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Dec 8, 20

This Week in Fascism #86: Antifascist Shot in Olympia; Republican Caught Posting Fake ‘ANTIFA’ Ads on Craigslist

photo: @R3volutionDaddy

Welcome fellow antifascists!

This week we’ve got massive mix of news, action, and updates. Far-Right ‘Stop the Steal’ rallies continue across the US and in some cases are evolving into anti-mask and anti-lockdown demonstrations. This week, antifascists also mobilized in several cities to confront them. We also have news of a Republican posing as an antifascist on Craigslist, a far-Right organizer being exposed to their neighbors in the bay area, an infamous neo-Nazi troll reappearing in public after being driver underground, lots of doxxes, news analysis, and more!

With so much to discuss, let’s dive in!

News

Antifascist Shot by Trump Supporter in Olympia as “Stop the Steal” Rallies Continue

The Thurston County Sheriff’s Department has charged Christopher Michael Guenzler with 1st and 2nd degree assault after the suspect fired a gun at Saturday’s protest in Olympia, WA, grazing the torso of an antifascist counter-protester. Guenzler is facing up to 45 years in prison.

The right-wing protest, hosted by Republican state representative Vicki Kraft, began as a “Re-Open WA” rally outside of the state capitol. The attendees were protesting Governor Jay Inslee’s COVID-19 business restrictions, as well as the results of the presidential election. Many rally goers held signs alleging mass voter fraud, and demanded audits of the results.

Following the protest at the capital, violent clashes took place in downtown Olympia. Fist fights broke out and Trump supporters attacked antifascists with paintball rounds, flagpoles, and bear mace. Guenzler was filmed and photographed pointing a pistol at counter-demonstrators multiple times earlier in the day.

During one such scuffle, as Trump supporters sprayed clouds of mace at the antifascists and pelted them with paint-balls, Guenzler was filmed pointing and firing his handgun once into the crowd. The police stood by and watched as the violence erupted, apparently making no moves to separate the protesters. Thankfully, the victim was only grazed by the bullet, resulting in a minor wound.

 

Christopher Guenzler was identified as the shooter following the incident on Saturday. His “likes” on Facebook included several right-wing, pro-Trump, and firearm themed pages.

“Stop the Steal” rallies, many bringing together rank-n-file Trump supporters with white nationalists and groups like the Proud Boys and the Three Percenters, have continued in several major cities across the country. In Salem, Oregon, Trump supporters, conspiracy theorists, and far-Right groups have held demonstrations for weeks, often with full police protection and support against counter-protesters. On Sunday in Salem, an anti-mask protest was also held outside of the home of an OSHA official, showing that the movement in many was has continued to grow and change beyond simply being about Trump. Meanwhile, coronavirus cases have surged by over 20% across Oregon, with rural conservative counties often hit the hardest.

Meanwhile, in Detroit, armed protesters gathered outside the home of Michigan Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson to protest the certification of the election. The crowd chanted “Stop the steal,” and “We want an audit,” alleging that Donald Trump was the rightful winner of the presidency. Despite losing the state by 154,000 votes, Trump has insisted that he won and has continued to boost a barrage of baseless conspiracy theories.

In St. Paul, about 300 Trump supporters gathered at the capitol and the governor’s mansion, and antifascists also arrived to counter-protest, inflicting some damage on the right-wingers’ vehicles. In Sacramento this Saturday, where Trump supporters have rallied every weekend since the presidential election, antifascists marched over 100 strong around the capitol and successfully defended their streets, chasing away the protesters.

Lincoln, NE Republican Caught Posting Antifa Hoax on Craigslist 

A 33-year-old registered Republican in Lincoln, Nebraska was caught posting a fraudulent Craigslist ad in which he claimed to be an “ANTIFA” member searching for paid protesters to cause “as much chaos and destruction as possible” in Lincoln and Omaha. The post was clearly a hoax, with one sentence reading, “Basically we want to cause as much chaos and destruction as possible.” Yet, screenshots circulated throughout the right-wing corners of the internet as proof that “radical leftists“ were planning violence, “to help further” ANTIFA’s “agenda.” In Beatrice, NE the chief of police put officers on standby and the hoax caused a panic when the local Chamber of Commerce posted on their Facebook page about the possibility of destructive protests.

The Lancaster County Sherrif’s Department identified the man, but has not released his name. The ad offered protesters $25 each, but since there was no proof that the man paid anyone, law enforcement simply issued a warning and decided against issuing a ticket for disturbing the peace. According to the police, the man acknowledged that he shouldn’t have posted the fake ad and claimed that he didn’t want to cause “any violence or unrest.”

According to Snopes, the post was created, flagged, and removed on June 1st, 2020. Although the listing was taken down quickly, screenshots continued to circulate on social media days later, and very likely convinced thousands of gullible people that “ANTIFA” was paying protesters to cause destruction. Both the far-Right and the Center, with very little evidence, have pushed the conspiracy theory that antifascists were the cause of George Floyd uprising – an attempt to mask the popular Black led uprising that involved tens of millions of people as simply the work of shadowy outsiders; a conspiratorial view that echos anti-Semitic and anti-Black conspiracies of the past several decades.

