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Jan 19, 21

This Week in Fascism #92: Far-Right Protests Fizzle; More Cops Shown to Have Played Role in Capitol Storming

Welcome fellow antifascists!

As far-Right fallout following J6 continues and state repression increases, pro-Trump protests in the lead up to the inauguration so far have fizzled as DC is flooded with troops and Boogaloo Boys and Proud Boys take snipes at each other in the press and on the streets. This week we cover all the action, look at the ongoing cross over between the far-Right and the police, news updates, doxxes, a call to action in Sacramento, California and more!

Let’s dive into it!

News

National Guard Authorized to Use Lethal Force in D.C., Armed Fascists Expected to Protest

In the lead-up to Joe Biden’s inauguration, authorities have drastically escalated their preparation for violence and unrest in the wake of the violent siege of the U.S. Capitol on January 6th. According to reporting by Newsweek, 20,000 Guard troops will be stationed in D.C. on January 20th, amounting to four times the number of troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. The Guard forces will be armed and have been authorized to use lethal force, according to U.S. News, whereas they previously served in an “unarmed support role” in D.C.

Earlier this week, photos circulated showing Guardsmen sleeping on the floor of the Capitol between shifts, a striking reminder of both the unprecedented threat of politically motivated far-Right violence currently faced in this country, and the sheer power and force invoked by the state apparatus when its power is threatened.

In addition to the enormous military presence, a massive, 12-foot wall was erected outside of the Capitol buildling in preparation for the inauguration.

News of this unprecendented military response comes amidst a chaotic wave of plans for protests, marches, and armed sieges as the 20th draws nearer. Earlier this week, the FBI released a memo warning that armed marches on all 50 state Capitols were being planned for inauguration week. The bulletin reads:

“Armed protests are being planned at all 50 state capitols from 16 January through at least 20 January, and at the US Capitol from 17 January through 20 January […] On 8 January, the FBI received information on an identified group calling for others to join them in ‘storming’ state, local and federal government courthouses and administrative buildings in the event POTUS is removed as President prior to Inauguration Day. This identified group is also planning to ‘storm’ government offices including in the District of Columbia and in every state, regardless of whether the states certified electoral votes for Biden or Trump, on 20 January”

However, members of the far-Right are having trouble agreeing on the movement’s next steps following their assault on the Capitol. The various factions of pro-MAGA protesters are split on whether “patriots” should protest at their state capitols, congregate for the “Million Militia March” in Washington D.C., or avoid the events altogether.

The call to action for the Capitol Hill event suggests that the QAnon-supporting groups behind it’s organization are planning for another violent coup attempt. The announcement reads:

Millions of American Militia will meet in Washington, D.C., on January 20, 2021 for the purpose of preventing any attempt by the treasonous domestic enemy Joe Biden, or any other member of the Communist Organized Crime Organization known as the Democratic Party, from entering the White House belonging to We The People.

In the event that justice is miraculously served and our Re-Elected President Donald J. Trump is sworn in: The President, the capital and our National Monuments will be protected from the proven-violent Leftist insurgents who have declared war on the United States of America and have been committing a massive insurrection in the United States of America.

A similar D.C. event called the “Million Martyr March,” in honor of Ashli Babbit, was also promoted on Parler. Proponents of these national events have dismissed the call to gather at state capitols, calling them distractions and false flags, or, in the words of one Telegram user, a “sinister plot hatched by radical left.” The Booglaoo Boys attempted to organize their own event on the 17th, then immediately tried to cancel and distance themselves from the action, claiming that it had received too much media attention. However, they continued suggesting to illegally carry firearms if they were planning on attending. Others, including InfoWars host Alex Jones, believe that the inauguration week rallies are ploys by the radical left to trick Trump supporters into committing acts of violence -an obvious grift by Jones, designed to paint any potential far-Right violence as the work of antifascists of the Left.

In Salem, OR, where armed fascists have been congregating regularly since protesters stormed the Statehouse during a special legislative session in December, officials boarded up the building in advance of Sunday’s planned marches.

