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May 6, 20

This Week in Fascism #57: Boogaloo News Bears

Welcome, fellow antifascists! This week, we’ve got Boogaloo accelerationists showing up to ReOpen protests, threatening to shoot the police, getting arrested with pipebombs, and networking with abortion-clinic bombers; antifascists storming the Paris headquarters of white nationalist group Generation Identity; a Proud Boy pulling a knife at a QAnon banner drop; and another surveillance company with hate group ties. Plus, doxxes of Proud Boys and far-Right ReOpen protesters.

Without further ado, let’s begin!

News

Accelerationists Mingle with ReOpen Protests

Across the country, ReOpen protests have begun to attract accelerationists. Often armed, they wear Hawaiian shirts to the protests, a meme referencing the “boogaloo,” or armed struggle against the government that culminates in a race war. (When social media companies began to ban accounts featuring the word “Boogaloo,” adherents began using homonyms, including “big igloo” and “big luau,” which bred the Hawaiian shirt meme.)

Since beginning, the ReOpen protests have served as a meeting point for various factions of the far-Right, including anti-vaxxers, Proud Boys, white nationalists, QAnon conspiracy theorists, and anti-government militias.

In Ohio, the Toledo Blade documented an armed man with Hawaiian shirt, and in Michigan, at least four armed protesters wore Hawaiian shirts. Earlier in April, Texas law enforcement arrested Aaron Swenson, who had been livestreaming on Facebook, claiming that he was about to kill a police officer. In the months leading up to his arrest, Swenson had been sharing multiple boogaloo memes on Facebook. Then, Bradley Bunn, 53, of Loveland, Colorado, was arrested for possession of pipe bombs on Friday, May 1.

Chevy Lee McGee, a 20-year-old protester, posted a Facebook livestream while dressed in a plate carrier emblazoned with the Colorado state flag, noting that he did not have his Hawaiian shit on, claiming that he had been present at one of the raids, possibly of Bunn. He claims that after arriving at the raid, he and his friends had been followed by three unmarked cars.

During the livestream, he drove back to his mother’s house, anticipating a law enforcement presence, asking for “a couple of close buddies [to] pop over to my house in case shit happens, we can have EVAC set up and all that…. I ain’t gonna be caught lacking for exercising my Second Amendment rights. If they want to fucking fight, we can fucking fight.”

“My mom does not like this shit at all. She’s probably going to be really fucking pissed off,” he added. “Local boys and close people, be in the area of my neighborhood. Don’t come up to the house because my mom will call the cops. If we got to slaughter some tyrants today, we’ll slaughter some fucking tyrants.”

“If she wants to call the cops because my boys are showing up to protect me, that’s on her. I love my mom to death but I hope she does not do some dumb shit that will result in a fucking firefight in my fucking neighborhood…. If any Boog boys are in Fort Collins, Loveland, Greely, Wyoming area, be on standby as well. I do have a buddy’s place we can go to if shit does hit the fan, any EVAC, and just hold down for there while everyone else drives and rolls in. That would be great. The only reason I’m going to my house real quick is just to talk to my mom, calm her down.”

During the livestream, he set the phone down outside his mother’s house, but viewers could hear the conversation inside.

“What the fuck are you doing?” his mother yelled at him as soon as he entered the door. “Maybe because you’re posting stupid fucking shit on Facebook. “None of this shit would have happened if you weren’t such a fucking goddamn idiot. Get your shit out of my house now!”

“You need to stop being a fucking sheep,” he yelled back at his mother. “You can not trust these fucking tyrants.”

“Did she say she’s calling the cops?” asked an associate of his via a radio.

“We’ll find out,” McGee replied.

Meanwhile, in Salem, Oregon, healthcare providers opposed ReOpen protests. Wearing masks and appropriately socially distancing, workers appeared in their scrubs, carrying signs that read “Healthcare workers for a safe opening of Oregon. Social distancing has/is saved/saving lives. We care about you! Same goal = healthy people.”

One ReOpen protester at the Salem rally carried a sign reading “COVID-19 is a Lie, Open Oregon.”

In other parts of the country, former far-Right leaders are attempting to use the protests to rehabilitate their images. Pro-gun activist Cody Wilson posted on the Jacobite website, claiming that the government is using the crisis to institute a police state. Wilson is the founder of Defense Distributed, a company specializing in schematics for 3-D printing firearms. In September 2019, Wilson pled guilty to sexually abusing a minor, and is currently a registered sex offender.

Feminist Flag Corps, a group of pro-choice activists, noted that John Brockhoeft posed for a picture with Hawaiian-shirt clad firearm activists at a ReOpen Ohio protest. Brockhoeft is a far-Right activist with the Army of God, a group that planned and enacted the targeted assassinations of abortion providers in the 1980s and 90s.

As the SPLC wrote on the Army of God:

The Army of God (AOG) is the most well-known violent anti-abortion extremist movement in the United States. It advocates violence to combat legal abortions. The AOG was originally formed in October 1988 by a group of anti-abortion extremists who were jailed together after protesting at the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia. However, it claims its first action as early as 1982 when two violent anti-abortion extremists, who later joined the AOG, kidnapped an Illinois abortion provider and his wife.