Far-Right Organizer Lindsay Grathwohl Exposed to Neighbors in Antifascist Flyering Campaign in Bay Area; Gavin Wax in New York

Far-Right organizer Lindsay Grathwohl, a mainstay at far-Right and Trump rallies across the west coast, was exposed in a flyering campaign to her neighbors in San Lorenzo, California. Grathwohl has worked directly with groups such as the Proud Boys, the American Guard, and white nationalists like Kyle “Based Stickman” Chapman, the former leader of the Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights (FOAK) who marched in Charlottesville, and the current leader of the Proud Boys’ white nationalist offshot, the Proud Goys.

According to a post on Indybay:

Last week, around 100 flyers were sent to the residents of the San Lorenzo neighborhood where Lindsay Grathwohl lives [in] San Lorenzo, CA. A copy of the safety alert mailed to Grathwohl’s neighbors is attached to this post.

Lindsay Grathwohl has associated with violent fascists and neo-Nazis over the course of her work participating in far-right activism. Events that she has organized in the Bay Area have brought out members of groups responsible for the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, VA, such as Identity Evropa and the Proud Boys. Grathwohl herself has admitted to engaging in violence at past political rallies.

For more information about Lindsay Grathwohl, check out the attached alert and/or this article by Northern California Anti-Racist Action (NoCARA): https://nocara.blackblogs.org/2018/12/07/golden-state-skinheads-stabbing-perpetrator-and-connections-to-nor-cal-maga-activists-exposed/

Far-Right Organizer Lindsay Grathwohl of San Lorenzo

Meanwhile in New York, antifascists flyered the neighborhood of Gavin Wax, the President of the NYC Young Republican Club, which has organized events with the Proud Boys. Wax has also appeared on Steve Bannon’s War Room and VDARE’s podcast.

A Look Inside the Police Response to the George Floyd Uprising

New investigative reporting from Unicorn Riot exposes the coordination between law enforcement organizations in the Twin Cities following George Floyd’s killing. Documents obtained by UR revealed that the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, whose aircraft was seen flying above the cities during the uprising, was re-supplying police with “less lethal” riot munitions. The Department of Natural Resources’ Chief Pilot informed law enforcement on May 30th 2020 that they would receive backup in the form of a semi-truck of cargo, a Kodiak aircraft with a 1600 pound capacity, and another aircraft operated by Bemidji Aviation subsidiary, Encore.

According to Unicorn Riot, the DNR and Bemidji Aviation flew in 9,000 pounds of “munitions and supplies,” including tear gas, sponge and foam bullets, launchers, and other equipment, to suppress the protests at the very beginning of the uprising. Unicorn Riot writes, “It is somewhat rare and enlightening to observe the internal machinations of the law enforcement supply chain, particularly how thousands of pounds of munitions can be quickly called up and quietly flown or driven in to be aimed at a grieving community.”

This glimpse into law enforcement’s response highlights importance of drastically defunding, demilitarizing, and eventually abolishing the police. That 9,000 pounds of munitions and riot control gear were deployed just days into the uprising, following the brutal murder of an innocent man by police, shows that the State will stop at nothing to maintain control, making meaningful reform impossible.

ICE Demands BuzzFeed News Hand Over Sources

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has issued a subpoena to BuzzFeed News demanding that they divulge contact information for their confidential sources, a move legal experts warn undermines freedom of the press and First Amendment protections.

The document reads:

Failure to comply with this summons will render you liable to proceedings in a U.S. District Court to enforce compliance with this summons as well as other sanctions,” the document sent to BuzzFeed News reads. “You are requested not to disclose the existence of this summons for an indefinite period of time. Any such disclosure will impede this investigation and thereby interfere with the enforcement of federal law.

ICE’s extensive record of human rights violations is already well documented, and this latest move is yet another example of egregious government overreach. This is also a continuation of the Trump administration’s longstanding pattern of press intimidation. It is no secret that the far-Right’s professed love of “free speech” is based on manufactured outrage and panic rather than true concern for the freedom of individuals or the press in the face of State authority; this latest example of intimidation further proves that both the State and its far-Right cheerleaders have no concern for the rights and liberties of its political enemies.

Neo-Nazi Gabriel Sohier Chaput aka Zeiger Reappears for Court Appearance

One of the Daily Stormer’s most prolific writers, neo-Nazi Gabriel Sohier Chaput, also known by his pen name Zeiger, has reappeared after disappearing from public life in May of 2018 for a court appearance in late November. No Borders Media documented that Chaput was indeed in court on November 24th, where he faced a charge of “wilful promotion of hatred.” Chaput was driven underground by a large public campaign by antifascists that included doxxing, home demonstrations, and large amounts of public flyering. 