On Sunday afternoon, about 20 Boogaloo Boys and right-wingers gathered at the state capitol, many of them armed, and some wearing all black, in an apparent attempt to mimic black bloc. According to reporters on the ground, the protesters were outnumbered by press.

A small group of armed protesters also gathered outside of the capitol in Lansing, MI on the 17th. Apparently, this group Boogaloo Boys also received the memo to use left-wing and anarchist symbolism, with one attendee wearing a Pride flag, another dressed in a BLM hoodie, and one protester waving an anarchist black flag. The individual with the Pride flag gave an ideologically confused speech to the press, in which he cast Black Lives Matter protesters, antifascists, and right-wing militias as allies against a tyrannical government. Boogaloo supporters also rallied outside of capitol buildings in Ohio, New Hampshire, and Arizona, numbering no more than two dozen at each rally.

According to documents published by Left Coast Right Watch, Boogaloo adherents have encouraged their followers to present themselves as supporters of left-wing causes in an attempt to engage in entryism. Boogaloo chats leaked by Unicorn Riot show that the subculture is made up largely of far-Right, Right libertarian, and “anarcho”-capitalist accerlerationists who mix opnely with white nationalists and crypto-fascists.

Meanwhile, in Washington D.C. this weekend, a 22-year-old Trump supporter was arrested near the Capitol for illegally carrying a Glock 22, three high-capacity magazines, and 37 rounds of unregistered ammunition. A Connecticut woman stopped at a security checkpoint was also arrested for impersonating a police officer.

On Sunday evening, it was announced that officials were concerned about a possible insider attack inside the Capitol, prompting the FBI to vet the hoards of National Guard troops present in Washington for inauguration week.

On Monday, in Richmond, Virginia, Boogaloo Boy leader Mike Dunn led a small group of Boogaloo followers for “Lobby Day,” which a year ago brought out tens of thousands of anti-gun control activists. Boogaloo supporters denounced the Proud Boys in the press, stating that they were a racist group and refused to march with them.

Fascist Organizations Receive Large Bitcoin Donation, Media Draws Unfounded Connection to Capitol Riots

According to Yahoo News, a simultaneous transfer of a total of 28.15 Bitcoins (equal to $522,000) was made to 22 far-Right personalities and organizations on December 8th 2020. Nick Fuentes, leader of the “groyper” movement, received the largest donation, amounting to a staggering $250,000. Other recipients included white nationalist website VDARE, Alt-Right GamerGate misogynist Ethan Ralph, fascist-friendly social media platform Gab, white supremacist organization American Renaissance, Holocaust denier Vincent Raynouard, neo-Nazi messageboard The Daily Stormer, and Patrick Casey, leader of the white supremacist organization the American Identity Movement (formerly known as Identity Evropa).

The cryptocurrency researchers at Chainalysis write:

[T]his multi-recipient donation made December 2020 the single biggest month we’ve ever observed in terms of cryptocurrency received by addresses associated with domestic extremism. Still, this donation isn’t a one-off. The data shows that domestic extremists have been receiving a steady stream of cryptocurrency donations since 2016.

The donor was revealed to be a French computer programmer named Laurent Bachelier. The cryptocurrency comes from a French exchange, and was passed through an intermediary wallet that first became active in 2013, associated with the username “pankkake.” Through this information, Chainalysis was then able to locate the fascist donor’s personal blog. On December 9th, the day after the donation was made, a suicide note appeared on the blog, scheduled to be published immediately after his death, in which Bachelier states that he had taken his own life due to his struggles with severe chronic illness. He writes that he “decided to leave his modest wealth to certain causes and people” whose efforts he believed in. He also expressed his concern that, “Western civilization is declining,” and repeated other far-right conspiracy theories. Bachelier’s death was later confirmed by AP News.

