against a far-Right rally that attracted Proud Boys and other neo-fascist gangs. At the last minute, the fash moved the event several miles from the downtown core to the parking lot of an abandoned KMart in the working-class Parkrose district.

Left Coast Right Watch reported:

The rally was organized initially by Audra Price, a local neoNazi who was a leader in a group called ‘COPS NW.’ She called the rally “United We Win” and gave the time and place as 2pm at Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

“The cleansing will begin Aug 22. Time to finish what was started so long ago. Inside of every libtard in Portland there is a Patriot begging to get out,” David Willis, a local street brawler who claims to be a former East Side White Pride member replied to Price’s Facebook post.

“to [sic] bad self sefense is illegal for Patriots. Bullets are better than paint balls,” Matthew Wall replied below Willis’s comment. Paintball guns and regular guns have become regular fixtures at these events.

Like Patriot Prayer, ‘COPS NW’ is a loose collection of Pacific Northwest fascists who throw hate rallies and target marginalized people for violence and harassment. Price’s current boyfriend is neo-Nazi Eric Oelkers, who stans Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph. Another COPS NW member, Tim Ryerson, was arrested on pedophilia charges after violating a five year old.

Pretty quickly, antifascists recognized this would be a major incursion into the city and talks about mobilizing a counter-protest began. As it became clear that antifascists would show up in numbers, the fascists began backpedaling and rebranding their event. They replaced the menacing monotone grey and red “United We Win” flyer with faux-hippie imagery and renamed the event “Summer of Love.”

[Haley] Adams and Audra Price had been feuding before the start of the rally and people speculated that Price and the street brawlers loyal to her might still show up downtown while Adams was off with a small group elsewhere doing some pathetic flag-wave. The consensus among anti-racist counter-protestors before the fascists announced their new location was to stay put at the Waterfront Park as originally planned.

Despite a predictable boomer energy attempt by Ted “I Need a Drink” Wheeler to encourage people to stay in their homes and attempts by police to scare people off the streets by announcing ahead of time they would do nothing in the face of violence from the far-Right, hundreds of antifascists still converged in the downtown for a mass rally. While the mass rally was setting up barricades in the downtown in case fascists made an attempt to crash the party, one group decided to march on the area where the Proud Boys were located, reportedly after hearing reports of people being harassed and accosted by the Proud Boys at or outside their rally.

From Left Coast Right Watch:

“On the day of the Proud Boys rally, there was a Quinceñera taking place a block away at Rossi Farms and Muslim families gathering for an event at the Rusellville Grange Hall a block in another direction. The chosen location for this PB event felt like a slap in the face to our entire community and, honestly, not coincidental,” Parkrose Mom told me. “When I decided to show up at the event, it was to stand not only in opposition to the Proud Boys, but also in solidarity with Parkrose families,” she added.

[She went on to state:] “Around 3:30 things started heating up. Some journalists came over to where we were and started asking us questions about what brought us out that day. At the same time, the PB crew started surrounding a Jeep that was parked at the edge of the lot. There was a local reverend in the car who was observing and occasionally recording himself talking about what was happening at the event. More folks started to surround his car, getting closer, calling him a faggot.”

“Right after that, I think some of those PBs recognized some of the journalists that were up talking to us and they came up and surrounded us, some of them shoving their own cameras and mics in our faces, trying to bait us into arguments about antifa. A truck pulled in and blocked one of the lanes of NE 122nd (a pretty busy 4 lane street) and asked if we were ok. From there more folks spilled out of the parking lot and into the road. I felt very unsafe, so I squeezed out of the group and just started walking home (getting taunted along the way the PB lining the street calling out my sweatshirt). I went across the street, cut through Parkrose High school and took off my sweatshirt/mask/glasses so I wouldn’t be as noticeable. I just walked home as fast as I could. I didn’t observe anything after this point, but from what I understand the altercations started very shortly after this.”

What followed was a running street battle, with antifascists attempting to push the Proud Boys off the streets and Proud Boys responding by destroying several vehicles belonging to counter-protesters and savagely attacking several people. Eventually the clashes ended, and the Proud Boys loaded into trucks and drunkenly drove away to Vancouver, Washington.

As Shane Burley reported in TruthOut:

For the first part of the antifascist counter-demonstration, there was a carnivalesque feeling of jubilation. Free pizza was distributed by mutual aid groups. Interfaith Clergy Resistance, wearing their recognizable purple vests, provided a progressive religious presence. The Proud Boys held their speeches across town at an event hosted by Proud Boys PDX and featured members from across Oregon, California, New York and Boston. They had armed teams patrolling their area, harassing the few journalists and demonstrators who showed up to their location.

