Clark County Antifascism

July 12, 2018

Kill Conditions: Thoughts on J30’s Confiscations

At J30 in Portland, shit got heavy quick. A riot was declared almost immediately after their “march” started, which amounted to an immediate human phalanx of Proud Boys charging, attacking, and violently assaulting folks. It’s probably where you’ve seen the recent viral “meme” of Ethan Nordean punching a person in the face, as they carried a baton to defend themselves from an onslaught of violent, and rabid, and rioting fascists.

It’s also where Portland Police set up a search checkpoint at the ENTRANCE to Patriot Prayer’s event. Considering it was on federal grounds, all people entering Patriot Prayer’s rally were subject to a search by DHS. That’s where this photo comes from.

Considering no anti-fascist was willing to be frisked by cops, nor would entering their rally serve any positive purpose, and considering the idea that the park itself is a sunken pit, completely barricaded off, and full of fascists chomping at the bit to get physical and violent with quite literally anybody not on their side, it’s safe to say that most, if not all of these items were confiscated from individuals entering Patriot Prayer’s event. There were very few anti-fascists in or around that area where searches were being conducted. Plenty of media, however.

Take note of the loaded magazines, confiscated, in those photos. Based on the shape of the magazine, and the black plastic parts around the bottoms of the magazines, it’s easy to identify that the magazines themselves came from a Springfield XDS Series handgun. The XDS series of handguns has been a popular choice for personal, as well as home defense, largely due to the fact that it’s very small, sporting only a 3.3″ barrel, and the grip is shorter. The reason magazines come with those parts, is allow the shooter to have some extra space to hold onto the grip. This handgun is meant to be concealed on your person. It’s compact enough to be low-profile, even more so with the magazine out of the gun, itself.

So, we come to a question. How come ammo was confiscated, but there are no photos of handguns confiscated, that fit these magazines? Surely nobody simply willingly carries loaded magazines on them without a firearm, right? Especially attending a rally, in a Metropolitan area, on federal grounds, directly in the middle of an area swarmed with police of various agencies?

There’s a few theories about this:

Theory A: The cops know how these people feel about the idea of anyone else that isn’t themselves, close friends, or their family touching, using, or physically handling their personal firearms. They’re not entirely willing to make a gigantic stink about it, so they’ll confiscate as much as they possibly can, without removing the *actual firearm,* as to avoid a major conflict with Patriot Prayer. Maybe the person(s) that had these loaded magazines confiscated was then told to either exit the park, the rally location, or leave the the general area. Maybe they were still allowed into the rally.

Theory B: The cops withheld the images of confiscated firearms from this specific published photo set, potentially. Knowing the growing political heat of this situation not only citywide, but statewide, nationwide, and to a degree, worldwide, it’s possible that the cops conveniently did not include photographs of firearms in this, because they would feel that it might spark an escalation of the violence during these occurrences, if the general public knew that these men were for sure, carrying concealed and loaded firearms, while assaulting protestors. Given the Second Amendment nature of most if not all cops, they might feel that this would give “The Gun-grabbers” more ammo. No pun intended.

Theory C: The gun was never there, at least not on the person the magazines were confiscated from. Just the same way the PDX Stormers/LARPers were carrying shields, outside of the event, and then told to lose them or leave the city, there could’ve been a second or third person carrying the gun, milling around nearby, avoiding police. Or, it could’ve been stashed away somewhere nearby, potentially guarded by someone on watch. Think for a moment: Would it make sense for someone to leave their gun in their car, but bring their ammo? At that rate, if they were say followed to their vehicle, and felt the need to try to open fire, it’d make MORE sense for them to keep the gun and ammo in the car, because at that rate, they could already keep it loaded.

Theory D: It was an honest mistake. However, we seriously doubt that.

There’s chunks of this story that are missing, and all of these theories are viable – one of them happened. Regardless of which theory occurred, one thing is for certain: these people are bringing firearms to events in Portland. We know they do it all the time in Washington, at conflicts such as Patriot Prayer’s continued harassment of Planned Parenthood, their open-carry events in Seattle, and at a variety of events that occur in places dotting the I-5 corridor, and scattered across northern Washington. Their carrying of weapons is nothing new to any of us. Some of us have been chest-to-blade with these people.

Anti-fascism and guns don’t mix. At least, not in any offensive, in-person-at-rally setting. The evidence that these magazines belong to a Patriot Prayer member is overwhelming. You’d have a far better chance finding a Snickers bar at Whole Foods, than you’d ever have finding an anti-fascist carrying an operable, loaded firearm to a protest, or any type of lethal projectile weapon. While anti-fascist groups such as the John Brown Gun Club, Redneck Revolt, and Socialist Rifle Association put an emphasis on responsible gun ownership, teaching people how to react to, understand, and feel safe around firearms of all types, and have at times legally and safely open-carried firearms well within their constitutional rights at events where other anti-fascists were present, the idea that any anti-fascist would ever conceal a loaded firearm, and at that, walk directly into a search and seizure checkpoint defending 150 proven violent Fascists, Nationalists, White Supremacists, Neo-Nazis, Ethnonationalists, whatever you may call them – is incredibly unlikely, so much to the degree that the thought of it is essentially arbitrary.

We’re strong believers in the idea of arming yourself with knowledge. The current effort to starve and destroy the flow of Fascism in the United States is a battle hardly fought by melee – though it may seem otherwise. It’s fought with information, acts of intelligence gathering, deployment of counter-intelligence systems, platforms, and ideas. Hell, why do you think after a few months of standing up to defend our communities, you tend to wind up with stacks of zines, so many that you don’t know what to do with? It’s because we wish to inform the public about our intentions. We care about people. We want them to know everything. We want them to be safe, and to understand what to do in the event of a crisis. We understand people. If you were on the opposite side of the conflict, you’d more than likely find little to no support, as most of these Conservative and right-wing “activists” believe that when someone makes a decision to do something violent, that they’ll have to live with their decisions. These ideas are driven home and engranied into these people’s brains, because of their hero complex. The idea that they demand power, they want to be seen as “shepherds,” because they believe that we’re sheep. They reach deeply for power, believing that it brings them honor based on courage – and meritocracy. They want to be put in settings where a hard decision has to be made – and while they’d like the public to believe that the decision to take someone’s life is monumentally tough – we all know the truth – for them, it’s not. They want to kill you. They want to shoot you. They’re just waiting for the right conditions. That could be a day where laws become so lax against firearm usage in self-defense situations, that it creates an even shallower threshold for how easy it is for these people to get away with killing you. That could be a day where the existing remnants of McCarthyism in the state weave a net based on fake evidence, fear, terror, us-vs-them-ism, alarmism, fascism, and nationalism set the stage for these people to attempt to take lives as they please, in order to “preserve” their “way of life.” Killing conditions set by these people, and the state, in conjunction with fear and the concepts of self-preservation could spell the ends of lives for many innocent people that simply are no longer willing to submit to the bullshit of nationalism, and the rampant toxicities of capitalism.

