This Week in Fascism #137: Antifascists Sentenced in San Diego, Pushing Back Against Far-Right Attacks on Palestine Solidarity

Welcome back fellow antifascists!

As always, we have a lot to cover in this column, especially important analysis and lots of roundups of antifascist research and action. With lots to talk about, let’s dive right in!

News

Medic in San Diego ‘Antifa Case’ Gets Two Years After Being Targeted by Far-Right

A street medic and community journalist, Jeremy White, who was interviewed recently on the It’s Going Down podcast and the Final Straw, has been sentenced to two years in prison, simply for taking part in a demonstration against neo-Nazis and Proud Boys in Southern California in early 2021. White and several others were selectively targeted by a far-Right District Attorney and charged with conspiracy, while violent far-Right protesters were never charged.

White issued a statement, posted to social media:

As I head into the courtroom, I am reminded of a few of my heroes who had their own tumultuous experiences with the justice system. People like John Brown, an abolitionist who was hung for initiating a raid on Harpers Ferry. He was initially called a madman and fanatic, though his actions are seen as a precursor to the Civil War and the end of slavery. His actions were, at the time, illegal. They were also completely moral.

Nelson Mandela was considered a terrorist by our government for his role in fighting the apartheid government of South Africa. He spent 27 years of a life sentence in prison and was offered freedom on multiple occasions on the condition he would renounce his beliefs, which he refused. He was later released and became the president of South Africa, ending apartheid and winning the Nobel Peace prize. His efforts were also illegal, and entirely morally justified.

My actions on January 9th, 2021, and indeed my actions for the last 10 years, have been inspired by people like this. Brave, uncompromising individuals who gave their freedom and oft times their lives to a cause greater than themselves. When I was a young child, my late grandfather told me about his family that didn’t escape the camps in WWII. He showed me the knife that his father took off a slain Nazi, a man whose ideology was rooted in the death and dehumanization of others. My great grandfather was the first in my family to be an anti-fascist.

Today I follow proudly in his footsteps, combating fascism and white supremacy, hateful ideology and racist bigotry. I have given years of my life to this cause, I have given my health and well-being, and now I offer up my freedom. I was asked to write a conciliatory statement about the so-called victims in this trial. Neo-Nazis, white supremacists and far right fascists who assembled in San Diego on that day to do violence upon the community. I stood with other brave individuals in an effort to protect people from this blight on our society, and I stand by those actions with my whole being.

One day they will come for you as well, as they have come for so many others. I pray that you don’t fall victim to their hate, though this trial has made it all the more likely. Fascism is here, mask off with a gun and a badge, criminalizing anti-fascists to clear the playing field of any opposition. They may have deemed my actions illegal, but history will exonerate me, like it has so many others this system has attempted to grind under it’s heel.

I leave you with a quote from Greek poet Dinos Christianopoulos, who was ostracized from his community for being queer. “They tried to bury us, but they didn’t know we were seeds.”

Currently, White’s supporters are asking for donations to help cover legal and commissary costs. Stay tuned for more ways to support.

Movement in Solidarity with Palestine Faces Attacks from Far-Right and the State

As demonstrations in solidarity with Palestine have remained on the streets, right-wing media has continued to push anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about the protests being orchestrated by George Soros, while ironically attacking activists as ‘anti-Semitic.’ Meanwhile, bureaucrats in both parties have floated bills calling for the deportation of arrested students to Gaza and are even pushing for new laws against the wearing of masks, in an effort to crack down on demonstrators.

Meanwhile, far-Right Zionists have joined forces in the streets with Christians Nationalists and at times, various neo-Nazis and white supremacists, in an effort to attack solidarity demonstrations and encampments. Throughout April and May, Christian Nationalists marched on the encampment at Columbia university. In the the bay area, far-Right Zionists rallied against the ongoing encampment at Stanford University, while pro-Palestine demonstrators held a counter-demonstration. At the University of Washington, supporters of Turning Point USA attending a talk by racist troll Charlie Kirk squared off against defenders of the pro-Palestine encampment, leading to several clashes. Meanwhile at UCLA, partisans of the encampment fought off violent far-Right Zionists who were joined by various fascists as police looked on. Read a full report on It’s Going Down here, and listen to a podcast report, here.

As The Guardian wrote:

Many witnesses to the 30 April melee observed that the small group of assailants – many of them masked – did not appear to be students…researchers studying hate…groups have confirmed the presence at the counter-demonstrations of several far-right activists who have been involved in anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-vaccine protests across southern California over the past three years.

