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May 13, 19

This Week in Fascism #9: The Alt-Right and Stochastic Terrorism

Welcome, fellow anti-fascists! This week, we’ve got a follow-up to last week’s explainer on mass shootings; more doxxes, deplatforms, and anti-fascist actions; plus, how you can help continue a campaign to deplatform Christofascist Joey Gibson and his group, Patriot Prayer. Without further ado, let’s jump in!

Explainer: What is “Stochastic Terrorism”?

Last week, Telegram user @pnehlen, the same handle used on his now-banned Twitter and Gab accounts by Paul Nehlen, posted about how to create more mass shootings by the far-right. “[W]e must Saint every shooter, every willing participant who balls up their fist and unleashes a torrent of punishment upon the n*****s, k***s, and h****s that dare to fuck with the White race.”

So after covering mass shootings last week, this week’s question is, “What is ‘stochastic terrorism’?”

Mark Hamm and Ramon Spaaij’s The Age of the Lone Wolf Terrorism defines “stochastic terrorism” as “the use of mass media to provoke random acts of ideologically motivated violence that are statistically predictable but individually unpredictable.”

After being banned from Gab for posting, “”If you killed the 50 loudest Leftists in the United States, especially if you didn’t get caught, and continued killing, these people would shut their stupid fucking asshole mouths, and that would save a lot of lives,” Radical Agenda host Christopher Cantwell took to encrypted chat service Telegram, which features public channels, like the one screenshotted above by writer and activist Molly Conger.

And as the members of Cantwell’s Telegram chat openly admit, “That’s the thing about memes with Jews. Does it matter if they’re true? Their consequences are pogroms and that’s what matters at the end of the day.”

The goal of stochastic terrorism is not to spread any particular ideology, but to incite random acts of violence against members of targeted groups.

This is exactly why anti-fascists deplatform fascists at all levels, even when liberals may argue that, “They have no following” or, “They’ll never get any real power.” Even if they’re not capable of building a mass movement, as long as stochastic terrorists like Paul Nehlen and Christopher Cantwell have access to mass forms of communication, they are likely to inspire individual acts of mass violence.

Doxxes

Monday, May 6, 2019

Panic! in the Discord exposed another member of the white nationalist group Identity Evropa, recently rebranded as the American Identity Movement. Shaun M. Williams, of Cincinnati, Ohio, recently disrupted a book talk in Washington, D.C., alongside other AmIM members. Like many others in the alt-right, he came to the movement via gender politics. Archives show Williams writing for pickup artist Roosh V.’s Return of Kings site as early as 2013, using the pseudonym Giovanni Dannato. Williams is believed to work at Loram Maintenance of Way, Inc. as a technician or electrician’s apprentice. You can contact them at 1-800-328-1466 or email their Human Resources department via their online contact form.

Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Atlanta Antifascists outed Savannah, Georgia, couple Arieana Love and Ryan Burchfield as white nationalists. Love is currently a member of the Georgia National Guard, 1st Battalion, 118th Field Artillery Regiment. You can contact the Georgia state Joint Force Headquarters to report Love by calling 678-569-6060.

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

R. Kevin Stone, a parole officer in Chatham County, North Carolina, was outed by Twitter user @readkropotkin as a member of the Neo-Confederate group Sons of Confederate Veterans. And in the above photos, his vest is patched with the lambda insignia of the neo-Nazi Shieldwall Network. You can contact the North Carolina Division of Adult Probation and Parole by calling 919-542-2552, or by using their online contact form.

AnonymousComrade exposed Kevin Metzler of Pinellas, Florida, as a member of the neo-Nazi Patriot Front. As of 2018, Metzler worked as a mechanic at Suncoast Jeep Dodge, in Seminole, Florida. You can contact them by tweeting @SuncoastCJDR, or by filling out their online contact form.

Thursday, May 9, 2019

A video went viral depicting Riley Grisar, President of the Las Vegas chapter of Turning Point USA, saying “White power! Fuck n*****s!” while giving “OK” sign associated with the alt-right. Turning Point USA issued a statement, saying “we swiftly and permanently removed the student from any current or future involvement with our organization.”

Thought Turning Point USA is popularly portrayed as a classical conservative organization that promotes free markets among its youth membership, a 2017 New Yorker article accused the group of racial bias and possibly even election interference. A February 2018 speaking engagement from TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk saw the neo-Nazi Traditionalist Worker Party show up to attack protesters. In February 2019, TPUSA’s Director of Communications Candace Owens, made controversial comments about Hitler, saying, “Whenever we say “nationalism”, the first thing people think about, at least in America, is Hitler. You know, he was a national socialist, but if Hitler just wanted to make Germany great and have things run well, OK, fine. The problem is that he wanted—he had dreams outside of Germany. He wanted to globalize.”

Panic! in the Discord released their second dox of the week, exposing Rostislav Marsov, the leader of Generation Identity Russia. Generation Identity is a hypernationalist Identitarian movement most prominent in Europe, but with international crossover in majority-white states. Hallmarks of the movement include opposing immigration, as well as promoting conspiracy theories about “white genocide” and “the great replacement,” which the Generation Identity website defines as “[u]nhindered mass immigration and the islamization which comes as its consequence…. Low birth rates of German and European people and simultaneous massive Muslim immigration will turn us into minorities in our own countries in a few decades.”