What can we do about it?

We have to learn, and train. Anti-fascists bring a wide array of skills to any given table, because we truly are working-class folk. Unlike right-wingers, who, while also filling a variety of roles, tend to only fall into a select few skill-based categories, because of such an ideology being passed between friends and families traditionally. Listen to your father, do well in school, toe the line, don’t act out. He won’t pay for you to go to College unless you take up what he either wants you to, due to money, or maybe he wants you to follow in his footsteps – do just as he did. Or maybe, it’s something he failed at himself, and now wishes to live vicariously through either your failures or successes. Join the military, because it’s what your family did. Traditionalism breeds uniformity in human tendencies. The same way eugenics, and ethnonationalism breeds uniformity in humans, period – all of these concepts go hand in hand.

What resources do we have?

Plenty. Many of us bring different skills, to the table. Some of us are certified medics, first response, crisis response, veterans, responsible firearm owners, educators, too.
You can tell that we, as a collective group, extending beyond CCA, are far better trained in helping each other out, than others. First-hand accounts exist of reporters, photographers, and bystanders getting caught in the cross-spray of mace and pepper spray, running to the Fascist crowds so their medics can help them, only to be given ineffective care. Then, they run to the crowd of anti-fascists, and receive far better, helpful, and comprehensive care. Such a phenomenon was documented firsthand by Mike Bivins, a freelance photographer that documents protests in Portland closely, and very often. We function more efficiently, and far more skilled, than a fascist medic ever could. And it’s highly important that we continue this practice, or else the cops’ weaponized “medics,” who are just cops with medical patches on, will rush to go “assist” an anti-fascist with their injuries or wounds, only to immediately arrest and detain them the moment they’ve “rendered aid.”

Here’s some literature.

http://www.shastadefense.com/IS0871-CALMS.pdf

While this is a very long-winded, and also a military document, this is the self-study book given to soldiers that take Combat Life Saver (CLS) courses, for a certification. This is meant to teach someone with no medical experience whatsoever, how to render aid in a time and place where proper medical assistance may not be available, or viable for the situation. It has some good points in it. If things get to the degree where bullets need to be removed from our friends, you’d more than likely want to remember what’s in this book, or what other medics may have told you. It also holds useful information that is worth knowing for a whole range of topics, from burns, to broken bones, to bullet wounds.

Stay safe, and stay vigilant, because as we all know:

There’s no discharge, in the class war!

In Solidarity,

Clark County 161

ClarkCounty161 [at ] riseup.net
http://www.twitter.com/ClarkCounty161
http://www.instagram.com/ClarkCounty161

We go by ClarkCounty161 on all mediums. If you find an account that doesn’t use that name scheme, or claims to be an anti-fascist group in the same named geographic region, chances are it isn’t us.

June 21, 2018

JUST DO IT

If you are looking for a sign, this is it. This is where the crazy roller coaster we have all been on starts flying up in preparation of even crazier twists and loops. Not only are we all enduring the normalized madness of the Trump regime; it has turned up to 11. Children are being pulled away from their families; and placed into warehouses where they are starved, drugged, and robbed of their dignity. Their suffering is transformed into massive amounts of wealth for corporations that weaseled their way into lucrative contracts. Someone has to sell the government the infant formula to allegedly feed the babies that were snatched away from their mothers. Someone is leasing the buildings these children are being inhumanely detained at, and lining their pockets with profit caused by owning square footage where torture occurs.
Image result for child detained ICE

Theintercept.com

It will only get worse from here. People of nearly every political stripe have been screaming that the U.S. will build concentration camps and America will go the way of Nazi Germany. And look where we have arrived! We are on the same path as Nazi Germany, this is an indisputable fact now. We still have the option to turn around and reach a different destination though. But will YOU take the wheel? That is absolutely right, it is up to every single last one of YOUS to turn the tide of history. And do it now and do it as hard as you possibly can.

The protests of the past few months must escalate as the violence the state inflicts on us all escalates. Debating the other side and appeals to reason are becoming more and more ineffective as the gluttons feeding off the trough of the prison-industrial complex insist on gorging themselves on more wealth. Enough is enough, feeding time is over for the pigs. Cut off their supply at the source: Occupy.

OccupyICE PDX has been a roaring success. In less than a week, residents of the area shut down an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement office by force. It was not that difficult either. One night, less than 1% of the population of Portland made signs, set up tents and taped the doors to the ICE Office shut. Police came to escort the employees out, and after they had vacated, the activists simply built up the barricades further. Then it all stopped. One small thread in the rope choking all of us snapped. Now it is up to all of YOUS to make the rest of the threads snap and end the stranglehold ICE has on all human being. Become unmoveable, and ungovernable.

June 8, 2018

June 3rd, 2018 Reportback

Around midday on June 3rd, 2018; comrades of many stripes came to gather in Chapman Square. We made short work of adorning the park with banners and decorations, handmade by the skilled Antifascist artisans in the days prior. Signs proclaiming the “All Cats Are Beautiful”/ACAB and various other anti-police slogans. It was dry, but with the typical Cascadia grey veil of the clouds. Snacks and water were set out for attendees and anyone who happened to be hungry or thirsty.

An unnamed man, henceforth to be known as The Cop Respecter was quickly agitated at the banners displaying scorn for police brutality and oppression and responded by retrieving as many newspapers with photos of cops smiling as he could carry. The Cop Respecter stood across the street, loudly informing us that the cops were smiling in the pictures he found, which somehow made us in the wrong.