“[Today] was 100% a victory. The community came together and showed up for each other and their neighbors. The far right did their math, saw the widespread opposition in Portland, and decided they would rather go stand in an abandoned K-mart parking lot, miles away,” Larry told Truthout. “Portland kept them out of downtown and kept each other safe.”

Later in the day, as antifascists were attempting to push out one counter-protester from the downtown, he responded by opening fire on the antifascist crowd; who then in turn opened fire back, although no one was injured. The man was then arrested by police.

As Left Coast Right Watch reported:

The gunfight started apparently after a man called Dennis G. Anderson got in a verbal altercation with some protesters. Some on the ground said he’d shouted an anti-black slur at a group of protesters. He was arraigned on unlawful use of a weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm. He plead not guilty on Monday after paying $750 in bail.

Both the Daily Kos , Idavox and Rose City Counter-Info have several reports up, which we encourage people to read. While we leave it to those who were on the ground to make critiques, what can be said is the facts: hundreds of antifascists and anti-racists held several blocks in Downtown Portland and their larger numbers forced the far-Right to fall back to a new location. While the later clashes were bloody and costly, they also ultimately forced the MAGA supporters to leave.

As the person driving the van which was toppled by the Proud Boys later told Left Coast Right Watch:

I felt that the move to Parkrose was not planned or carried out well and was not a good move the way it was handled. I didn’t endorse the move, but as I was fairly certain there were no support vehicles going I also felt like it was important that I go to fill that role.

I think we had won a victory chasing the fash out of downtown simply by having our event. I think they looked like clowns having their shitshow circus in an abandoned parking lot. I think they would have likely gotten more belligerent and foolish as the day went out and would have left that parking lot on their own where we could have resisted them more effectively.

That said, I am so proud of my comrades for standing against fascists, regardless of my opinion on the strategy, and I’m more grateful than I know how to express for those who helped me and got me to safety. But I think there are lessons we need to learn from Sunday.

Media coverage has predictably focused on the fact that the police took a hands off approach, but this has been their MO for years. As Pop Mob pointed out, the difference this time was simply that no antifascists were hurt by the police directly.

This seems to be a strategy by the police both to use the far-Right to attack the antifascists but also to make the public “want” the police again. Antifascists and anarchists should think hard about how to maneuver and act within this reality, so that our actions against the far-Right do not end up solidifying support for the State which is using them as deputized vigilantes.

Antifascist Film Festival a Success in New York

On August 20th – 22nd, there was an antifascist film festival held in New York which was a great success. Be sure to check out our interview with Daryl Lamont Jenkins on This Is America about the event and other antifascist happenings.

Far-Right Church With Ties to Proud Boys a No-Show in Salem, Oregon

Antifascists in Central Oregon report:

[T]he Far-right group, “The Church At Planned Parenthood” tried and failed to hold a rally in Bend. They bailed on their own event when faced with a counter-protest.

Violent “Rooftop Korean” Fascist Tony Moon’s Sidewalk and Car Vandalized

According to posts on Twitter, the car and sidewalk in front of the home of Tony Moon, aka “Rooftop Korean,” was recently vandalized. Moon has been a mainstay at recent far-Right rallies in the Southern California area and also took part in the storming of the US Capitol on January 6th. In July and August Moon was caught on camera taking part in various brutal assaults of antifascists and journalists. On August 26th, Moon also attempted to intimidate a journalist by showing up at their home, but left after being confronted by neighbors.

Modesto Community Holds Pro-LGBTQ & Antifascist Rally Against Proud Boys

Over 100 people rallied in a park in Modesto, California against the third annual, “Straight Pride” protest, organized by a coalition of Christian white nationalists, Proud Boys and other far-Right formations. According to one report, two Proud Boys came into the park where the counter-rally was being held and put up a banner of their own, only to be surrounded by black bloc and ultimately pushed out of the area after their banner was taken.

After the pro-LGBTQ rally was over, a smaller group of counter-protesters attempted to offer support to a half dozen people holding pro-LGBTQ signs, about a mile away, standing across the street from the Planned Parenthood. When the other counter-protesters showed up, they were attacked by Proud Boys almost immanently; causing riot police to shut down the event, arresting two Proud Boys in the process. Among those arrested was Jeffery Perrine, famous for being kicked out of the local GOP for calling for the murder of migrants.