In 1988, Brockhoeft was arrested for possession of bomb-making materials after making plans to bomb an abortion clinic. He served two years of house arrest. According to the Army of God’s website, “has completed serving several years in prison for closing down abortuaries by means of fire,” referring to the seven years in the 1990s Brockhoeft was jailed for the firebombing of an Ohio abortion clinic.

During his incarceration, Brockhoeft published a regular newsletter, The Brockhoeft Report. The periodical was edited by Shelley Shannon, an Army of God member arrested in 1993 for the attempted assassination of Dr. George Tiller, one of the few doctors in the United States to perform third-term abortions at the time. After shooting Tiller in the arms, Shannon was sentenced to over a decade in prison, later pleading guilty to setting fires at abortion clinics in California, Nevada, and Oregon, for which she received 20 years in prison. In 2009, Tiller was assassinated by anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder.

Anti-abortion activists in the 1980s pioneered the use of doxxing against their political opponents, publishing the names, photos, and home addresses of abortion healthcare providers, in the hopes that their readers would be motivated to injure or kill the medical professionals.

The National Abortion Federation notes that since 1993, “there have been 11 murders and 26 attempted murders due to anti-abortion violence.”

Though antifascist researchers have published hundreds of doxxes since the resurgence of the far-Right in 2016, none have been linked to any murders or attempted murders.

Payment Processors Continue to Assist White Nationalists

Investigative journalist Alex Kotch released a report this week, detailing how online payment processors continue to assist white nationalist groups in fundraising.

Kotch found that DonorBox was assisting three hate groups in fundraising. Though DonorBox has explicit language banning hate groups in its Terms of Service, and banned several groups as a result of Kotch’s inquiry, they had reopened new accounts, again using DonorBox, almost immediately.

Kotch also documented at least nine SPLC-designated hate groups using payment processor Stripe. Stripe’s Terms of Service allow hate groups to use its platform, but ban open calls to violence.

Yet Another Surveillance Firm Found to Have Nazi Ties

In April, a Huffington Post investigation linked facial recognition firm Clearview AI to the far-Right, and this week, yet another surveillance firm has been linked to far-Right activity.

Damien Patton, the CEO of Banjo, a real-time surveillance company that seeks to improve law enforcement response to developing situations, was revealed to be a former white supremacist.

In 1990, Patton acted as the driver for a Ku Klux Klan drive-by shooting of a Tennessee synagogue.

Antifascist Activists Storm Paris Headquarters of Generation Identity

Antifascist activists in Paris staged a nighttime raid on the Paris building housing white nationalist group Generation Identity, best known for attempting to stop refugees at sea from coming into Europe.

A video shows a group of masked, black-clad antifascists ripping down the doors of the hate group and breaking the windows before the video cuts out.

Proud Boys Pull Knife on Protesters at QAnon Banner Drop

Two antifascist activists allege that a man in a Proud Boys baseball hat pulled out a knife and began chasing them after they observed a QAnon banner drop in Seattle this week.

Doxxes

Michael Jeffrey Sparks, Far-Right Activist in Jackson, Michigan

Vigilant AFA exposed Michael Jeffrey Sparks, a far-right activist in Jackson, Michigan.

Sparks was previously exposed by Michiganders Against White Supremacists for his Proud Boys ties. Presently, his social media is adorned with symbols expressing his support for the QAnon conspiracy theory and far-Right militia movement the Three Percenters. Additionally, he posts images of misogynist violence, including a meme with the text “Team Snuff,” depicting a man shooting a naked, bound woman in the back of the head. In April, Sparks attended a Reopen rally in Lansing, Michigan, where various far-Right activists used their cars to blockade a hospital.

Northglenn, Colorado ReOpen Protester Who Screamed at Nurses Exposed

Tamara Sardakowski, a ReOpen protester who screamed “Go back to China” at what appears to be an Asian healthcare provider at a ReOpen Denver rally last week, was identified by Colorado Springs Antifascists.

Sardakowski carried a “Land of the Free” sign and screamed from her car at healthcare workers assembled to counter a ReOpen protest.

Sardakowski Friendly Familiar Grooming, a pet services business, out of her home in Northglenn, Colorado. While the Facebook page for the business appears to have been shut down, Sardakowski’s Yelp listing is still active, if readers wish to review her hate speech against essential healthcare workers.

Joshua Frashuer, 4th Degree Proud Boy in Aurora, Colorado

Colorado Springs Antifascists also exposed Joshua Frashuer, a 4th Degree Proud Boy in Aurora, Colorado, this week. Proud Boys reach the 4th Degree of the hate group after committing an act of violence or being arrested on behalf of the group.

Frashuer has been an active member of the hate group since at least June 2017, when he was quoted in a local paper after attending a Free Speech rally sponsored by the Proud Boys.

Though researchers do not know how Frashuer achieved his 4th Degree, he began claiming the designation on social media in September 2019.

Frashuer uses (((echoes))) on social media to talk about Jewish people, an antisemitic meme with its origins on a neo-Nazi message board.

A bankruptcy filing from March 12, 2020 lists Frashuer as employed at Shamrock Painting, in Denver, Colorado. Researchers also obtained pay stubs, showing that he was paid as recently as March 6, 2020, by the company.

However, when activists reached out to Shamrock Painting, Gina Koert, the owner of the company, claimed that Frashuer “has not worked for my company for almost three months,” despite pay stubs showing that he was employed by the company not even two months ago.

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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.

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