Our rejection of his beliefs caused him to become further agitated and began to yell even more about the smiling cops in his newspapers somehow absolving the police of criticism. As he was fuming and ranting about how we did not like the pictures of smiling cops, a group of young teenagers with skateboards passed by him on their way to vacate Terry Schrunk Plaza. His agitation turned into rage at the sight of young people enjoying their Sunday and he began to chase them, eventually grabbing one of their skateboards before being apprehended by the police.

More people gathered in Chapman Square, prompting the Portland police to raise their hackles and start to prowl around like a scavenging animal.

Two Portland police officers on their way to get heckled.

Eventually, a pair of them; armed and decked out in bulletproof vests underneath their shirts and shadowed by riot-ready police a few blocks away slunked into the plaza. Quickly they were met with a contingent, carrying the Anti-Nazi Cop Banner and chanting anti-police slogans such as “All Cops Are Bastards” (a classic). With an LRAD not too far behind them, the Portland police officers attempted to assure us that all they wanted was a peaceful demonstration and that they were there to “protect and serve”. When asked who and what they would protect and serve the police declined to answer, the scrutiny and loud criticism increased.

Here is a selection of some (not all), of the inspiring speeches that were given during the earlier part of the day:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hgadj24GA0]

Quance Haye’s Grandmother speaks about her experience of losing a loved one to police brutality, finding no solace from the system that murdered her grandson, and the warmth of comradeship.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoG2pw-JNZA]

Gregory McKelvey gave a speech centering around themes of left unity and encouraged us all to see past our minor differences.

As the speeches that were given began to wind down, we noticed Federal Police making some sort of attempt to fence off Terry Schrunk Plaza, where the Patriot Prayer “Freedom” walk was set to take place. It did not take much time or effort for the thin perforated sheets of orange plastic to be sabotaged and penetrated by activists. Nevertheless, the federal officers persisted; and continued to set up some very ineffective and permeable checkpoints for weapons. Riot cops had staged at various points throughout the surrounding neighborhood, hanging off of SUVs and vans marked “DHS”. Patriot Prayer crowd seems slim, at the most two dozen heads.

vlcsnap-2018-06-04-03h22m07s388 — A very permeable barrier and an even weaker showing from Patriot Prayer…

As their fortress was being walled in by thin orange plastic and a card table, some street preachers took a bold stand in the center of the snake pit. Donning their finest iron-on decorated homophobic shirts and boldest choices in Mad Max cosplay they valiantly stood against gravity, holding up a white supremacist flag.

Some of the few participants who came to Joey’s walk-a-thon.

Not long after, some elderly men shuffled in carrying toy cameras, wearing their finest patriotic themed costumes and sat down on the steps in Terry Schrunk Plaza.

Shortly after the “based grandpas” waddled in Patriot Prayer and some “Proud” Boys. Patriot Prayer claimed they would be there to celebrate John “Tiny” Toese’s supposed return to Samoa. Of course, Patriot Prayer is really just a front for the Proud Boys, a hyper-nationalist SPLC-certified right-wing hate group that has a documented history of unprovoked violence against anyone that disagrees with them, allegedly in the name of free speech. In fact, in order to advance in rank, the so-called ‘Proud Boys’ have to injure a “Liberal Antifa” protestor (which unfortunately in practice often turns out to be an innocent and uninvolved bystander), and anyone that isn’t a boot licking Trump fanatic. They can “Gain a rank” by stealing a protesters flag, or commit other sorts of transgressions against people or property. The entire organization implies violence, and this is the only language they speak; the ‘Proud Boys’ had come for a conversation.

peaceful protest my ass — Some of the members of Patriot Prayer who came to attend this allegedly peaceful march, one wearing a shirt that says “Just fight Me”, another person wearing disguises and a helmet with a Gadsden Flag sticker on it.

Andrew Arbow learning its much harder to be a tough guy in real life.

In even shorter measure, fistfights broke out. The earliest agitator was a local twitter nuisance who had finally consumed enough liquor to propel him out of his cave and into the blinding light filtering through the clouds. He would, later on, claim to be acting out a “character” (a la Alex Jones) called “Stoner Brony” that quite curiously resembled his actual personality. His strange quips about people grocery shopping habits and relationships to their parents cost him his hat, and the sight of his ballcap flying through the air was enough to fill him with impotent rage. Screeching out patriotic verses repeatedly, he charged into the bloc to retrieve his novelty ballcap and inflict as much damage to people as his skeletal arms could muster three times. Every single attempt was met with an even greater resistive force.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D5De4o9CCs]

Even more, people gathered in Chaman Square; including, a brass band providing bardic inspiration and other morale boosts. Across the street in Terry Schrunk Plaza; Patriot Prayer had amassed a small bit more than a dozen people, massively dwarfed by the much larger black bloc. Tiny arrived later on with notable child rapist Demetrius Cooper and various other violent and abusive men wearing varying degrees of dirt bike protection gear. In the background, the marching band played on underneath the grey veil coating the sky. Caleb “Sketti” Stephens showed up, his suit deformed by the airsoft vest worn underneath (and his soft, shitty body), but quickly had to leave, presumably due to the weapons ban in Terry Schrunk that Patriot Prayer failed to adhere to multiple times throughout the day.

Another fight broke out; when in true Nazi-sympathizing fashion, Patriot Prayer got upset enough at the banner denouncing Nazi Cop Mark Kruger they felt the need to steal it. Several bulky pseudo-goliaths, including Tiny Toese, converged on a few activists who were holding the sign and began an attempt to pummel them. While the antifascists did respond to this attack, it quickly became clear that Patriot Prayer seemed content to engage in friendly fire for a few moments. Tiny lay on the ground, surrounded by his friends and nearly got his own head bashed in. The Patriot Prayer member who stole the anti-Nazi banner out of disagreement with is attempted to use the dowel used to hold it as a weapon and jump back into the melee but was stopped by Portland Police. More antifascists than police and fascists combined quickly approached the police tape meant to serve as a barrier between federal and non-federal property. Upon realizing that they were

ppd gtfo fash — Tiny and his friends being initially denied re-entry to the Plaza after engaging in blatantly violent behavior.

dangerously outnumbered, Tiny and his friends tried to scramble back under the police tape, and due to the fact that they had just been blatantly engaging in the violent and illegal behavior (some of them using improvised weapons) and were trying to re-enter federal property; were kicked out of the park and back into the fray of antifascists defending their community. Mercifully, they were allowed back into the plaza after some time. Tiny complained about his perceived unfair treatment by the police (when in fact he was simply not receiving the preferential treatment he felt entitled to due to experiencing in the past) into a camera, tears of frustration and pepper spray streaking down his cheeks. He launched into an Alex-Jones style conspiracy rant, blaming the government and “higher-ups” of the Portland City government for the actions of activists who were largely anti-government.