News

Anti-Vaxxers & Anti-Mask Protesters Get Violent & Push for Authoritarian Measures

Far-Right rhetoric around overthrowing local schools boards and “civil war” has gained traction in growing anti-vax and anti-mask circles across the US. In Los Angeles, California, anti-vaxxers visited the home of the LA City Council President after calling for “Civil war!,” at a recent rally. In Pennsylvania, a Republican nominee Steve Lynch, called for:

Forget going into these school boards with freaking data. You go in to these school boards to remove them. I’m going in with 20 strong men and I’m gonna give them an option – they can leave or they can be removed. Men, where are you? Men. Wake up, smell the coffee. Let’s go. Make men great again. Make men men again. Men, men. Let’s go, men, I need you. I need you in the coming weeks because when we walk into those school boards, we’re gonna have everything we need to do to go in there with those 9-0 school boards that voted to put these masks back on the children with no scientific – it’s done.

In Northern California, a man punched a teacher at an elementary school over masks, in Texas a teacher’s mask was ripped off their face, and in Florida, a 50 year-old man was arrested for child abuse, after pushing a student and twisting her arm during an anti-mask protest as students at the school chanted, “Wear a mask! Wear a mask!”

As the Associated Press wrote:

School board members, county commissioners, doctors and local leaders are regularly confronted at meetings and in public with angry taunts that compare them to the Taliban, Nazis, Marxists and the leaders of Japanese internment camps.

Across the country, anti-vaccine and anti-mask demonstrations are taking scary and violent turns, and educators, medical professionals and public figures have been stunned at the level at which they have been vilified for even stating their opinion. And they have been terrified over how far protesters will go in confronting leaders outside their homes and in their workplaces.

Since Hawaii announced a mandate earlier this month that state and county workers would have to show proof of vaccination or face weekly tests, 50 to 100 unmasked vaccine opponents have gathered almost nightly outside the downtown Honolulu condominium building where Lt. Gov. Josh Green lives with his wife and two children, ages 14 and 10.

Some yell into bullhorns and shine strobe lights into apartment units, Green said. Flyers with his photo and the words “Jew” and “fraud” have been plastered around the neighborhood. Green, who is Jewish, has been tearing them down and turning them over to the state attorney general’s office.

In Kansas, commissioners in Douglas County in the Lawrence area were confronted with an angry, mostly unmasked crowd Wednesday before they mandated indoor public masks for 2- to- 12-year-olds who are too young to be vaccinated. During four hours of public comment, opponents invoked the Holocaust, the Taliban and Japanese internment camps.

Like previous waves of manufactured outrage which have been fueled by corporate giants like Fox and online disinformation campaigns, the current wave of anti-mask and anti-vaxx anger is aimed broadly at liberal elites and centered in white victimization that sees the wearing of masks or vaccine mandates the same as mass genocide, forced displacement, or mass incarceration.

It seeks to both blame the pandemic on “immigrants” and the Other, while questioning “science” and liberal orthodoxy, claiming that extra-judicial violence is needed to return society to its supposed traditional glory. This fascist streak is growing, uniting both the MAGA base and an undercurrent of far-Right groups. At the same time, the capitalist class is only happy to sit back and let these currents grow, as they only help to push students back to school and workers back to work.

Trump Supporter Arrested in DC After Threatening to Explode Truck Bomb

On August 19th, a Trump supporter, Floyd Ray Roseberry, parked his truck in front of the Library of Congress in DC, told police that he had a bomb in his vehicle and began to live-stream, claiming that other “patriots” were also going to be taking action alongside him. Roseberry was quickly arrested, but not before launching into a massive rant on Facebook live. Roseberry expressed anti-immigrant sentiments and claimed that refugees from Afghanistan were getting “free health-care,” while other people were not.

From Heavy:

In one of his live stream videos, Roseberry said, “the South is coming for you.” He is a Trump voter, who voted for the first time in his life for the former president, his wife told NBC Washington’s Tom Lynch.

“They keep allowing these illegal Mexicans in here,” he said in one video. “All these illegal immigrants from Afghanistan. You don’t have free health care for us. You’re f***ing giving it to them. Joe Biden, the South is fed up. And it isn’t because we don’t love everybody. My heart goes out to everybody even animals. When I run over a rabbit, I have to go back and throw it out of the road to make sure it doesn’t get run over again. I deer hunt…I’ve always been taught. You don’t kill nothing you don’t eat.” He lamented a lack of health insurance. He said superstar athletes could get healthcare, but he couldn’t get shots for his back.