Narek Palyan, an Armenian-American from Los Angeles’ Van Nuys neighborhood, was photographed on UCLA’s campus on 26 April amid a group of counter-protesters, and again on the evening of 30 April, hours before the assault on the protest camp…Palyan took part in several “Leave Our Kids Alone” demonstrations at school board meetings in southern California over the past year, where he was at times photographed making Nazi salutes. His social media history is rife with antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ+ posts. The Leave Our Kids Alone protests have cropped up at school board demonstrations, book readings and Pride celebrations throughout southern California, focusing anger from conservative parents on the recognition of LGBTQ+ identity and students in both curriculums and classrooms.

Manuk Grigorian, one of the organizers of some of the southern California “Leave Our Kids Alone” protests, was also present at the counter-protests at UCLA on 30 April. Grigorian frequently appeared on Fox News to discuss the school board demonstrations last summer, where he leveled false claims that certain public education districts were “grooming” children to develop LGBTQ+ identities.

Michael Ancheta, a former mixed martial arts fighter who in the past associated with southern California Proud Boys and assaulted a journalist at a 2021 anti-vaccine protest in West Hollywood, was spotted among the pro-Israel crowd at UCLA on on 28 April, when pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian protesters staged dueling rallies near the encampment, and again on 30 April. Ancheta, who until recently ran an Instagram account under the handle “Antifahunter”, has been a frequent participant in the Leave Our Kids Alone demonstrations.

Beyond UCLA, a number of far-right actors, including a violent white supremacist charged in connection with January 6, the founder of the Proud Boys, and a former member of the streetfighting Neo-Fascist Rise Above Movement have stood alongside pro-Israel demonstrators confronting Gaza solidarity encampments at universities across the country.

Despite the well documented violence carried out at UCLA against pro-Palestine demonstrations, a man arrested after his mother gloated about him participating in the violence against the encampment, was not charged by the District Attorney with felony assault charges.

In June, violent clashes again erupted in Los Angeles when Zionists attacked journalists and pro-Palestinian demonstrators who were protesting a “Israeli Real Estate Seminar” at a local synagogue. According to Forbes:

The real estate event sought to provide attendees information on “housing projects in all the best Anglo neighborhoods in Israel,” according to an advertisement in the June 21 issue of the Jewish Journal, a weekly newspaper based in Los Angeles; the ad received backlash on social media.

Predictably, politicians and media have attempted to paint the protests as an anti-Semitic attack on a local synagogue. According to VPS Reports:

President Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland has announced that the FBI, the Justice Department, and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California are targeting pro-Palestine protesters specifically in Los Angeles.

Garland echoed the disinformation campaign led by far-right actors which falsely accuses the pro-Palestine movement of being motivated by antisemitism rather than support for Palestinian lives. Garland compared anti-genocide social justice activists to Nazis in Europe, a framing pushed by hardcore fascist provocateurs online and in conservative media.

The Biden administration has repeatedly shared lies and disinformation about Palestinians and their supporters and these lies have been used to defend organized fascist violence by pro-Israel extremists groups, including the Jewish Defense League, an FBI designated terrorist group. Los Angeles is becoming a Petri dish for neoliberal autocracy. Now, dissent from social justice activists has been criminalized to an unprecedented level in contemporary politics.

PRIDE Celebrations Happen Against Backdrop of State Repression

PRIDE celebrations took place this month around the world, and in several cities, faced a variety of threats from far-Right, white supremacist, and Christian Nationalist groups. According to roundups from Radical Reports, there have been numerous instances of bomb threats, vandalism, and gender fascist protests, all aimed at disrupting PRIDE celebrations. For ideas on pushing back in defense of PRIDE, check out our guide on examples of community defense across North America here.

Anti-LGBTQ+ hate also continues to generalize within the Republican Party. As the Huff Post reported:

Dave Williams — the chair of Colorado’s Republican Party, which sent out an email earlier this month calling for Pride flags to be burned — has lost the GOP primary election for the state’s 5th Congressional District.

Williams, a former state legislator, faced numerous calls for resignation after he sent out a mass email to supporters earlier this month in which he described LGBTQ+ people as “godless groomers” and used other language falsely equating trans people with pedophiles. Williams also promised that the party would work hard to ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth in the state…The 5th Congressional District includes Colorado Springs, where five people were killed in a mass shooting at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in 2022.

This takes place as:

…of 2024, half of the states in the U.S. prohibit transgender girls from playing school sports, and half have banned or criminalized at least some forms of medically indicated healthcare.

erhaps most alarming, there are advocates and lawmakers who, if in a position to do so, are eager to carry out an even harsher attack on LGBTQ rights. Project 2025, which a group of conservative organizations has drafted as a roadmap for a second Trump administration, promises an even more draconian attack on LGBTQ rights. This would include rolling back existing nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people, reinstating the transgender military ban, and codifying state restrictions on transgender rights at the federal level, in addition to limiting recognition of same-sex relationships.