In the March 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings, in which a far-right gunman attacked two mosques, killing 52 people and leaving 50 injured, the gunman left behind a manifesto entitled “The Great Replacement.” Echoing the Generation Identity rhetoric, the manifesto begins, “It’s the birthrates. It’s the birthrates. It’s the birthrates.” In the days following the attack, was revealed that Martin Sellner, the leader of the Austrian Generation Identity movement had received a €1,500 donation from the Christchurch shooter. Sellner is currently engaged to American alt-right figure Brittany Pettibone.

Deplatforms

Milo Yiannopoulos, a far-right commentator whose 2017 college speaking tour outed trans and undocumented students, exposing them to harassment, was banned after just three minutes on cryptocurrency processor Coinbase.

Last Wednesday, VICE revealed that the city of Hamilton, Ontario had been employing former Heritage Front leader Marc Lemire in its IT department for well over a decade.  Heritage Front is a notorious Canadian neo-nazi group known for not just its violence, but its pioneering use of the internet to recruit and spread propaganda under Lemire’s influence. On Thursday, the city council met behind closed doors and promised to thoroughly investigate both Lemire, and the city’s apparent collusion to hide his identity.

https://twitter.com/leftkist/status/1127333785689776128

Following the announcement of a $1 million lawsuit against Joey Gibson and 30 unnamed individuals, Patriots United organizer David Willis has announced that he’s taking a break from organizing.

On Thursday, just a day before they boarded a plane for Albany, NY to protest some kooky story about aborting babies after they’re born, Haley Adams’ group Portland’s Liberation, a splinter group of Joey Gibson’s (who also attended) Patriot Prayer, had the funds that were supposed to pay for their trip yanked by GivingFuel.

And on the same day, anti-fascist activists successfully pressure payment processor Stripe into dropping Joey Gibson and Patriot Prayer as a client.

https://twitter.com/witlessX/status/1127404793180368902

Attendance at the event consisted of three losers from the Pacific Northwest, some boomers, and short of a dozen Proud Boys which included several Honkler clowns.

Actions

At Sacramento State, American Identity Movement flyering led to an information campaign by Antifa Sacramento, explaining the Identity Evropa rebrand’s positions and inviting collaboration against its propaganda and actions. Useful anywhere the American Identity Movement operates. (Note: AIM™ is a trademark of the American Indian Movement.)

After verifying his address, antifascist activists in Portland posted flyers about Patriot Prayer fascist Ian Kramer around his neighborhood, warning neighbors about how a trained martial artist who attacks people in the streets resides in their midst. Kramer attacked someone outside Portland’s Cider Riot on May Day with a baton, fracturing their vertebra and triggering a lawsuit by Cider Riot.

Call to Action

Last week, anti-fascists won a victory, successfully pressuring payment processor Stripe to drop Joey Gibson and Patriot Prayer as a client. However, to keep the pressure up, they need your help again, this time to get web host GoDaddy to drop Patriot Prayer’s site.

ACTION

Send an email to [email protected] asking that GoDaddy drop Patriot Prayer’s website, GibsonForFreedom.com, from its domain registrar and web hosting services.

SAMPLE EMAIL

Dear GoDaddy–

According to the GoDaddy Terms of Service, you reserve the right to terminate services to any site that “[p]romotes, encourages or engages in terrorism, violence against people, animals, or property.”

I believe a website you’re hosting, GibsonForFreedom.com, is in violation of these terms. That site is the website for the far-right group Patriot Prayer, and solicits donations to fund their activities.

I encourage you to review a list of Patriot Prayer’s violence, and determine whether or not this violates your Terms of Service.

  • In 2017, Patriot Prayer associate Jeremy Christian murdered two people on a train, screaming slurs about Muslims just prior to the act.
  • On June 30, 2018, Portland police revoked Patriot Prayer’s permit to rally after declaring their event a “riot.”
  • Just a month later, on August 4, 2018, members of Patriot Prayer established a “sniper’s nest” on the rooftop of a garage overlooking a rally site, from which they planned to shoot protesters.
  • On October 6, 2018, Joey Gibson was the featured guest at a Resist Marxism rally in Providence, RI, where members of the Proud Boys waded into a crowd of protesters to attack people.
  • On October 13, 2018, Gibson took a “flash march” to downtown Portland, where the group assaulted anyone they deemed a leftist.
  • In January 2019, Patriot Prayer showed up at a DSA meeting at a Union Hall, attempting to start fights with members. Days later, they returned to vandalize the union hall.
  • Just days after that, Patriot Prayer associate Reggie Axtell threatened Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, saying, “I’m coming for you, you little punk.”
  • On May 1, 2019, Joey Gibson and Patriot Prayer surrounded Cider Riot, a Portland bar, where leftist activists were holding a party. Patriot Prayer associate Ian Kramer smashed a baton into the back of a young woman’s head, knocking her unconscious. For their actions that day, Gibson and Patriot Prayer are currently being sued for $1 million.

I’m writing today to ask you to enforce your Terms of Service and drop GibsonForFreedom.com from your clients. Even viewing this incomplete list, Patriot Prayer clearly “promotes, encourages or engages in terrorism, violence against people, animals, or property.”

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

Best,

[Your Name]

Show Your Solidarity

Fundraisers are being set up for Jock Palfreeman, an Australian antifascist political prisoner who is sadly serving a 20 year sentence on trumped up murder charges in Bulgaria for defending two Roma people from some neo-Nazis. Support here.

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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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