Thanks From M!

Remember a week ago when the Defence Fund sent some $ to a server in Louisville that lost her job after refusing to snitch on the antifa that handled some Proud Boys dickbags that showed up to her work to disrupt a DSA Louisville meeting and wound up sexually and racially harassing her all night?  Well she sent us a lovely thank you note!  It reads:

THANK YOU SO MUCH. I haven’t been able to find a job as of yet because I had to go out-of-state due to a family medical emergency, which sucks, so I really, REALLY appreciate this so much. I love y’all. Solidarity.

If you’ve donated to the Defence Fund, part of what you gave went to her, so this thanks is for you!

If you haven’t donated to the Defence Fund, don’t you think it’s time you did?

If you’re a member of DSA Louisville: last week we challenged to match our donation.

DSA Louisville wrote back to say that they’re working on it.  But so far from what we can tell, not a dime from the democratic socialists that held an event without adequate security that resulted in a woman losing her job.  It reminds us of a certain time when the DSA collected $200,000 for Charlottesville victims and then never gave anyone any of the money and couldn’t publicly account for what happened to the money, either (but did offer a bullshit apology almost a year later).

Louisville democratic socialists – talk is cheap, this woman needs help, your event ultimately resulted in her losing her job, and your organization already has an appalling track record of fucking over anti-fascists.  Come on now.

The KKKops Are Trying To Murder Us.

 

A Portland Police Department flash bang grenade embedded in the back of a helmet worn by an antifascist protestor on August 4th.  He nearly died.

If you’ve been following us for the last little while, you may have noticed a disturbing pattern of the police playing an increasingly-active role in trying to do harm to anti-fascists.  Some highlights from the past two years:

• That time when police in Sacramento were mysteriously absent when a gang of armed neo-nazis stabbed nine anti-fascists, and then dropped a pistol as they ran off under the full protection of the police, who miraculously re-appeared just in time to facilitate their escape and arrest the stabbing victims.
• That time in Harrisburg when the police, frustrated that antifa counterprotesting a white supremacist event weren’t doing anything illegal, started shoving people and knocking them to the ground until one fell backwards into a police horse, which magically became an “assault police officer” charge.
• That time when Russian police collaborated with neo-nazis to threaten the life of an anti-fascist as he recovered in hospital from a vicious attack, forcing him to flee the country and seek asylum elsewhere.
• That time an NYPD kkkop broke the leg of an antifa protestor.
• That time Seattle po-po allowed armed packs of Islamophobic thugs to rush a peaceful counter-protest and assault people repeatedly, but then moved in to arrest counter-protestors when they had the nerve to try to defend themselves against these assaults.
• That time when police came in on the side of a bigoted lynch mob and arrested the residents of a multiracial housing block in Melbourne for defending their homes and neighbours against the racist goons.
• That time when California cops got caught actively colluding with neo-nazis to frame up anti-fascists on bullshit charges.
• That time the Berkeley Police Department endangered twenty anti-fascists and their families by doxxing them after seriously injuring them and arresting them.

Which brings us to the events in Portland of August 4th.  Not to be confused with events there the month prior, where the police formed a line to protect alt-right bigots from anti-fascist counter-protestors but then fired flash bang grenades & pepper spray at the counter-protests to soften them up prior to letting waves of white supremacist goons run through their lines to attack counter-protestors , then run back to enjoy full police protection.

This time, the police were the instigators of violence, commencing with a volley of flash bangs and tear gas launched without reason or provocation.  In that first volley was a flash bang grenade fired directly at the back of an anti-fascist’s head from close range.  The grenade penetrated the antifa’s helmet and caused a serious head injury.  Had he not been wearing a helmet, he would have been killed instantly.  In the end, the police arrested four anti-fascists and injured at least that many.  Rose City Antifa have established a crowdfunder to help victims of the police violence on August 4th and we were happy to be able to contribute to it.  We would encourage you to do the same, and to also make a donation to the Defence Fund so we can continue to support people willing to risk death at the hands of fascist goons and their police collaborators.

 

Kiss My Antifa Grits!

Being a server is tough work.  How tough?  Scientists are calling it the most stressful job in the world!  So for M., it must have been welcome news that the Louisville DSA chapter had booked a meeting at the bar she worked, since one would imagine democratic socialists would at least tip well.

What no one expected was for a pack of white supremacist Proud Boy asshats to also show up to disrupt the meeting and harass poor M. all night.  When they finally left, some Louisville antifascists engaged in a frank and honest discussion with them in the parking lot – a discussion which concluded with some Proud Boys going home in an ambulance.  Cops were called.  Cops asked M. to ID the people that came to deal with the problem.  M. is not a snitch and did not snitch.

