Filed under: Anti-fascist, Featured, This Week in Fascism
Welcome, fellow antifascists! This week, as we wind down 2020, we’ve got a sobering look at the recent anti-Semitic attacks in New York. two National Guard members getting kicked to the curb after being exposed by antifascists, more Proud Boy doxxes, and a call to kick off the American Identity Movement from Spotify.
Without further ado, let’s begin!
Santa says “death to fascism.” pic.twitter.com/74cehimvMZ
— Håkan Geijer (@hakan_geijer) December 25, 2019
News
Another Horrific Anti-Semitic Attack in New York Area
The latest in a string of violent anti-Semitic attacks in the New York area took place late Saturday, the seventh night of Hannukah, when a man wielding a machete entered the home of a rabbi in Monsey, New York, and stabbed several worshipers. Shortly after the attack, police arrested 38 year-old Grafton Thomas.
According to the New York Times:
In his journal, prosecutors said…he wrote about Hitler and “Nazi culture.” On his phone, he searched online for “why did Hitler hate the Jews” at least four times and looked for “prominent companies founded by Jews in America.”
On Monday, new details emerged about the man accused of stabbing five Jewish people at a Hanukkah celebration in the New York suburbs when federal prosecutors filed hate crime charges against him.
[P]rosecutors…suggested that Mr. Thomas, who is from the nearby village of Greenwood Lake, N.Y., had a history of anti-Semitism. In one piece of writing, he used a phrase that investigators said appeared to reference the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, a fringe religious movement with offshoots that have been described as hate groups.
The assault in Monsey further rattled the Jewish community in the New York region after a series of anti-Semitic incidents in New York City last week and a deadly mass shooting in Jersey City, N.J., that targeted a kosher supermarket earlier in the month.
Thomas’ family has stated that he suffers from mental illness and does not come from a household with anti-Semitic views. The attack is the just latest in a string of anti-Semitic incidents that have taken place in the New York area since mid-December; along with others which have also generated headlines across the world.
Last night in Portland Oregon, our Annual Queer Hanukkah Happy Hour. This year we were watched over quietly and effectively by local Jewish Antifa. It *is* possible to be safe without resorting to armed security. It requires community and being there for others #thankthebloc
— RavArielStone ↙↙↙PDX Interfaith Clergy Resistance (@ravarielstone) December 29, 2019
The Trump administration seized on the moment, according to The Daily Beast:
Ken Cuccinelli, the Trump administration’s acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, claimed in a morning tweet that 38-year-old Grafton Thomas, a U.S. citizen who allegedly stabbed five people at a Hanukkah party over the weekend, was the “son of an illegal alien who got amnesty under the 1986 amnesty law for illegal immigrants.” It’s not clear where Cuccinelli got that information or if it was correct.
Not to be outdone, far-Right grifters and trolls like Jack Posobiec and Andy Ngo also jumped at the opportunity to play up different talking points and angles, especially since the arrested suspect was African-American. Posobiec tweeted out a statement insinuating that “Antifa” didn’t care about the Jewish community, which was met with widespread scorn as the Pizzagate promoter has a long history of pushing anti-Semitic memes and working associations with the Alt-Right and neo-Nazis.
Nazis hate it when you point out their Nazi stuff. pic.twitter.com/1tm7tBVLUb
— Cody Johnston (@drmistercody) December 29, 2019
Back in 2017, Trump along with then Deputy Assistance Sebastian Gorka, were arguing that a wave of anti-Semitic attacks and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries were in-fact “false flags” carried out by “the Left” (or Jews themselves) to make the President look bad. Ironically, Gorka himself was removed from the administration after he was photographed wearing the pin of the neo-Nazi group, the Order of Heroes, which “consisted of supporters of Miklos Horthy, the former ruler of Hungary, who collaborated with the Nazis during World War Two.” In recent months, Trump has also been in hot water for anti-Semitic comments as well as his chief policy advisor, Stephen Miller, being directly tied to white nationalism.
This was a pogrom. And the police will not stop these pogroms from happening. Solidarity with Jewish communities will. Mutual protection will. Fighting antisemitism alongside all else will. Eliminating fascism will. The police will not. https://t.co/5rfkzvB1aA
— rose “cancel all student debt” (@RoseFasa) December 29, 2019
Along with the Trump administration and opportunist far-Right trolls, police and politicians have also used the recent attacks as justification for flooding the streets with more police. Meanwhile, abolitionists and anti-capitalists have pointed out the entrenched racism of local law enforcement which has recently exploded in scandal. The State’s forces will never be a vehicle in which to combat anti-Semitism and instead has always been one of its main conduits.