In what seemed like years packed into a second, things changed. An alleged member of Oregon Patriot Response and definitely Patriot Prayer affiliated man and people who claim to be his family began the combat when he swung one of two bats he brought with him at the head of an unarmed antifascist while his daughters waddled across the grass in high heels. The rest of the antifascist contigent, and even some liberals jumped into action to respond to the attack on their comrade. The fascist was quickly doused in mace and scurried back to his friends to have 2% milk poured in his eyes, leaving his daughters and wife behind with the antifascists, who allowed them to leave.

This, however, was only the appetizer to a very long course of intense action and skirmishes for several hours, that would turn a few blocks of downtown Portland into something resembling a war zone. Patriot Prayer, proud boys, and other dogs of the same hide began to scream and wave their flags in impotent rage. A few antifascists crossed the street chuckling at the wailing vermin on the other block, and more followed behind them. This caused a great deal of panic and alarm for the vastly outnumbered and weaker Patriot Prayer/Proud Boy affiliated group. In their panic, they began to discharge fire extinguishers into a crowd of people.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2LDyFz0hU4]

Some pointless speeches and platitudes were given by mostly Tiny, who no one could hear because of our stereo system, brass and drum section, and chanting. Patriot Prayer decides to march. Riot cops block off the street immediately behind them, forcing the bloc to splinter.

Proudly waving their “Don’t Tread on Me” flag behind those who do the treading; right before the first attempt at marching started.

The majority of the group sticks together and decides to head down an adjacent street in the same direction to follow them. vlcsnap-2018-06-04-03h43m59s203 At certain points, there were construction areas where police couldn’t enter or have a viewpoint to observe. At this point, Patriot Prayer members attack protesters and attempt to threaten them with sticks, one of them swinging a motorcycle helmet after trying to corner a crowd they were vastly outnumbered by under some scaffolding, where they believed they would be free from cameras and consequences. A protester in a wheelchair is almost hit, and the Proud Boys continue their tradition of ganging up on singular people. This tactic continues to not work well for them.

After several more aborted attempts to start marching (during one a member of Patriot Prayer was taken into custody by Portland Police Bureau for carrying concealed

fas arrest — A Patriot Prayer member being detained by law enforcement for his noncompliance with the “No Weapons” rule.

weapons into Terry Schrunk Plaza) the Patriot Prayer/Proud Boy contingent began to march down 3rd avenue. After some time they managed to traverse an entire city block before they felt the need to assault a counterprotest. Two large men, one wielding a flagpole as a weapon, bore down on a smaller antifascist, grabbing them from behind by the neck and swinging them to the ground. Still being outnumbered, antifascists swarmed on the two men and bore down on the rest of the fascists, creating a human barrier from the altercation escalating further for the moment.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpqunEWz4YQ]

A man from the antifascist contingent jumped in front and yelled at right wingers, reminding them that it was not OK to touch people like that, using his body as a physical barrier to damage. Right wingers were inevitably pulled back, deploying bear spray as they retreated away.

The Patriot Prayer group had quite a taste that day for non-lethal deterrents intended for animals, and gorging themselves on the effects. Later on in the day, they would deploy more of it, this time at point blank range of several unaffiliated photographers.

bear spray on photographer — Member of the Patriot Prayer group spraying bear spray onto a group of unaffiliated photographers.

The cloud of gas quickly spread to engulf most of Terry Schrunk Plaza, as the sprayer did not account for the fact that in the outdoors, wind can blow things in unintended directions. Both sides were affected and retreated.

retreat video here

The antifascists backed off to Chapman Square, upwind of the fog of spray; while the fascists retreated back through the spray. Trained antifascist medics rapidly dispensed anti-irritants to those affected and offered other forms of first aid to those who had gotten scuffed. Thanks to their training, selflessness, and diligence the antifascists recuperated faster than the fascists and regrouped.

Patriot Prayer came equipped with bottles of milk, like the kind you would get from a gas station. As they had also been running back through the cloud of bear spray dispensed by one of their own, and using an entirely ineffective method of first aid rendered by untrained amateurs it took them longer to get back on their feet.

We return to the Terry Shrunk/Chapman Square blocks, with community protesters on Chapman side and right wingers on Shrunk. More yelling and jeering as more and more Proud Boys skitter off like roaches. Also like roaches, not all of them made it to their destinations unharmed.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHs04esVIjc]

The bloc circles around, outnumbering both cops and patriot prayer by an increasingly large amount. Rinse and repeat, the bloc escorted the right wingers through the city yelling insults and fending off attacks all the way. Cops occasionally step in and rough up a community member for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and drag them away.

The fascists get more and more nervous and start trying to slink away. The fight is dying down and Joey, Tiny, and all their friends are standing huddled in a corner of Terry Schrunk with their metaphorical tail between their legs. In a few moments though they would get a second wind, and tried to launch another assault that ended in a game of capture the flag. Again, Patriot Prayer was defeated.

Back at Shrunk/Chapman, cops are heavily staged at this point creating L shaped formations on streets across from the action, occasionally attempting to kettle protesters, who are always on the move, avoiding being flanked. Finally, as a last-ditch effort, Gibson and the Piss Boys make way towards toward the waterfront, in an attempt to bring their violence to the Portland City Fair, people in Patriot Prayer garb starting confrontations along the way in half-assed attempts at picking off the antifascists, who were continuing to increasingly outnumber them. They are confronted and shamed, as riot cops converge on the area to protect Patriot Prayer; again, at a cost to citizens of Portland.