Neo-Nazi Conference in Detroit Led by Nick Fuentes Shut Down; Turning Point Promotes Groyper Slogan

An attempt by neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes to hold a conference in Detroit during a Turning Point USA gathering was shut down, as well as a gathering at a local bar, where a security guard was filmed punching Fuentes underling and Dollar Store Andrew Tate, Sneako. Attempts by Fuentes and his supporters to enter into the Turning Point USA gathering was also rebuffed by security.

According to the Detroit Metro Times:

Detroiters had a message for white supremacists who came to the city over the weekend: Get the fuck out.

Fuentes planned to hold his white nationalist America First Political Conference (AFPAC) at the Russell Industrial Center in Detroit on Friday. Fuentes said on social media that he reserved space at the center, but it appears he misled the Detroit institution about the type of event he was holding…The center kicked the group out as AFPAC was setting up a stage.

Fuentes and his fans, including longtime Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, then rallied outside Huntington Place to complain about getting kicked out of the Russell Industrial Center.

Later, Fuentes and his fans shuffled into Exodos, a club in Greektown, where violence broke out. AFPAC set up a stage with a podium and a banner that featured lightning bolts resembling the SS Bolts, a Nazi symbol..According to social media posts, a Black security guard was berated and struck with cups and liquids…When one of them slapped off the guard’s hat, he sprang into the air and punched one of the Fuentes fans, who goes by SNEAKO on X, chipping his tooth. It appears SNEAKO assaulted the guard first by knocking off his hat.

Fuentes claims that his neo-Nazi followers have taken up many positions within Turning Point USA, a far-Right Christian Nationalist and pro-Trump organization, known for platforming a wide swath of authoritarian grifters and conspiracy theorists. At the TPUSA conference, Jack Posobiec, known for both working with neo-Nazis and white supremacists over the years and for pushing the Pizzagate conspiracy, appeared at one point during the event alongside a “White Boy Summer” flag, while throwing out hats into the audience featuring the same slogan. “White Boy Summer” is a slogan that Fuentes had popularized in years prior. Ironically, Trump also appeared at the Turning Point event following a photo-opt at an African-American church; as part of a bungled attempt to reach out to Black voters.

Neo-Nazis Arrested for Planning Attacks on Power Grid

Five neo-Nazis have been arrested after conspiring to “use assault-style rifles to cause explosions at power substations in Idaho and nearby states, according to prosecutors.” In another case, Brandon Russell, a member of the neo-Nazi accelerationist group Atomwaffen, is being charged with conspiring to “destroy electrical substations in the Baltimore area, along with his girlfriend, Sarah Clendaniel. Both allegedly began the plot when Russell was serving five years after having conspired to carry out similar attacks in Baltimore. Russell later “pleaded guilty to possession of an unregistered destructive device and improper storage of explosive materials and was sentenced to five years in prison.”

Research Roundup

First up, antifascist researchers have exposed a section of the membership of the Nationalist Coalition, a rebrand of the now defunct neo-Nazi group, the National Justice Party, which as we reported on in February, was led by neo-Nazi podcast show hosts and collapsed due to accusations of grifting and embezzling.

As the Anonymous Comrades Collective wrote:

The Nationalist Coalition is a new neo-Nazi organization spawned from the rotting carcass of the disastrous and defunct National Justice Party. A recent ‘inaugural event’ in North Carolina introduced the new organization’s leadership but the amateurish launch has become a clusterfuck of epic proportions. As testament to the bad blood and rat-fuckery behind the group’s formation, it is no surprise that their founding membership roster has already been leaked by a tipster. The portions of the list we are sharing is comprised only of the members whose identities we could initially confirm. There will be more detailed exposés and additional participants coming soon!

For a deep dive and to read the full expose, go here.

Next on deck, antifascist news platform Idavox has a slew of new reports up. Firstly, Warren “Azzmador” Ray, a major force in neo-Nazi podcasting and publishing, has reportedly died of a heart attack. Ray had been on the run from law enforcement since the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017. Apparently other white supremacists blame Azzmador’s death on Richard Spencer. As Idavox noted, “Daily Stormer editor Andrew Anglin, himself currently hiding from law enforcement, took to a neo-Nazi gamer website to blame White Nationalist Richard Spencer for Ray’s death as well as the deaths of others, even though Spencer has not been connected to those he worked with during Unite the Right for several years.” Rest in piss you piece of shit!