George State Senator to Speak Alongside Racist and Rape Apologist Troll, Roosh V

Atlanta Antifascists report:

Daryush “Roosh” Valizadeh, a notorious far-Right antisemite, misogynist, and rape apologist, is a featured speaker at the upcoming “Faith and Freedom Men’s Conference” organized by Christian Veterans United. The conference is scheduled to take place on September 10th and 11th, in or near metro Atlanta. Two venues, Peachtree Road United Methodist Church in Buckhead and the First Baptist Church in Woodstock, have so far canceled use of their spaces after learning of the event’s true nature. Organizers are vowing to go ahead with the event but have not publicly announced their new venue.

As well as Valizadeh, the Christian Veterans United website lists Jesse Lee Peterson, a rightwing commentator who bemoans women’s suffrage, and Bruce Thompson, Georgia State Senator representing District 14, as event speakers. By appearing alongside Valizadeh, perhaps the world’s most notorious women-hating propagandist, State Senator Thompson would normalize Jew-hatred and violence against women.

For more information including action items, go here.

Pro-Police Group “The Watchmen” Exposed by Dirty South Right Watch

Dirty South Right Watch has uncovered a group of violent vigilante’s based out of Gastonia, North Carolina. They call themselves The Watchmen and are described as “pro-police, auxiliary-fantasy group.” The group has two chapters, one in New York and the other in North Carolina and are led by a man named David Horton who lives in Gastonia.

The group formed in the summer of 2020 in response to the George Floyd uprising and has organized and documented events from “Back the Blue” rallies, fallen officer memorials, protests against the teaching of critical race theory, antimask rallies and more. They organize across multiple platforms including Youtube and Mewe. The Mewe chat hosts everything from conspiracy theories, hostility toward CRT, and QAnon propaganda as well as deeply hateful transphobic and anti-queer content. Head over to the blog for details about individual members, more on their events, and examples of the content they share and consume.

Proud Boy Pleads Guilty as Enrique Tarrio Gets a Few Months of Jail Time

From New York Times:

A New York man who supported the far-right Proud Boys group pleaded guilty on Monday to threatening to kill Raphael Warnock, a newly elected senator from Georgia, before and during the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol.

The man, Eduard Florea, 41, of Queens, pleaded guilty to posting violent threats against Mr. Warnock, who had just won a runoff election in Georgia for the Senate and was later sworn in on Jan. 20. “Warnock is going to have a hard time casting votes for communist policies when he’s swinging with the fish,” Mr. Florea posted online on Jan. 5, using an expletive before fish.

Mr. Florea also pleaded guilty in Federal District Court in Brooklyn to a weapons offense after federal agents discovered a vast arsenal in his New York City home in January, including more than 1,000 rounds of rifle ammunition that he unlawfully possessed because of a prior felony conviction, prosecutors said in a news release.

Meanwhile, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 5 months in jail for setting fire to a Black Lives Matter banner stolen from a historically Black church in Washington DC last December.

MAGA Supporters Turn on Afghan Refugees Almost Immediately Following the Taliban Takeover

In the wake of the departure of US troops from Afghanistan and the subsequent takeover of the Taliban, the GOP and MAGA supporters are leaning hard into their Islamophobia by taking a firm stance against a perceived flood of Afghan refugees. Right-wing media outlets Fox News and Newsmax have provided platforms for right-wing supporters to project their hatred of Afghan refugees who may seek refuge here in the so-called United States.

The Daily Beast reports that Newsmax host and former Trump 2020 adviser Steve Cortes tweeted, “Not one Afghan should be coming to America. They should stay in [the] region. We have bases in Iraq and supposed allies in the Gulf — time for UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, [and] Israel to all step up.”

From The Daily Beast:

In Congress, House Republicans like Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) called reports of Afghans heading to the U.S. as “disturbing” and warned against “releasing tens of 1000’s of Afghans into our communities.” Montana’s Republican congressman Matt Rosendale warned that the Taliban’s takeover in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal was “not an excuse to flood our country with refugees from Afghanistan.” Mary Miller, a freshman congresswoman from Illinois, let her priorities be known on Twitter. “Refugees must be vetted. Keep America safe!”

Other’s coded their bigotry and disdain for immigrants under the guise of suggesting Afghan immigrants would be happier seeking refuge in places geographically closer to Afghanistan. One such suggestion came from Richard Spencer’s former college buddy and ex-Trump policy advisor Stephen Miller, who tweeted, “Humane refugee policy emphasizes relocation as close to home as possible, maximizing finite resources and enabling possible return when conditions allow.” The Daily Beast spoke with refugee advocates who pointed out that the proposal that countries close to Afghanistan should take on the responsibility of the current refugee crisis completely ignores the destabilization of the entire region that the United States should be accountable for.