Soon Joey had fewer and fewer buddies, and the anti-fascists were not shrinking in numbers. As you can see for yourself, Gibson became quite desperate

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpMd82_UpjI]

Gibson and his cronies were allowed to leave unharmed but visibly shaken. Again he was outnumbered, and his gang was bashed back. The antifascists filtered out through the fair without any further harm and made their ways back home, to ready themselves for the next encounter.

June 6, 2018

John “Tiny” Toelse – antagonist, the first punch, June 3rd

Below is a series of images and captions, in chronological order, that show Tiny, of Joey Gibson’s Patriot Prayer, antagonizing someone, shoving them, and throwing the first punch of the day, while being on the complete opposite end of the area where they were gathered. The area this took place in included bystanders, and a brass-band, where a child was present, well away from their “freedom rally.” All photos are captioned. Please follow left to right.

A large, slob of a man approaches a bystander, on the opposite side of Terry Schrunk, from where PP was, and confronts a man, in front of a Brass band.

An extra from The Chronicles of Riddick decides to post up in the middle of it, to attempt intimidate.

Mark McGuire’s fascist cousin shows up in a baseball helmet, complete with standard-issue “Don’t Tread on Me” sticker. Fuck Antifa guy #2 cracks his knuckles.

A man wearing a steel helmet follows Joey Gibson in tow, into the fray, right behind Tiny.

Tiny points into the pit of Terry Schrunk, as he approaches an individual standing by.

Joey Gibson in tow, Tiny moves up, and forcefully tries to walk into the person.

Tiny puts his hands out first, and shoves the person backwards, into a crowd of bystanders.

Tiny starts pushing the person back, into a banner. Joey still in tow.

Tiny cocks his right arm back, to punch.

Tiny throws a right-hook, throwing the first punch of the day.

He then throws the person backwards, pushing them to the ground.

June 6, 2018

Shining the Spotlight: Alexander Becker

On 04/x/18, a team of antifascist community members visited the neighborhood of self described Neo-Nazi Alexander Becker (Once known as ‘Mike Gainer’), and distributed numerous fliers warning the community of this threat. Becker is a well documented member of the SPLC designated hate group “The Daily Stormer”, an offshoot of the notable white supremacist forum “Stormfront.” As members of our community, we feel it’s our duty to draw attention to the existential threat brought on by white supremacist extremists. Other known members of the Stormfront community include Dylan Roof, who staged a mass shooting on a Congregation in an attempt to ignite a “race war”. This is the ultimate goal of white supremacists like Becker, as they seek to disrupt normal life, for the community, in exchange for acts of political violence, having been documented heavily in the past, and spreading of hateful propaganda.

The Alexander Beckers, Dylan Roofs and Jeremy Christians of the world cannot be ignored. These white supremacists must be seen as the existential threat that they pose to society which has an obligation to defend itself.

Below is a tag cloud for events documented by Rose City Antifa, explaining numerous instances of Becker’s actions.

https://rosecityantifa.org/tags/alexander-becker

January 20, 2018

January 20th, 2018 Reportback

Written and photographed by the collective force of @clarkcounty161 on Twitter.

A year ago the world was stunned, largely by the awful rupture of reality that was Donald Trump’s entrance into the oval office, much to the chagrin of his cohorts, a large majority of whom never expected him to actually win. Immediately following this, the world stood fast as we watched a massive spike in hate crimes, the eruption of neo-nazi, white supremacist, fascist, and (ethno)nationalist sentiment and action occur within our country. We lost years of progress as we watched the neo-gestapo, ICE, inject themselves into our communities, cities, and homes as they destroyed families, split relationships, arrested, detained, and deported many wonderful people across our collective community.

So, we responded as a collective. We’ve armed ourselves with the weapons and words of war needed to make a change. We took a stand — and we stood tall. We defended our communities by any means necessary. We disrupted, sabotaged, infiltrated, disbanded, and destroyed the enemies of our inclusive and progressive societies. We forced prominent members of the alt-right out of their homes and communities, just as they advocated to be done to innocent people. Some members even had to flee the country (shout out to ‘Millennial Matt’, of Allston, MA.)

January 20th, dubbed J20 large and wide, was a major 2017 landmark in the fight against the brutal, greedy, imperialist war machine of the United States, domestic and abroad. Partisans of all ideals took to the streets of DC and every major area across the nation to protest the incoming regime of fascism, bigotry, and hate that was dumped upon the shoulders of every person within our nation. Nearly 200 protesters were rounded up and arrested, being informally and unofficially detained in the streets in the freezing cold for hours without access to restrooms, food, and water — all because they were wearing black within the vicinity of a broken window.

*Photo of protesters and journalists scattering away from a chemical weapon deployed by police forces during the J20 protests. Image from DemocracyNow.Org*

Truly, we all realize that this is nothing more than an excuse to silence the rightful anger that boils within the veins of every activist, protester, partisan, ally, accomplice, and fighter that rightfully demands a resistance against the state as it stands. We remember the day. We fought hard. Some members of our local area went to testify for the freedom and justice of our friends — and we’ve been winning. Charges against many of the wrongfully detained protesters were dropped — but the fight still rages on. And so, we’ve decided to spearhead that fight every year, on J20, until we emerge inevitably victorious.

We gave peace a chance. It didn’t work.

So, we took to the streets on J20, 2018, to express solidarity and to defend our communities with every modicum of our collective anger and ability, arm in arm with every member of our community dedicated to resist and persist despite this garbage administration. We brought our cameras and our friends.

Noon — Solidarity In The Thousands

Local antifascists lead chants in Terry Schrunk Plaza where we rallied. The crowd of two thousand people chanting “No KKK No Fascist USA” erupted from the tiny amphitheater.

Over 2000 people converged on Portland’s Terry Schrunk Plaza, packing the amphitheater with massive crowds. The atmosphere was jovial and full of energy as defiant citizens held up signs, conversed, and waited for the action to begin. It seemed everyone had a homemade sign with heartfelt and sometimes humorous messages. Colorful signs with phrases like “Drain the GOP Swamp!”, “Impeach The Shithole”, and “Together we stand!” were a constant backdrop, as well a vast amount of pink knit-hats, dubbed ‘pussyhats’ by mainstream media.

Activists in Terry Schrunk enjoy music and speeches by many different group.