Her reward for putting up with racist and sexist harassment all night and then getting pressured by the po-po?  Fired.  The bar canned her.  Now she’s looking for a new gig and has asked for help paying the bills while she’s looking.  The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund was there to stand up for M. just as she stood up for the people that showed up to stand up against entitled, racist Proud Boy douchebags.

AND NOW WE’RE CHALLENGING LOUISVILLE DSA TO DO THE RIGHT THING AND MATCH OUR DONATION!!!  Hey there @dsa_louisville – this worker was fired because of what happened at your event.  How about passing the hat at your next meeting and matching what we put in, shall we?  That would do a lot to improve relations with antifa after your national organization raised $200,000 in donations for the victims of the Charlottesville terrorist attack last year and then refused to release any of the money or account for what happened to it.  Just sayin’.

Berkeley KKKops

Seven BerKKKeley’s “finest” surround a solitary, unarmed antifascist.  Your tax dollars at work.

It’s becoming ever-more apparent that the police are serving as the lethally-armed wing of racist extremists in their efforts to arrest, injure, or get anti-fascists killed.  That might sound like hyperbole if you haven’t been paying attention.  From Sacramento to Seattle; from Hannover to NYC; from Newnan to Toronto; from Portland to Berkeley (to name some recent examples), the po-po can’t wait to help white supremacists to frame, assault, injure, and try to murder anti-fascists.

Then there was Berkeley earlier this month.  Police there decided the best thing to do when white supremacists march in the streets was to attack, assault, and arrest as many of the 1000+ antifascists there to counter the march as possible.  And immediately release photos and full names of the antifascists arrested on social media.

It’s not hypothetical to say that releasing the identities of antifascists endangers them.  Just ask people who knew Dan Shersty and Lin “Spit” Newborn, two Las Vegas antifascists that were identified by a local neo-nazi gang that then stalked and murdered them.  This goes beyond making antifascists appear guilty without a trial (as the Guardian notes, much of the fabricated charges police lay against antifa disappear soon after).  This is providing the people responsible for the majority of terrorist attacks with a hit list.  And it’s not just Berkeley cops doing it: the month before, Toronto police arrested five anti-fascists on completely fabricated charges during a counter-protest of yet another Islamophobia rally, with one arresting cop publicly providing the full names of all five arrestees to the Islamophobes, who promptly attempt to dox all five.

The Berkeley police received a ton of criticism for endangering the lives of the people they (falsely) arrested.  But criticism doesn’t get the charges dropped or pay for your legal defence.  It doesn’t help you find a safe place to live after neo-nazis have used your name to track down your address.  And it doesn’t help you pay the bills when you can’t work because the kkkops broke your clavicle arresting you.

That was the situation D. found himself in after the events in Berkeley.  He reached out to us for some help paying his bills while he’s off work with his cop-sustained injury.  We were happy to help him out directly and would recommend that anyone reading this follow suit by kicking in to his crowdfunder.

Until some of the tax money spent on kkkops enabling them to arrest, assault, and endanger anti-fascists starts getting diverted to support anti-fascism (hey, we can dream!), The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund is going to need your support to help take care of the people putting themselves in harm’s way to thwart fascism.  Here’s what you can do.

 

The Price Of Peacemaking

 

Police in Newnan, Georgia respond to the dangerous threat of non-violent, unarmed people wearing masks by pointing assault rifles at them, April 21, 2018

“No Good Deed Goes Unpunished” should replace “To Serve And Protect” on cop cars in Newnan, Georgia.  This was certainly the lesson imparted on K, one of dozens of anti-fascists that arrived in that town on April 21st to counter a march of less than three dozen full-on neo-nazis.  Also in town to ensure that literal nazis were able to march unimpeded through American streets were at least 400 heavily-armed cops  (that’s right, about 10 cops for every single nazi shitbag in attendance; other estimates putting cop numbers that day at 700-800).  The actions of the cops that day were characterized by one journalist on the scene as “the most over-aggressive policing I’ve ever seen.”

When the cops encountered antifa wearing masks, their response was to point assault rifles at them.  That was the point that K decided the cops were getting out of hand, took off her mask, and tried to speak directly with the cops in an attempt to de-escalate a potentially lethal situation.  Her reward?  Being slammed to the ground and tackled by cops and hauled away under arrest, held in jail for 30 hours, and being fined.

As a result of trying to stop a police riot from claiming the lives of her friends and neighbours, K. has been left with a fairly hefty lawyer’s bill and a small-ish court fine.  She reached out to the Defence Fund for some help with this costs and we’re happy to say that we were able to help her with about 40% of her costs.  If we had enough money, we would have gladly paid the full tab.

Help us makes sure we can pay the full tab for the next K. that comes to us after being harmed for trying to stop their friends and allies from being murdered by the cops or for standing up to nazis literally marching in the streets – make a donation to the Defence Fund today!