Because the donation took place almost exactly one month before the violent siege of the Capitol in Washington D.C., media outlets have speculated that the transfer was connected to the January 6th riots. We have seen a slew of misleading headlines, some stating outright that the donor had funded the siege’s organizers and sent money to rioters. Mainstream coverage of this story has failed to mention that only one known recipient, Nick Fuentes, promoted and appeared publicly at the January 6th riot on Capitol Hill. Fuentes denies entering the Capitol building. Another recipient, Patrick Casey, claims to have been in attendance according to information in this thread by Twilight Zone AFA, but his organization, the American Identity Movement, dissolved in November of 2020 and he is a largely irrelevant figure. We are not aware of proof that any other known recipients of this Bitcoin donation were present at the Capitol Hill mob, let alone that they helped to organize or even promote the event.

The evidence suggests that Bachelier was not some massively wealthy figure attempting to sway U.S. politics on behalf of some foreign interest, as some commenters have implied. He was a chronically ill, suicidal man whose dying act was to donate the entirety of his small fortune to fascists who shared his abhorrent beliefs. His suicide note contained a reference to the 14 Words, a Nazi slogan coined by David Lane, founder of violent white supremacist group The Order. He gave money to Holocaust deniers and self-identified white supremacists, and a quick glance at the list of recipients suggests he believed in a very different strain of fascism than the average Trump-supporting attendee of the January 6th riot.

If the Left wants to combat the dangerous disinformation leading to mass-radicalization on the far-Right, we must commit to getting our facts right. We should take care not to mirror the Right’s tendency to dismiss mass movements as orchestrated plots by “elites” or the “deep state,” because doing so erases our enemies’ agency and obscures their true motives.

Report Shows Right-Wing Bias in Policing and Military; Growing Number of Cops Found to Have Taken Part in J6

Researchers from Princeton and the Armed Conflict and Event Data Project have released data collected through the US Crisis Monitor that show law enforcement officers are three times more likely to use force against leftist protesters than against right-wing protesters. The project monitors violence all over the world and has been especially tapped into the ongoing response to escalating police violence in the United States. Over the last 10 months, police have used pepper spray, teargas, flash grenades, and beatings at alarming rates toward antifascist and anti-racist protesters, especially as compared to the response to right-wing and far-Right protesters.

According to The Guardian:

The statistics, based on law enforcement responses to more than 13,000 protests across the United States since April 2020, show a clear disparity in how agencies have responded to the historic wave of Black Lives Matter protests against police violence, compared with demonstrations organized by Trump supporters…

Police used teargas, rubber bullets, beatings with batons and other force against demonstrators at 511 left-wing protests and 33 right-wing protests since April, according to updated data made public this week.

The Guardian compared the percentage of all demonstrations organized by left-wing and right-wing groups that resulted in the use of force by law enforcement. For left-wing demonstrations, that was about 4.7% of protests, while for right-wing demonstrations, it was about 1.4%, meaning law enforcement was about three times more likely to use force against left-wing versus right-wing protests.

ACEDP’s data not only shows that law enforcement were more likely to intervene in leftist protests, they were also more likely to intervene regardless of whether the action was deemed peaceful or not. The article goes on to point out that, “American law enforcement agencies made arrests or other interventions in 9% of the 10,863 Black Lives Matter and other left-wing protests between 1 April 2020 and 8 January, compared with only 4% of the 2,295 right=wing protests.”

A recent article for The Appeal reports:

In Maricopa County, 15 people who attended a Black Lives Matter protest where traffic cones were knocked down are being charged with rioting, aggravated assault, and assisting in a criminal street gang, all serious felonies that could land them in prison for decades. The gang charges are based only on the fact that the group carried umbrellas, wore black, and used the phrase “all cops are bastards.” The 15 Black Lives Matter protesters were forcibly arrested on the night of the protest. One was shot with pepper bullets; another spent two weeks in jail.