We met up with some of our friends and were immediately given parade-route flyers to hand out to the thousands that had converged at Terry Schrunk. Within an hour, as we organized into the park, we began to notice a select few familiar fascist faces who had staged acts of violence against our community members and against our medics in the past.

They’d decided to keep their distance in an adjacent park. They were gone for the march — and didn’t rear their ugly heads until after. As we marched, the parade marshals — signified by a yellow armband, provided compelling arguments against the system that created Trump, at each landmark we stopped to occupy, prompting many who have never been exposed to this rhetoric before to give pause. Largely, the bloc occupied the immediate space before the march to ensure that there was no interference from opposition or traffic, monitoring the police alongside the National Lawyers Guild and the local CopWatch contingency.

Protesters organize outside of one of the numerous stops on the foot-tour march of downtown Portland, to explain how these institutions threaten our communities, and perpetuate the circumstances of the abusive treatment of our society.

The march continued its course, winding around prominent Portland landmarks, banks, and financial institutions: fixtures of institutionalized oppression and subjugation of the working class. With thousands of people marching as one, we took to the streets. It was plain to see this space that we had created welcomed everyone of every color, orientation, and identity. Whether young, elderly, or differently abled, everyone was welcome and that diversity truly was our strength.

The march arrives at the Multnomah County ‘Justice’ Center.

Portland General Electric, and the WTC — one of the numerous stops on the march, as organizers explained how these institutions threaten the working class.

The march passes the courthouse, still going strong.

Protesters marched through downtown in a large group, behind the banners, and the organizers, medics in pairs monitoring the event, alongside organizers.

The police eventually appeared with motorcycles and bicycles as we reached the end of the rally, watching, but not interacting, while they held open roads with their flashers engaged. However, they were quick to disperse, leaving only the ones watching us by the war memorial. Although throughout the day, we watched as riot police vans drove up and down Naito Parkway, occasionally flanked by 3 or 4 undercover SUVs.

Riot police watch, knowing that counter protesters and Patriot Prayer will be clashing soon. Say cheese!

Arrival at the ‘Battleship’ was marked by a chance to meet and greet with everyone participating in the march, a social hour held as the collective conversed and had a chance to meet with one another and speak together, sharing a moment of proper relaxation while the anti-fascist presence milled around, stopping to communicate with some of the organizers and individuals handing out literature as they handled a perimeter of security for those gathering together.

The general public celebrating their participation in the march and those who organized it at the location where the crowd finally broke, the battleship.

Much of the initial impeachment march migrated back towards downtown in one large group. It wasn’t long after that we’d had been notified by someone that Sam Resnick, noted local opposition/rapist, had arrived on scene blocks prior. Immediately a detachment of local anti-fascists met to counter them, preventing them from coming anywhere near the march, and rally. We sat down, as smaller groups of participants hung around the area for a moment to gather our friends and bearings, swap batteries, and reformat our SD cards, preparing for the local fascist and nationalist ‘evangelical’ group, Patriot Prayer, to show up in order to confront them half a mile up the waterfront at Salmon Street Fountain.

Evening — Patriot Prayer, ProudBoys, Threepers

Joey Gibson arrives and converses with Sam Resnick, a noted local member of Patriot Prayer, and rapist, who was arrested on June 5th, 2017, for brandishing a knife at a group of people at an action for jail support.

The first Patriot Prayer supporter of the day shows up — noticeably dressed in the same garb he always has. He spent ample time attempting to sell the anti-fascist group at the fountain, waiting for Patriot Prayer to show, on Joey Gibson’s flavor of “Libertarian” ideals. The man in question has injured some of our medics in the past, to include punching one in the back of the head during their Kate Steinle, anti-immigration rally in December. Thoughts and prayers go out to this fascist, as we later learned he’s in a 12-step program for drug abuse recovery. Shame that your vulnerabilities were taken advantage of by a fascist, nationalist, hate group.

It wasn’t long after that, that a member of Common Sense Conservative media arrived, camera in tow. Alongside him, a man, a prominent preacher, signified by the arrow, arrived on scene, spitting terms such as “Faggots”, and “Homos”, at our LGBT friends, and protesters. He stood in the middle of the crowd, purposely misgendering our trans comrades, and spitting hateful rhetoric against Trans folk, and other LGBTQ individuals. One of the major reasons that we spend so much time on this one in particular, is because of his constant tendency to become violent, irate, and the nature of the disgusting threats that leaked from his shithole of a mouth.

**Quincy Lee Annatello**, under the red arrow, stands alongside numerous Patriot Prayer members, as anti-fascists confront them.

Another shot of the same scene, from the other direction. The man in the blue windbreaker, with “CSC MEDIA GROUP” sewn onto the breast, stands alongside Sam Resnick, and the preacher, while the woman in the American flag hat attempts to sell anti-fascist organizers on their hateful, transphobic ideals. Sorry — we’re not in the market to co-sign your bullshit, lady.

A member of the local CopWatch group asks questions from the arriving member of CSC Media Group. Worth noting that Demetrius Cooper, a fugitive wanted for the alleged “Rape and/or forcible sodomy” of a child under the age of 13. He was present as well, but kept his distance. Probably best for him.

As more of the fascist opposition rallied at the fountain, eventually members of the PNW ProudBoys came around. First one on scene was Caleb Sketi, known for taking a ‘nice-guy’ stance at Patriot Prayer events, and wearing his plate-carrier (with plates in it, surprisingly), to events where there shouldn’t be any firearms present.

Caleb Sketi, noted PNW ProudBoy, and Patriot Prayer member, arrives on scene looking like he’s about to sneak into a high school prom. Background arrow is pointing to Sam Resnick.

As Patriot Prayer waited for their whole contingency of members to show, the arguments and debates continued, with antifascists holding their ground at the fountain, as we collectively disrupted their intention to organize and rally at the fountain, specifically. Gibson was extremely passive, he had very little to say, and instead left the hateful rhetoric to the street preacher, and other friends. It was worth noting that various youth arrived on scene, shaking hands with, and hugging Joey Gibson — obviously a result of his attempt to ‘reach out to the youth.’ Other young people that have organized with Joey Gibson have been noted to be seen flying ‘Kekistan’ flags, carrying knives with Swastikas on the pommel, wearing the white-laced boots, a neo-nazi accessorizing tradition, standing and holding ‘It’s okay To Be White” signs, banners, purposely attempting to get into fights with anti-fascist organizers, as well as taking photographs with their crowd, holding up signs of the Americaball meme, with text that said “Deal with it,” and “#triggered.”