Other reports from Idavox you may have missed include write-ups on “prominent [Pennsylvania] neo-Nazi Mark Kauffman,” who was arrested by law enforcement at his own wedding on weapons and methamphetamine charges, Nicholas G. Mucci, a neo-Nazi involved in White Lives Matter plead guilty to attacking an antifascist benefit show in New Jersey, and Ebrahim and Mathew Yehounatan, far-Right Zionists in New York who are harassing pro-Palestinian solidarity demonstrations.

Lastly, Idavox also noted that a small group of neo-Nazis held a tiny demonstration in Philadelphia that included Benjamin Franklin Ryder, a “registered sex offender with a long criminal history as well as a history of neo-Nazi activism,” and Stephen Thomas Farrea, a member of the Nationalist Social Club 131, became the second member of the group to be arrested “for possessing child pornography.” Faith, family, and folk!

In so-called Canada, the Red Table Collective has a report on “Alex Thompson, [of the] Ottawa Active Club,” Press Progress published a look at the collapse of the ‘Save the Children’ convoy in Ontario, and Montreal Antifascists has a new expose on Nouvelle Alliance. From the report:

It’s clear that, despite its claim to be “neither right nor left,” NA’s message in this sequence of actions draws on the vocabulary of the French far right, a vocabulary also in vogue in European and North American far-right circles. This “nationalist” frame of reference (in the euphemistic sense favoured by identitarian fascist and neo-Nazi movements) no doubt also explains the group’s popularity on social media with a large number of groups and individuals clearly identified with the far right.

The purpose of this article is to demystify once and for all the notion that this organization is politically neutral or inoffensive, to demonstrate that it is an integral part of the contemporary far right, to sensitize young pro-independence activists who, perhaps naively, might be drawn in by its rhetoric, and, above all, to alert the community to the danger it poses, in order to effectively block any attempt it might make to infiltrate progressive circles.

Boston based antifascist researchers at By Way of Plymouth, have a new report out on Patriot Front. They write:

On July 2nd 2022, roughly 100 members of Patriot Front held a flash rally and marched along the Freedom Trail in Boston MA. During the march, several members assaulted local performer Charles Murrell III. This assault led to legal firm Foley Hoag filing a federal civil rights lawsuit, naming Thomas Rousseau and 99 “John Does” as defendants, in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts.

For a full deep dive on the Patriot Front members present, go here.

There’s been a slew of doxxes out from a variety of antifascist researchers. Late Night Anti-Fascists reported on neo-Nazi “John Joseph Kelly aka “Boilerplate” of Chicago, Illinois and Sarasota, Florida,” and the “Oklahoma-based neo-Nazis and Unite the Right torch bearers Joshua Harley James aka “Hedd McNekk” of the Tulsa area, and his now former wife Justine Danielle Crowe James aka “Shield Maiden.”

In the Pacific Northwest, Stumptown Research Collective brings us a report on Micah William Calabrese of Grants Pass, Oregon, a neo-Nazi involved in the “Northwest Imperative, a decentralized white supremacist and Neo-Nazi movement.”

Over in California, SoCal Research Club has dropped an expose on several neo-Nazis involved in White Lives Matter and Active Clubs, including “Nicholas Bauer, a former Iowa resident who’s back in his hometown of San Diego, CA,” and Jayde Milne, who before “joining the active club-turned-skinhead crew, he did short stints as an admin for White Lives Matter CA and as a Reservist in the U.S. Marine Corps.”

Atlanta Antifascists have new reports on neo-Nazis with the Goyim Defense League, “Michael Cason Hitt (born 1991) and his wife Shannon Joy Hitt (née Nicholson, born 1993) are neo-Nazis living in Senoia, Georgia,” and so-called ‘MAGA communist,’ Grayson Walker at Emory University.

From the report:

Our group usually keeps a tight focus on exposing overt white nationalists and neo-Nazis, but there are times when our goal of antifascist education involves speaking about political actors whose motivations are not quite so obvious. With this post, we will identify and briefly give some political context to Grayson Walker, the “MAGA Communist” Emory law student responsible for the cancellation. While CAIR did not name Grayson Walker as the “rogue actor”, many other witnesses have already done so. This post is neither a full exposé nor a detailed timeline of the failed event, simply an alert to be aware of Grayson Walker and similar infiltrators who seek to exploit Palestinian suffering to curry social media attention for their niche cryptofascist political brands.