This kind of response to anti-racist protesters is in stark contrast with the charges that those who stormed the Capitol are facing. Leftist protesters have to worry about whether or not they will make it home from an action and confront the very real possibility of heavy charges and nights in jail while far-Right protesters who participated in the White Riot were mostly able to safely make it back to their hotels, even though the event resulted in 5 deaths, including the outright murder of a police officer.

These statistics, while alarming, are not surprising. Especially when taking into context the cause for most of the protests that leftists have been involved in since June of 2020 is a direct response to racialized police violence. A separate article published by The Guardian, details a problematic overlap between members of the far-right and law enforcement. Since the White Riot at the United States Capitol in DC, many members of law enforcement were identified as participants in the siege. Researchers and activists alike have been sounding the alarm at far-Right ideology embedded in police culture for years, but little to nothing has been done in response to the radicalization of members of law enforcement.

According to the article:

So far, several on-duty Capitol police officers have been suspended for allegedly supporting rioters, and two off-duty Virginia officers were arrested after boasting on social media about breaching the Capitol. A Houston officer caught inside the building has since resigned, and the police departments of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Philadelphia and other cities are investigating whether their employees attended.

The far-Right radicalization of police officers is dangerous on multiple fronts, including their continued protection of members of the far-Right who seek to harm marginalized people. The overlap of far-Right and state violence is compounded and provides extra safety for the those who subscribe to fascist ideology. There have been documented cases where members of the far-Right have attacked and assaulted leftist protesters, and the police response is to investigate the victims instead of the attackers, going so far as to press criminal charges against the victims.

In another instance of an officer’s membership to a far-right organization:

…in 2019, Rob Mathis, a Black resident of Muskegon, Michigan, exposed a white police officer who had a framed KKK application and Confederate flags in his home. Mathis, 54, discovered the items while touring the home with a real estate agent. The officer was eventually fired, but ultimately won his pension and retiree health insurance.

Historically and presently, it seems that even when an officers far-Right affiliations come to light, that little to nothing is done about it, indicating that the state does not choose to prioritize the ongoing threat of far-Right radicalization among law enforcement. In leaked data from the social networking app and far-Right cesspool Parler, location data shows members of law enforcement as well as military personnel were active in the chats that were planning up to the White Riot.

Gizmodo reports:

Location data gleaned from thousands of videos posted on the social network Parler and extracted in the days before Amazon restricted access to app this week, reveal its users included police officers around the U.S. and service members stationed on bases at home and abroad.

Parler is known as a hub for far-Right and neo-Nazi ideologies as well as having a practically non-existent hate speech stance. Parler played an instrumental role in organizing and galvanizing members of the far-right, from Proud Boys to neo-Nazis, militia members, QAnon followers and MAGA supporters. The messaging app provided the platform for a coordinated, violent effort to storm the Capitol. Since the White Riot, Parler was booted from massive platforms including Amazon, Apple and Google as well as Twilio, Parler’s cloud communication system. When the platform was dropped by Twilio, it provided a giant hole in security allowing all of the data to be scraped. Since the data leak, activists and law enforcement have been combing through to identify participants of January 6th. It is likely that the overlap of law enforcement, policing and far-Right radicalization will become more apparent and our efforts to address the three-way-fight will become even more vital to protecting our communities.

Kyle Rittenhouse Parties with Proud Boys, Prosecutors Seek to Modify Bond Agreement

According to TMJ-4, Kyle Rittenhouse and his mother were seen in a Wisconsin bar called Pudgy’s Pub on January 5th. The 18-year-old, who had just plead not guilty to homicide charges after killing two people and injuring a third at an August 2020 protest in Kenosha, WI, arrived at the bar wearing a t-shirt that read “Free as Fuck.” In addition to his mother, he was accompanied by several others who posed for photos while flashing the white power sign, and “loudly serenaded” him with the Proud Boys’ theme song (“Proud of Your Boy” from Disney’s Aladdin).