It’s no surprise that the younger members of his organization are actively seen wearing patches purchased from stores that often organize on 4chan, and /pol/, specifically. The youngest members of his organization are mostly pulled in via Patriot Front groups, a fascist re-branding of the Vanguard America group that is responsible for James Field Jr, the fascist neo-nazi that murdered Heather Heyer. Many of these types of individuals have often tried to claim that Heyer died of a heart attack, attempting to interject with fake photos of Heyer into discourse about the murder. Some of the youth members of patriot prayer have been seen giving Nazi salutes, at his events.

The cops kept an eye, as they sat around, on their phones, drinking coffee and getting paid overtime on a ‘security detail,’ as they monitored the situation from about 6 feet back. They did very little, besides take more money out of the working class’s pockets.

Signified by another arrow, this individual was seen attempting to take up close photos of anti-fascist protesters, as well as hanging with a friend of his, a younger man, who took photos with Gibson, and photos against the crowd while holding up /pol/ and alt-right memes.

Another photo of our newer, younger, unnamed fascists. The one in red was mentioned earlier as the one taking photos against the crowd holding up some alt-right meme propaganda, and shaking hands/hugging Gibson.

Joey Gibson, and Robert Zerfing hang out with two preachers, on the left, who were mentioned earlier as shouting homophobic and transphobic slurs, and other disgusting things such as claiming ‘All feminists deserve rape.’

A new face that we don’t believe we’ve seen before. Was close by with Gibson and friends, but didn’t have much to say.

Night — Walking, Shouting, and Confrontation

Shortly after, Patriot Prayer departed, with a larger anti-fascist contingency in tow, behind them, as we marched them away from their rallying spot, up the street to Chapman Square and Terry Schrunk. Again. Cops didn’t follow.

A large crowd of maybe 40–55 antifascists and counter-protesters march Patriot Prayer away from Salmon St fountain.

Joey Gibson, signified by the red arrow, speaks to his members, at the monument in Chapman Square. About nothing important. Hillary?

Joey didn’t have much to say. It was quite obvious that he was trying (and failing spectacularly) to mimic, in reverse, the same route that the impeachment march had taken, and attempting to copy the system of stopping at various landmarks to deliver a quick speech about his thoughts about each landmark. Was he protesting the monument? Was it just some drug and alcohol-fueled babbling? Probably, but we don’t know for sure, because every time he tried to speak, he was drowned out by the collective crowd of antifascists, and megaphone sirens.

Regardless, Joey and his band of roving asshats were marched all over the city. Everywhere he went, antifascists followed, speaking over the crowd with megaphones about the various acts of violence and hatred perpetrated by himself, past and present members of his group, as well as some of their dox, to put the icing on the cake. Occasionally, they’d stop somewhere to host a prayer circle, while antifascists disrupted their odd display of public prayer with noise, drums, and colored smoke.

Protesters shout Gibson’s dox through a megaphone, taking time to go over the details to Joey’s house-flipping and renovation business, and how his self-starting business is now defunct due to his constant organizing alongside neo-nazis, and white supremacists.

Patriot Prayer being marched around downtown, as per usual, with the red arrow pointing at Caleb Sketi. Why the suit and tie?

As the march stagnated around Pioneer Square, the presence of an Oregon Three Percenter was apparent. Marked below by the red arrow, they were seen hanging around with a women’s rights pink beanie on. They had their hands in their pockets the whole time, we’re still not sure if they were concealing a weapon at the protest, or not. We’ve seen this happen before, at other Patriot Prayer events. They stopped to attempt to speak, but were immediately drowned out.

Tiny tries to pull off his ‘tough-guy’ stance. It was about 39 degrees, out there. He’s in a tshirt, and gym shorts. C’mon now.

After Patriot Prayer realizes they aren’t going to get anywhere with their speech as we collectively tailed them, they were eventually again marched out of Pioneer Square.

Shortly after, Patriot Prayer was pushed out of Chapman, and into Terry Schrunk plaza, where things began to get more hands-on.

As we arrived in Terry Schrunk plaza, Patriot Prayer took to the amphitheater, which has been locally dubbed ‘The Snakepit’, due to the frequency of fascist rallies being held there. Members of RASH NW confronted Tiny, as he began to step chest to chest to protesters in an effort to intimidate them. Things became extremely heated, as everyone quickly became sick of Tiny’s attempted tough-guy stance, trying to talk protesters into swinging on him, trying to urge for a violent fight, as he stood flanked by ProudBoys signified by their polos and hats, carrying mace, some carrying knives. For most of this chunk of the action, many people were on the brink of fighting, or using their cans of mace. It had gotten to the point where most of us were standing, holding the line against the group of ProudBoys, visibly carrying mace, tazers, and stunguns, on both sides.

Donovan Flippo, local ProudBoy, loss-prevention wageslave at the Vancouver Walmart in Hazel Dell North, is confronted due to his constant violent actions at local protests.

Almost immediately, this man in a bright red Patriot Prayer hoodie grabs onto the coat of the person filming, and attempts to grapple with him, before he’s shoved away by various antifascist participants.

Tiny, alongside a few ProudBoys, attempted to start a shoving match with a few RASH NW members. The ProudBoys quickly withdrew once a stungun started going off and a few cans of mace were put up in their face. Probably a smart idea, on their part. Various antifascists held the line in solidarity with our RASH friends as they slowly withdrew into the crowd. Soon after, Tiny was standing chest to chest with an antifascist event organizer, who was reading Lawrence Britt’s 14 characteristics of fascism through a megaphone, the diminutive organizer being quite literally half the size of noted man-child Tiny.

Donovan Flippo, again. This time, hanging around one of the ‘Hell-Shaking Street Preachers.’

One of the street preachers, in question, flanked by a three-percenter, seen wearing the glowstick necklace, a common theme for Patriot Prayer supporters at events that extend into evening hours.

