Mastodon Twitter Instagram Youtube
Apr 27, 20

This Week In Fascism #56: Journalist Held At Knifepoint at Far-Right ‘Re-Open’ Rally; Proud Boys Exposed

Welcome, fellow antifascists!

This week, we’ve got Augustus Invictus getting re-arrested and winding up in the same jail as his dad on Hitler’s birthday, a Re-Open protester kidnapping a news cameraman at knifepoint, the Proud Boys rallying alongside a League of the South member, and Nick Fuentes getting kicked off TikTok.

Without further ado, let’s begin!

News

Augustus Invictus and His Father Arrested on Hitler’s Birthday for Separate Charges of Violence Against Women

 

White nationalist Augustus Invictus was arrested in Florida this week, not even three weeks after being bonded out of jail in South Carolina. Invictus was originally arrested on January 1st, on charges of domestic violence, kidnapping, and the use of a firearm in a criminal act.

Invictus was granted bond on April 1st, due to coronavirus fears, and released from jail in South Carolina. He then traveled to Florida, where he reportedly distributed photos of his wife’s car to his associates, asking them to stalk her on his behalf. In violation of a protective order and the terms of his South Carolina bond, he contacted his wife, Anna Invictus, via their daughter’s phone, and began following Anna.

He was arrested on April 20th, Hitler’s birthday, for aggravated stalking and violating the terms of his South Carolina bond. Though Florida courts initially granted Invictus a $50,000 bond for the stalking charge, he must now face charges of violating his bond in South Carolina.

Invictus’ father, John Gillespie, was arrested on April 18th on separate charges of sex trafficking teenagers. Law enforcement had been investigating Gillespie since December, when a former employee of his reported him, claiming that he had a two-decade history of sex trafficking. As revealed by journalist Hilary Sargent, Gillespie appears to have volunteered as a mock trial coach at one or more local high schools.

Invictus, now facing felony charges in two different states, has a decade-long history of violence against women and girls.

Though Invictus was staying with his father at the time of both of their arrests, the two cases do not appear to be linked. However, both share shockingly similar details. Invictus was also a volunteer at a local high school, as a debate coach, which he used to groom a high school senior into a violent 15-month relationship.

Additionally, both men used their positions as lawyers to control their victims. Gillespie sent a message to at least one of the girls he attempted to abuse, telling her never to implicate him, since that would preclude him from being able to defend her. In a statement read to a South Carolina court, Anna Invictus said that one of Augustus’ main methods of controlling her was by threatening to take their children, since as a lawyer, he could file virtually endless petitions for sole custody.

Invictus is currently held in Orange County, Florida, in the same jail as his father. It is unknown when he will be moved to South Carolina for a hearing on his bond violation.

Re-Open Protester Kidnaps Cameraman at Knifepoint

A far-Right protester kidnapped a Fox11/KTTV news cameraman at knifepoint in Huntington Beach, California, this week.

The kidnapping occurred at a Re-Open Protest, after Christien Petersen, 36, decided that he didn’t like being on camera. Petersen held the cameraman at knifepoint until police arrived and arrested him.

Petersen, a lawyer in California who was intoxicated at the time of the kidnapping, hired OJ Simpson prosecutor Christopher Darden to represent him.

“[Petersen] just wanted to verify the man had deleted the photo as he agreed to do. [Petersen] was seeking a new job and did not want the publication of a misleading photo to cause him to lose a job opportunity,” Darden told the New York Post.

Re-Open Protest Leader Tests Positive for COVID-19

According to CBS-17:

A leader of the ReOpen NC group revealed in a Facebook post that she tested positive for COVID-19.

Audrey Whitlock posted to the ReOpen NC Facebook page early Sunday saying her two-week quarantine was ending. She described herself as an “an asymptomatic COVID19 positive patient.”

Whitlock is one of the administrators of the ReOpen NC Facebook page – which has helped organize two protests in downtown Raleigh calling for Gov. Roy Cooper to lift his stay-at-home order.

Proud Boys Rally Alongside Neo-Nazis at Re-Open Protests

In Miami this week, Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio organized a Re-Open Florida protest.

Though the Proud Boys claim not to tolerate racists, the protest was attended by Christopher Rey Monzan, a League of the South member, who was charged in 2017 with assaulting Black Lives Matter activists with a flagpole.

The League of the South is a neo-Confederate, white supremacist group and were once a part of the Nationalist Front, which was confederation made up of neo-Nazi, racist skinhead, and KKK groups. Michael Tubbs, a League of the South leading member in Florida, served time in prison after being arrested for stealing weapons from the military and plotting to bomb Black and Jewish establishments. Tubbs was present in Charlottesville and helped lead far-Right rally goers during clashes with antifascists.

Also present was Mark Grecian, a Proud Boy with an Iron Cross tattoo who posts image mashups of the Proud Boys laurels with SS lightning bolts.

Doxxes

Jorge Martinez, Re-Open Organizer and Proud Boy in Las Vegas, Nevada

Antifascist researcher @RuthlessWe dropped a dox of Las Vegas Proud Boy Jorge Martinez. Martinez has been active in the Las Vegas “anti-government shut-down” protests and has been referred to as a “fixture at alt-right rallies in Las Vegas.”