Following Rittenhouse’s release from Kenosha County Chail on $2 million bond, prosecutors and now looking to modify his bond agreement, adding the following changes:

  • The defendant shall be prohibited from possessing or consuming alcohol.
  • The defendant shall not be present in any establishment where alcohol is served.
  • The defendant shall be prohibited from making any public display of any “white power” or “white supremacy” signs, symbols, or hand gestures.
  • The defendant shall have no contact with any known militia members or known members of any violent white power/white supremacist groups or organizations, including but not limited to the group identified as the “Proud Boys.”

Rittenhouse’s final pre-trial court date will occur on March 10th.

Doxxes

Jamison and Sebastian Starks, Capitol Rioters from Lake Forest, IL

Thanks to the work of a tipster, Panic! in the Discord has released the identity of a member of the Capitol Hill mob, Jamison Starks of Illinois. Like a genius, Starks livestreamed his participation in the violent D.C. protest to his Facebook page, and the video was later archived. In the video, he can be heard referring to his children by name, and is seen lifting them over the fence, allowing them to trespass on Capitol grounds. His wife Deanna is not visible in the footage, but Jamison can be heard speaking to her in the background.

Nearly ten minutes into the video, the family gets word that rioters have broken into the building, prompting the family to chant “USA! USA!” and “Our house! Our house!” Just minutes later, the children’s voices can be heard suggesting that they storm the building again, and their parents express their support for this idea.

Digging into Stark’s identity, Panic! in the Discord discovered that he previously signed a petition against changing Lake Forest High School’s racist, anti-indigenous mascot. Jamison works at United Airlines and National Fleet

Action Items: Please reach out to United Airlines and National Fleet, and ask them to hold Starks accountable for his involvement in the siege of the U.S. Capitol.

For more information, see Panic! in the Discord’s full thread here.

Sebastian Starks

Sebastian Starks is an 18 year old graduating senior at Lake Forest High School. A video streamed on Facebook by his father, Jamison Starks proves that he was also present at the Capitol on January 6th. 46 seconds into the footage, Jamison can be heard saying, “Go get ’em, Sebastian!,” encouraging his son to approach the building.

Sebastian was a member of his high school’s wrestling team, and is a prospective film student at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Call to Action

On Wednesday, antifascists are rallying in Sacramento, California against continued far-Right and pro-Trump rallies which have attacked members of the local community for months.

From Antifa Sacramento:

On Thursday, January 14th, Governor Newsom announced that he will be deploying 1,000 troops from the California National Guard to Sacramento from the 16th to the 20th to “protect the Capitol and other critical infrastructure.” On January 20th, we will be marching against far-right terror with the rest of our community. We will not be deterred by the National Guard or any members of the far right who wish to stand in our way. “We Keep Us Safe” is more than just a slogan: neither the National Guard nor the police have our best interests at heart. Their priority will be (and has always been) to protect property over people’s well-being. We have seen this through the summer in the George Floyd uprisings, and through the fall with the repeated right-wing demos that have brought terror and violence to our city.

The fact that one figurehead is being traded for another on the 20th does not matter to us. This does nothing to combat the white supremacy that the US was built on, and does nothing to stop its current white supremacist project. While we do not care about the damage done to the Capitol building in DC on January 6th, we recognize it as an outgrowth of the racist rage that has been building and organizing for years. The Right is capable of an immense amount of violence–we have seen this in our own city throughout the fall and now winter.

We know that we cannot rely on the state to protect us. Instead, we must turn to each other and defend our community through solidarity and direct action. We have done so on December 5, 2020, and we will do so again. In that spirit, we invite everyone who opposes far-right violence to stand with us on Inauguration day. What already has begun continues on Wednesday, January 20th. Together, we continue to push back and build towards the day the far-right can never return to the streets of Sacramento.

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Support Our Prisoners

  • Support those arrested during the ongoing rebellion! Check out list of bail funds here.
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  • Support Bay Area anti-racist Adroa Anderson, who is facing charges following a rally against the Proud Boys in San Francisco. Donate to the Black and Brown Legal Defense and Community Give Back on cashapp: $F12UNITY
  • 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.

photo: @MnUrising

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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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