Four Neo-Nazis Charged with Conspiracy to Damage Power Grid

Four neo-Nazis who met on the defunct web forum Iron March have been formally charged with conspiracy to damage a power grid according to Newsweek. As we’ve previously reported, Paul James Kryscuk, Liam Collins, Jordan Duncan, and Joseph Maurino, met on the Iron March forum where they fantasized and planned in great detail, to blow up a power grid. Duncan and Collins are former Marines (active at the time) who stole military gear as well as access to military libraries in order to formulate their plan. They used the stolen military resources to familiarize themselves with firearms, explosives and nerve toxins.

The men discussed and directed the others to each purchase 50 lbs of tannerite, an explosive they’d then use to create thermite. Additionally, Kryscuk was also manufacturing “ghost guns” and silencers which had no serial numbers and were virtually untraceable. Newsweek reports:

Collins, Duncan, Kryscuk and Maurino could each face up to 40 years in prison if convicted of the charges announced Friday. Kryscuk and Collins could each face another 20 years if convicted of their previous charges, while Duncan could face an additional five years.

Check out the article for the full story.

Pro-Life Whistleblower Site Run By Christian Fundamentalists Encourages Snitching of Those Violating Oppressive Texas Abortion Laws

A website launched last month by right-wing Christian anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life, is urging it’s supporters to snitch on abortion providers, those seeking or obtaining abortions and their supporters. The website’s launch comes on the heels of new Texas legislation that effectively bans abortions in the state after six weeks, including in cases of rape and incest. Vice reports:

Under the new law, not only could abortion providers face ruinous lawsuits, but so could individuals who help pay for abortions or even drive patients to the clinic. More specifically, anyone who’s found to have “knowingly engages in conduct that aids or abets the performance or inducement of an abortion” against the Texas law could be liable, per the legislation. Abortions are permitted, however, in the event of a medical emergency.

Texas Right to Life has been on the front lines of anti-abortion activism in recent years. In addition to the website, they have also run Christian training camps for young anti-abortion activists. Check out the Vice article for more information on the legislation.

​​​​​​​Doxxes

Kenneth Mitchell Newberry, Identity Dixie Member of Doerun, Georgia

Sherman Marching comes to us this week with information about another neo-Confederate member of Identity Dixie. Kenneth Newberry of Doerun, GA. He is a part of Georgia chapter’s leadership, the, “Silvern Circle.” Kenneth has documented history of attending fascist events and posting neo-Nazi content online. He works at CNSNext, an internet provider in Georgia. Contact details for them are in the linked thread.

Joseph Maness, Proud Boy of Greensboro, North Carolina

Joseph Maness is a Proud Boy hacker hailing from Greensboro, NC. He was exposed by Camas Defense Alliance for posting in Proud Boy chats and making public claims of illegal hacking. He is the proprietor of Triad Computer Works in Greensboro. Consider leaving his company a review to let potential customers know about his sketchy activity.

Brock Sutton Allen, Deseret Nationalist of Logan, Utah

Karma161 exposed Kabeia Rineaki aka Brock Allen Sutton from Logan, UT as a member for the Deznat movement. The Deznat is a radical far-Right sect of Mormonism that advocates for total theocracy in the region they call, “Deseret.” Rineaki has an extensive history of posting homophobic and anti-Semetic content online and coordinating with others in the DezNat movement. A list of accounts to report can be found in the link.

Nathan and Madeline Jones, Deseret Nationalists of Roswell, NM

More Deseret dorks have been outed by Expose DezNat on Twitter. Nathan and Madeline Jones of Roswell, NM are neo-Nazis involved with the Deseret Nationalist movement. The pair both praise Hitler and use overt Nazi iconography in online propagandizing. There are numerous calls to action at the bottom of the linked thread. Please consider taking some time to do them.

William Condie, Iron March User of Ontario, Canada

In news that should surprise absolutely no one, another Nazi has been found operating in the Canadian Military. William Condie aka KanadianKommando was a poster on the IronMarch forums, the website that spawned Atomwaffen and other neo-Nazi terror groups. After being exposed, Condie has publicly recounted his racist views, but the history of Nazis organizing within the Canadian Armed Forces remains deeply concerning.

Amanda Gelpi, Anti-Mask organizer of Miami, Florida

Amanda Gelphi is an anti-mask organizer who has gained a small degree of prominence in Miami for harassing school boards and other public institutions. Miami Against Fascism has exposed her in a secret collaboration with Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio. She has recently started hosting a podcast secretly directed by Tarrio, and has made posts advocating for the group.

Call to Action

The far-Right, “Church at Planned Parenthood” is planning a rally on September 4th at Planned Parenthood in Eugene, Oregon. Currently there is a call to mobilize against the rally at 1pm at 793 Danebo Ave.

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