Doxxes

Raymond and Heidi VanBuskirk, Racist Trolls Out of Jamestown, New York

Antifascist researchers from the Anonymous Comrade Collective identified two Jamestown, New York racists as Raymond and Heidi VanBuskirk. Both Raymond and Heidi fill their social media with racist content including racist memes, nostalgia for Rhodesia, trolling antifasicst twitter accounts and asking people to visit white nationalist websites.

Trexler Donovan, Racist Found Putting Up Nazi Stickers of Livermore, California

On Wednesday, November 25th, Marin County resident Noah Mohan confronted an out of town visitor putting up stickers with swastikas on them around Fairfax. Mohan filmed that interaction which went viral on social media. According to California ABC 7 News, the police were able to identify and detain the bigot, but refused to release his name.

Antifascist researchers We Will Be Ruthless were able to quickly identify the individual as Trexler Donovan of Livermore, California. Nineteen year old Trexler took down all his social media but not before our comrades were able to capture some older photos of him as well as the license plate of the car he was driving. According to Ruthless, stickers are said to have come from Telegram neo-Nazi Chris Pohlhaus, who we previously covered after he was doxxed by Antifa Garfield.

Christopher Carl Young, Proud Boy and Central Valley Militia Member of Galt, California

Our comrades from Northern California Anti-Racist Action (NoCARA) in collaboration with Antifa Sacramento have finally identified Proud Boy and Central Valley Militia affiliate Christopher Carl Young aka ‘Odin Young’ of Galt, California in Sacramento County. Young has been a familiar presence at far-Right protests since the summer and has shown up 4 out of the last 5 Saturdays at the Capitol in Sacramento to show support for Trump. According to the NoCARA write-up, “All of these rallies have thus far erupted in violence [with] far-Right bullies attacking the unhoused, minors, and random pedestrians.”

Young’s proximity to neo-Nazis is worth noting as well. He has been pictured with Alicia Peterson, who has worked with the Golden State Skinheads and was also observed singing along to a song written by the fascist neo-Nazi group Mannerbund. The song By God We’ll Have Our Home Again, “was originally featured in the handful of podcasts on the Mannerbund website, which also includes articles and imagery explicitly venerating National Socialism (Nazism).”

Young frequently wears a cowboy hat and a combination of Proud Boy branded clothing and has a Thor’s hammer symbol tattooed on his hand. For more information on Christopher Carl Young, head over to the NoCARA’s blog.

Christian Mathias Forsloft, Neo-Nazi DJ of Burlington, Washington

Antifascist researchers at Washington Nazi Watch have identified Pacific Northwest EDM DJ and Burlington, Washington neo-Nazi as Christian Mathias Forsloft. Forsloft DJ’s under the moniker DJ Dark Matter and has been a staple of the PNW EDM scene since 2014. Christian, who goes by ‘Kris,’ produces songs that reference through his music production company “Blag Frog Productions,” and according to Washington Nazi Watch, “Kris promotes his music through Bandcamp and Spotify. Prior to 2020, Kris’s music was apolitical, but starting in January 2020 his music went from repeating mundane right-wing talking points to espousing all-out race war and white supremacy.”

As of November, Kris has produced music that samples George Lincoln Rockwell, the founder of the American Nazi Party as well as Chris Pohlhaus aka ‘The Hammer.’ You’ll recall that Trexler Donovan who we mentioned above got his swastika stickers from Chris Pohlhaus who he’s been connected to since August 2020. Kris has a Telegram channel titled “Dark Matter Waffen” where he posts overtly racist content and references to Hitler.

You can read the full dox here. Washington Nazi Watch is asking folks to please contact Kris’ employer and kindly ask them if they are aware that Kris is a neo-Nazi who creates music and posts content full of violent, virulent racism.

Contact Kris Employer Here: Cortland Company
You can also use the contact form here.
Phone: (360) 293-8488

Christian Mackey, Feuerkrieg Division (FKD) of Grand Prairie, Texas

Antifa Garfield released the identity of former Iron Youth and Feuerkrieg Division (FKD) member Christian Mackey of Grand Prairie, Texas. FKD was presumably founded in Estonia and was an accelerationist group who were inspired by the infamous Atomwaffen Division here in the United States. FKD exists primarily in online spaces where members share a desire for violence, hatred for Jewish people, Black and Brown pepople, and other minorities. Like AWD, FKD also fantasizes about accelerating the world into a violent civil war from which they can create a white ethno-state. Like members of AWD, members of FKD share an similar idolization for James Mason, who wrote Siege, a collection of neo-Nazi newsletters on accelerationism.

Mackey has a large social media presence where, according to Antifa Garfield, he posts racist, misogynistic and violent content including a love for firearms. Antifa Garfield indicates that though FKD and Iron Youth have disbanded and stopped organizing, that Mackey is still active online in ways that are concerning. Mackey presumably lives with his parents in Grand Prairie and community members should be aware of his presence.

Call to Action

Antifascist mobilizations are called this weekend in Olympia, Washington and Washington DC. Folks in DC are also organizing a call-in campaign.

OLYMPIA, WA

WASHINGTON, DC

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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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