The Proud Boys are a neo-fascist, pro-Trump street gang who rallied alongside far-Right neo-Nazis at the deadly 2017 Unite the Right protest in Charlottesville, North Carolina. In early 2018, the SPLC declared them a hate group on the basis of their Islamophobic, transphobic, xenophobic and misogynistic rhetoric.

Jorge is no exception. He has a documented history of supporting posts by fellow neo-Nazi Chaz Grant Labudda. One of the Labudda posts liked by Martinez references Hitler while stating “God created Jesus, Jews Kill Jesus, God Creates Hitler.” Another liked post references a Sieg Heil.

As @RuthlessWe points out, for members of color in the Proud Boys, anti-Semitism is often used as a tool to prove themselves, so it’s no surprise that Martinez would post and promote anti-Semitic propaganda.

Martinez attended and participated in the Re-Open Las Vegas rally on April 18th, sans mask and avoided social distancing recommendations to push back against national and state specific COVID-19 health recommendations.

Ian Hickman, Proud Boy, and Natalie Thomas, Re-Open Organizer, in Las Vegas, Nevada

Other Proud Boys in attendance at the Las Vegas rally include Ian Hickman and Natalie Thomas. Both Hickman and Thomas are staples at pro-Trump events in Nevada, so it’s not entirely surprising that they would show up in support of re-opening Las Vegas during the pandemic as well.

Screenshots posted to antifascist researcher’s twitter account @RuthlessWe show Hickman’s support of QAnon conspiracy theories as well as Islamophobia. While not technically a Proud Boy, given her gender identity, Thomas often posts Proud Boy propaganda and is openly supportive of Proud Boy ideology.

Andrew White, Proud Boy and Re-open Protester in Las Vegas, Nevada

Finally, and thanks to @RuthlessWe, we bring to your attention Andrew White. Like those listed above, White is a member of the Las Vegas chapter of the Proud Boys and was also in attendance at the Re-Open Las Vegas rally. For more on White’s politics, visit this thread.

Colorado Neo-Nazi Proud Boy Shane Reeves Exposed

Colorado Springs Anti-Fascists exposed “neo-Nazi Proud Boy, Charlottesville participant, spouse beater, and anti-lockdown protester Shane Reeves.” According to their research, Reeves has a long rap sheet for “violence against romantic partners,” has long been involved in far-Right and white nationalist politics, is a part of the local Proud Boy scene in Colorado, and is a former member of the Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights (FOAK). A photo of Reeves from Unite the Right has become iconic, as it shows members of FOAK standing around and protecting white nationalist and FOAK leader Augustus Invictus in Charlottesville.

Reeves with other FOAK Members at Unite the Right in Charlottesville in 2017

Reeves was also involved in the recent Re-Open protests and appears to be close with local Proud Boys leader, Louis Huey. Last October, another Colorado based Proud Boy, Zak “Enki” Fox, bragged on social media about working with neo-Nazi groups like the Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP) for joint demonstrations.

Atlanta Antifascists Expose League of the South Member Paul Townsend of LaFayette, Georgia

Atlanta Antifascists exposed League of the South member Paul Townsend as a pro-genocide white supremacist and all-around piece of shit:

Paul L. Townsend, a resident of LaFayette in north Georgia, born in 1964, is an active member of the League of the South (LoS), a white supremacist and Southern secessionist organization. Townsend attended the August 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia with the LoS contingent that was at the forefront of violence that day. Following the Charlottesville rally – in which one counter-protester was murdered and dozens more injured – Townsend stated that he was “proud that I participated in the Charlottesville rally” which he “knew […] would be epic.”

Townsend’s organization, the League of the South, is a longstanding white supremacist and secessionist organization. In recent years, LoS has moved in a paramilitary direction. During 2017-2018, LoS rallied alongside explicitly neo-Nazi organizations as part of the failed Nationalist Front alliance. The LoS leader, Michael Hill of Alabama, has also publicly moved closer to pro-Nazi positions, for example declaring in early 2019 that Hitler’s regime was “the only line of defense in Europe against the spread of Jewish Bolshevism.”

Townsend outdoes even his violent white supremacist organization in genocidal hatred. In May 2018, Townsend proclaimed: “I have now come to the conclusion that ALL muslims, and ALL jews should be exterminated.” On October 27 of that year, a white supremacist murdered eleven people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The following day, Paul Townsend posted to social media: “What say we declare October 27 as ‘pop a jew day’?”

If you have further information about Paul and Launa Townsend or their white supremacist associates, please get in touch.

Deplatforms

Nick Fuentes Kicked Off TikTok

Groyper leader Nick Fuentes joined TikTok this week, only to be booted from the platform after a Daily Dot story detailing his anti-Semitic conspiracy theories was published.

Help the Family of a Fallen Antifascist

Marley, an antifascist and anti-racist skinhead and member of RASH (Red and Anarchist Skinheads) in the Sacramento area has sadly passed away due to health complications. People are raising money for his partner and their child. Donate and share the fundraiser here.

Support Our Prisoners

  • Support Gage Halupowski! Currently serving a six year sentence. More info here.
  • Support David Campbell! Currently serving a year. More info here.
  • Support Eric King! Anarchist and antifascist prisoner who has been targeted by the State and neo-Nazi inmates for being ‘ANTIFA.’ More info here. Donate here.

Share This:

A weekly roundup of the latest and greatest happenings in the anti-fascist world. Each column features a roundup of news, actions, doxxes and current calls to action.

More Like This