The word “cryptofascism” can evoke fanciful images of secret Nazi agents, but the historical reality is much more prosaic. A party or movement springs up claiming to be “above political divisions”, claiming to “synthesize left and right”, and then inevitably assimilates into the traditional right wing when their ideas fail to gain traction. These people often genuinely believe that they are not fascists, but they also tend to be sympathetic to outright fascists…The “MAGA Communist” speakers invited by Grayson Walker — Jackson Hinkle and Adam Tahir/Haz Al-Din — fall neatly into this pattern.

…it is worth noting that MAGA Communists have strong ties to the Lyndon Larouche cult, sharing not only their anti-environmentalist beliefs but also their underhanded tactics: Larouchites are known for targeting college students and for attention-grabbing publicity stunts. This idea that “any publicity is good publicity” is why this group calls themselves “MAGA communists” in the first place, because it attracts instant attention…The “MAGA communists” have especially strong ties to the Russian state and far right…

New Jersey Hate Watch also has reports on violent far-Right Zionists John Kovac and Shterny and Yosef Glick. Also in New Jersey, a neo-Nazi cop, Jason Dare, has been fired from the New Jersey State Police after being exposed.

Action

In late April, neo-Nazis with the so-called “Clockwork Crew,” attempted to drop a banner on Hitler’s Birthday, but were met with fierce opposition from locals who smashed their car windshield!

According to VPS Reports:

According to KEYT News: “At approximately 11:55 a.m., one anonymous caller reported a group with a discriminatory sign, swastikas and other offensive material on display to the public driving past.”

One witness told reporters that “a separate person smashed one of the group’s windshields in.” Another witness noted that two of the vehicles belonging to the neo-Nazis had Iowa state license plates. By the time local news outlets arrived, police had taken over the scene and “forced” the neo-Nazi group to leave.

The image displayed on the banner is pulled directly from a January social media post from Clockwork Crew (formally Crew 562), a Southern California based neo-Nazi “Active Club” with direct ties to the U.S. military. The banner displayed links to the group’s Telegram and Gab social media profiles. Jeff Tischauser, a senior researcher at the Southern Poverty Law Center, told The Guardian: “Groups like the Clockwork Crew are more willing to take their hatred into public spaces and shout people down outside of synagogues and in communities they perceive as predominantly Jewish.” Last September, this same neo-Nazi group was chased out of Downtown Ventura, as reported by Abner Häuge, lead editor at Left Coast Right Watch news.

Check out the full article at VPS Reports, here.

In Montreal, over a hundred people rallied and faced off against a smaller gender fascist anti-trans protest. The counter-protest then “ended with a street-wide dance party,” according to one report on social media.

A community mobilization shut down a far-Right TERF event in Portland, OR. Grassroots journalist Alissa Azar reported:

So TERFs ended up not showing up to their own event. Some were speculating that they may have driven by and left after seeing how many people were there to counter. People enjoyed their time outside of the library even more because of that. There was chalk art, music and dancing, snacks and lots of zines and posters. Library employee union members showed up too to support the library staff, many of which were trans and queer and were forced to come into work today regardless even after expressing their discomfort and feeling unsafe due to the groups planned event.

For more information on the far-Right TERF movement, check this podcast on It’s Going Down.

July 25th and Antifascist Prisoners

Currently there is a call to rally support for antifascist prisoners across the world on July 25th. From the call:

Across the world, fascist and far-Right movements are trying to advance their agendas of bigotry, ultra-nationalism and authoritarian control. The establishment–no matter who is in power–does not and cannot offer solutions for deepening economic inequality or any of the numerous crises we are living through. Instead, those in power continue to advance the militarization of police and the hardening of borders as the rich have become richer than they have ever been before. As the world burns and our lives become harder and harder, the fascist and far-right menace offers only lies and scapegoats–demonizing and attacking migrants, refugees, LGBTQ+ people, as well as racial, religious, and ethnic minorities.

The July 25th International Day of Solidarity with Antifascist Prisoners originated in 2014 as a Day of Solidarity with Jock Palfreeman, an Australian man who served 13-years in prison in Bulgaria for defending two Romani men from an attack by fascist football hooligans. In 2015, J25 expanded into a global day of solidarity with all antifascists facing State repression. The friends and comrades we are celebrating on J25 were on the frontlines of this fight against fascism and the far-Right, and we will not forget them behind prison walls as we continue the struggle for liberation.

As revolutionary antifascists, we believe that building movements of defense and solidarity with those locked behind the prison walls is fundamental in the three-way fight against both the far-right and the State. This July 25th, we call on antifascists worldwide to take part in the International Day of Solidarity with Antifascist Prisoners!

Find out more info on how to support, places to donate, and materials for printing, go here.

Cover Photo: Alissa Azar