Bloody Big Apple: McInness, Proud Boys, and Fox News on the Attack

Report back from New York on recent clashes between Proud Boys and antifascists outside of a Republican office that has captured the eyes of the authorities and the news media.

Essential to the right-wing media narrative defending the authoritarianism of Trump is the idea that the Left is fomenting revolution and controlling the streets through mob rule. Unfortunately, nothing could be farther from the truth. The streets belong to the rich and the police, and their far-right/fascist supporters are given free reign to assault anyone who challenges that power.

The events of this weekend in NY make this situation incredibly obvious. Early Friday morning someone fed up with the Republican Party’s open acceptance of pro-fascists like Ann Coulter, Tucker Carlson, and Gavin McInnes, vandalized their door with spraypraint, glue in their lock, a brick through their window, and a communique blaming both them and the Democrats for the terror and violence spread by the US state against Latinos and Muslims.

The Republicans responded that the note and broken glass was the “worst violence they had ever seen,” and shamelessly stood behind their decision to host McInnes’s planned reenactment of the assassination of a Japanese socialist in front of his braying street gang – an event intended to incite attendees to engage in violence against leftists. As the chairman of the Republican club’s board himself stated, McInnes is “part of the Right.” The police showed up in force to protect the event, and continued to protect McInnes as he waved a sword at the counter-protesters.

Around 9 PM, three protesters were arrested, accused of knocking a MAGA hat off someone’s head. They were initially given trumped-up charges of felony assault, larceny, and resisting arrest. Prosecutors eventually knocked the charges down to misdemeanors, but still attempted to hold them on $3,500 bail each.

From @Hatewatch "Gavin McInnes poses for a photo in May 2017 with Joe Bola, a member of skinhead crew 211 Bootboys." GOP is bringing far-Right into the fold because it knows that it's class war, ecocidal, and pro-corporate policies are vastly unpopular. It needs the muscle. pic.twitter.com/84kjOftV1v

— It's Going Down (@IGD_News) October 14, 2018

After the event, about fifty attendees left the under police protection. This included about 30 Proud Boys and at least two members of the nationalist, anti-communist skinhead gang 211/B49 (a group that, like the Proud Boys, tolerates a multicultural group of fascists). They assembled a block away and waited for protesters to leave. They ambushed the first three they saw, taking turns kicking and slamming them into the sidewalk.

Gavin justified the attack by claiming someone had thrown a bottle in his vicinity earlier in the evening. In reality, the purpose of the Proud Boys and Boneheads (fascist skinheads) are to mobilize violent reaction against leftists, queers, women, Muslims, and people of color. No matter how civil the protesters were, Gavin has required his Proud Boys to attack “antifa” in order to gain rank in the organization. On Friday they chose to do this in the most cowardly way possible, knowing police would not interfere despite shouting “faggot” and “kill him” as they did. Emboldened by the police support, they posed for a group photo, and walked to the subway bragging about beating up a “foreigner.”

The next day footage was posted on social media, causing outrage. Mayor de Blasio, the NYPD, the Governor of New York, and New York Prosecutors appealed to the public for tips, saying that such violence will not stand. Footage shows the opposite—the violence was protected and encouraged. Then, on Sunday afternoon, the NYPD released the names of three Proud Boys in connection to the violence. As in the recent arrests of the neo-Nazis in RAM, we know that repression of the far-Right will soon be followed by attacks on the anarchist, antifascist, and autonomous movements, and should be critical of cheer-leading actions by the State and instead focus on building up our own capacity of autonomy and self-defense.

The dude with the sword? That’s Gavin McInnes, founder of the far-right fascist gang the Proud Boys. The vandalism? No evidence that it’s “antifa.” The violence? Videos from last night show abt 20 Proud Boys beating 3 people while they’re on the ground.

This is so infuriating https://t.co/AaIM5gpmqL

— Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) October 13, 2018

Back on the ground, Fox News of course reported the incident in its reverse, implying sword-wielding antifa laid siege to the venue. Even with all the power of the State and fascist meathead gangs, the Right is still terrified of us. They know the youth and much of the working-class rejects their false narratives and their racist divisions, and see through the hypocrisy of their politics, and want a movement that abolishes both parties and all the fascist institutions that support and protect them. Spectacles like these will proceed until we are organized enough to run these cowards out of town.

The next opportunity will be November, when Proud Boys will assemble nationwide for a pro-Rape and anti-feminist “HimToo” demonstration.

Photo Credit @HuntedHorse