National Guard Members Get Doxxed and Das Boot‘ed
Dalton Woodward and Trent East, members of the Asatru Folk Assembly hate group, have been kicked out of the Army National Guard after being ID'd earlier this year by antifascist researchers. https://t.co/Reh1Xr7aj1
— Nick Martin (@nickmartin) December 27, 2019
In the spring of 2019, Atlanta Antifascists exposed Dalton Woodward and Trent East as members of the white supremacist Asatru Folk Assembly. (For more on the beliefs of the Asatru Folk Assembly, including the distinction between racist and non-racist Asatru, see this explainer.)
In May, East was first defended by Sheriff Eddie Mixon, then later allowed to quit his job as a Haralson County Jailer after a pressure campaign from antifascists. East and Woodward were fired this week, following an investigation by the National Guard. The resulting story of their firing, which was made possible by the research of antifascists, went far, being covered in a variety of mainstream outlets.
Doxxes
California Proud Boy Billy Johnson
California Proud Boy Billy Johnson pic.twitter.com/Ib2OePZVf2
— PBDoxer (@DoxerPb) December 23, 2019
Proud Boy Billy Johnson was exposed by PBDoxer. Salish Black Flag also exposed a fellow member, Cristopher Ocwieja, of Granite Falls, from a group photo posted by one of the members.
Antifascist Exposes Supporters of Ian Kramer, Patriot Prayer Affiliate Facing Charges for Attack on Portland Cider Bar
Ok it’s time for me to talk about the idiots that signed this petition using their FB accounts. There are a few more names on there that I could confirm with just a quick FB search, but if I’m bored later I’ll continue…
(short thread) https://t.co/hmSFbt0kQQ
— Dimestore Guevara (@wherestherevolt) December 28, 2019
Dimestore Guevara exposed supporters of Ian Kramer, a Patriot Prayer associate currently facing charges for cracking a woman’s vertebrae outside the Cider Riot bar in May 2019.
I met @lauraloomer at my booth at Politicon this year. She actually gets in the trenches and talks to people. We need her back. pic.twitter.com/aHU2DjFrxu
— Ron Bassilian (R) (@Ron4California) November 23, 2018
GOP Congressional Primary candidate Ron Bassilian posted a petition on behalf of Kramer, which was quickly scraped by antifascists, who shared the names and employment information of the signers on Twitter.
Okay, it's time for me to talk about the Cider Riot vs. Ian Kramer case from May Day 2019.
A very important thread. https://t.co/6cESpyX7nZ— Ron Bassilian (R) (@Ron4California) December 20, 2019
Bassilian claims to be the chairman of the 54th Assembly District of the GOP in Los Angeles. His social media feed is filled with photos and references to far-Right individuals, podcasts, and memes.
Michael S. Pollardo, Proud Boy in Lake Stevens, Washington
Meet Micheal S. Pollardo of Lake Stevens WA. He is an associate or member of the @splcenter designated hate group "Proud Boys" and is a coach at @CaveleroMidHigh pic.twitter.com/Ot3MfTzjzM
— Death Cab For Scooby (@CabScooby) December 29, 2019
Death Cab for Scooby doxxed Michael S. Pollardo, of Lake Stevens, Washington, as being a Proud Boy or Proud Boy associate, after he was seen in a group photo of what appears to be a Proud Boys meetup. For a full expose on the Lake Stevens Proud Boys, go here.
Pollardo is a football coach at Cavelero Mid High in Lake Stevens. You can contact the school by calling (425) 335-1630 or emailing Associate Principal Sandra Pollestad at [email protected].
Call to Action
Help Get the American Identity Movement Kicked Off Anchor
Patrick Casey, the head of the SPLC designated white supremacist group Identity Evropa (also known as American Identity Movement), hosts a podcast on @anchor (from @spotify) where he explicitly advertises his hate group and chats with holocaust deniers like Nick Fuentes. pic.twitter.com/xr7CtOnSpi
— Colorado Springs Anti-Fascists (@COSAntiFascists) December 29, 2019
This week, Colorado Springs Anti-Fascists revealed that Patrick Casey, the leader of the white nationalist American Identity Movement, has a show on Anchor, a podcast-hosting company owned by Spotify. You can alert Anchor by tweeting @anchor or by direct messaging their Customer Service department at @SpotifyCares.