Joey Gibson stands just barely obstructed by a man in a Carhartt jacket, biker helmet. Street preacher, signified by red arrow, alongside Donovan Flippo, to the next left, and then the Three-Percenter, standing in front of a planter box that Tiny, far-left arrow, was standing on top of, as he shouts violent threats at the antifascist counterprotesters.

Eventually, the crowd of fascists withdrew into the snakepit to rally together. A road flare was lobbed into the crowd, causing a large panic within the crowd of fascists as they yelled, “Watch out, watch out!” for absolutely no reason. Smoke bombs started being lobbed into the pit filling the air with the smell of sulfur. The fascists managed to kick one smoke bomb out into a pit of dry brush, but one of the antifascists sprinted around the perimeter of the park, grabbed it, and threw it back in, bouncing it off one of the ProudBoys’ large, bulbous bodies. Shoving matches and threats of violence from potentially armed Patriot Prayer members and Three-Percenters continued for upwards of 20 minutes, a front line of a black bloc forming around them to push them further into the snakepit and backwards out of the park.

Patriot Prayer was again pushed out of Terry Schrunk Plaza and followed back down the street towards the Hawthorne Bridge. Their original plan to get onto the bridge in order to use the stairs to access the waterfront park almost immediately stopped by Portland Police Bureau. At this point, a group of antifascists broke off to intercept as Patriot Prayer members argued with cops. The park was held again by a large group in bloc as Patriot Prayer hung around out of reach for a good 10 minutes, still arguing with police before they went back the way they came, lining up against SW Naito Parkway. We watched on from the fountain while they shouted slurs across the road, backed by a few American flags. Fitting.

They made it across, purposely looking to agitate. They moved to the Salmon Street Fountain again, where a large group of police started to form. Shouting matches between antifascists and the fascists took hold as more police started to form up around the area. More and more police vans slunk around the parkway as Patriot Prayer quickly dissipated, chunk by chunk, making their way away from the fountain and back towards whatever carpark that they came from (speculated to be Couch St).

It wasn’t soon after Patriot Prayer had vanished that the cops did as well. None of them interacted with any of the non-CopWatch protesters, and probably got sick of being filmed. But hey, at least they didn’t shoot or beat any of us this time.

This event, despite being a repeat of every one of Patriot Prayer’s attempts at intimidation and agitation against Portland’s communities, was a transparent success on behalf of the counter-protestors. This victory is largely due to counter-protest occupying their space beforehand and physically marching the fascist presence out of the city. After they had dissipated in response to the rising police presence, and the fervor of the counter-protest had stayed to confront them.

This also serves to show a trend within the local Portland area where younger members of the community are progressively becoming more involved in Joey Gibson’s bigoted, violent rallies. Between the constant presence of the same members of the PNW ProudBoys, and other violent agitators, Patriot Prayer again serves only to exist for the explicit purpose of acting as a large-scale springboard for the Alt-Right, white supremacists, ultranationalists, ethnonationalists, and various flavors of neo-nazis to organize, rally, and unite.

We, as a collective contributing to the footage, photography, and documentation of this hateful movement, feel that the best thing that we could’ve done was achieved — that being the occupation of their initial meeting points in large-scale numbers, ready to counter them.

Thanks to the National Lawyer’s Guild of Portland for hanging around for eight-ish hours, following us across downtown PDX in the cold and rain, as well as our various street medics.

“If you can’t be bothered to oppose these people because they’re fascists, at least oppose them because of how cringe-worthy they are.”

November 13, 2017

Mulugeta Seraw, and Where We Are 29 Years Later

S. Jung for CCA

Imagine a 28 year old man. He is a grad student at Portland State University, and works two jobs to support himself through college and provide for his young son. His father gave up his own livelihood, so his son may become a well educated young man who may one day cause great changes in his community. He smiles and laughs with his friends, as they go out on the town to unwind. He is a human being, full of laughs, hopes, ideas and dreams. This person could be any one of us. But this person is Mulugeta Seraw does not get to laugh, hope or dream anymore.

On November 13, 1988 he lay in a puddle of his own blood on the sidewalk dying after being the victim of a semi-random neo-nazi attack. A group of thugs, from the “East Side White Pride” gang jumped him as he ended an evening out with his friends. With the swing of a baseball bat, they ruthlessly and mercilessly extinguished the light of a human being.

On November 13, 2017 “Patriot” Prayer decided to hold an “It’s OK To Be White” white pride rally. They showed up with signs bearing the slogan “It’s Okay To Be White” as if people actually were saying that it was not OK to be white (In fact, historically society has said it’s pretty OK to be white.). I would also like to point out that this “protest” against some invisible boogeyman attacking “whiteness” took place midday Monday. So on the anniversary of a horrific hate crime committed by white supremacists , a group associated with white supremacists and their ilk decided to hold a white pride rally on an overpass near Portland. Of the 364 other days in the year, they specifically picked this one.

“Patriot” Prayer rolled up, dressed as the ‘patriots’ they are…

With their American-Confederate flag mashups (not a Flag Code expert or anything, but this has to violate some part of the Flag Code)….

More demonstrations of “proper” flag code? One man wearing it as a scarf, and the girl has it folded like a bed sheet.

And they brought their swastika-emblazoned knifes to their “peaceful” protest!

Now I am trying to find an answer for, why is a “Patriot Group” brazenly displaying flags and weapons associated with enemies of the United States? The South seceded (meaning to withdraw from, or leave) from the United States and rebelled against the same county these “Patriots” claim loyalty to. The swastika was co-opted by the Nazis, and now stands as a symbol of Nazi Germany (a US. Enemy in WWII) and other far-right groups. Why did they feel the need to brandish these items at their white pride rally, that they organized on the anniversary of one of the worst hate crimes in Pacific North West history?

These people claim to be “inclusive” or “in favor of freedom of speech” and “patriots”. They will say it until they are blue in the face. But actions speak louder than words. So let’s talk a little bit about the actions taken by people with real American values today..

Anti-Fascist demonstrator holds up a black power salute, next to a banner the reads “Mulugeta Seraw We Fight In Your Memory”.

Another banner displayed on the overpass, prior to “meeting” with “Patriot” Prayer. This banner reads “Fight Racism”

Anti-fascist demonstrators working together to hold up and display the Mulugeta Seraw memorial banner.

In all, people’s true colors were shown today. Hoping for a better Clark County tomorrow.