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Mar 9, 21

This Week in Fascism #99: More Evidence of Far-Right and Trump Collusion in DC; Call to Support Tenacious Unicorn Ranch

Welcome fellow antifascists!

A much clearer picture of the attempted far-Right coup in DC to install Trump as dictator for life is starting to come together – with GOP officials working hand-in-hand with far-Right gangs like the Proud Boys as well as operatives like Ali Alexander. All this plus more stories, a call to support the trans-run Tenacious Unicorn Ranch, doxxes, and much more!

Let’s dive in!

News

No Charges for Michigan Man Who Intimidated Neighbor With KKK Flag

On March 2nd, The Hill reported that a Grosse Point Park, Michigan man who hung a KKK flag in his window to intimidate his Black neighbor won’t be facing any charges for ethnic intimidation, according to the Wayne County Prosecutors office. Je Donna Dinges reported her neighbor for hanging the flag that faced directly into Dinges dining room on February 16th.

According to The Hill:

The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office announced on Tuesday that there is insufficient evidence to charge the unidentified Grosse Pointe Park man with ethnic intimidation or any other criminal complaint.

Under the Michigan Ethnic Intimidation Statue, there must be physical contact, damage, destruction, defacement of property or threats in order to pursue charges.

Since Dinges felt largely ignored by authorities, with the help of her friends she started a campaign and went to the media. It’s shameful but not at all surprising that the fine print protects Dinges’ racist neighbor from any kind of accountability. For the most recent coverage on this story, follow this link and for the original report, you can read about it here.

J6 Updates: Capitol Rioters with Ties to Trump, Stone Arrested

Frederico Klein was arrested by the FBI last Thursday for his role in the January 6th riots at the Capitol, becoming the first individual with direct ties to the Trump administration charged in the attempted “insurrection.” Klein is a former State Department aide, appointed by Donald Trump, who worked as a tech analyst for Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, then began his work at the department as a staff assistant for the transition team. According to the affidavit, Klein can be seen in footage from the riot wearing a MAGA hat and using a riot shield to obstruct police from closing the doors of the building. Politico writes that, “Klein is charged with several felonies, including assault on police officers, interfering with police during civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding, as well as lesser offenses.”

The World Socialist Website notes that Klein held a top secret security clearance since 2014 before leaving the job in January. Also, an unknown member of the White House was also in communication with a member of the Proud Boys in the days leading up to the siege. They write:

According to the Times’ March 5 article, the unnamed FBI official told the newspaper that the communications gathered by the agency include “location, cellular and call data” showing back and forth communication between the Proud Boys member and the Trump White House. No details on the identity of the Proud Boys member or the White House official involved, or the content of the communications, are given in the article.

According to NBC New York, feds have also arrested Roberto Minuta, the Oath Keeper first identified by CNN as one of Roger Stone’s security guards on the morning of January 6th. Minuta is also being charged for his role in the Capitol siege, although the exact details of the charges are not yet known. Some of Minuta’s private messages were included in Unicorn Riot’s November leaks of the Oath Keeper’s chats, as noted in this thread.

Isaac Sturgeon was also arrested at JFK airport on March 6th after being deported from Kenya following the release of his arrest warrant. He is facing seven separate charges, including obstruction of justice, and faces up to 20 years in prison.

Ali Alexander, the Man Behind the “Stop the Steal” Rallies

More details were released Sunday from the Huffpost about the depth of GOP operative Ali Alexander’s involvement in “Stop the Steal,” culminating in January 6th’s deadly insurrection at the US Capitol in Washington, DC. While many, including It’s Going Down, have reported on Ali over the last few years, the Huffpost”s report shared revealing information about Ali’s ties to far-Right groups, funders and politicians.

The highlights worth mentioning are the allegations including Alexander’s long-term ties to Breitbart, the Tea Party, and especially the GOP. More detail is available on some of the places Ali structured business entities, tax shelters, PACs, Super PACs and dark money to fund the attempted coup, as well as some of the groups involved. Also named are the brands he has used over the years and organizations related, including Blog Bash, CPAC, the Heritage Foundation, Project Veritas, Tea Party Patriots and Breitbart.

There are many names included in article with ties to Alexander. They include politicians like Rep. Paul Gosar, Senator Ted Cruz, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and disgraced former President Donald Trump, as well as right-wing media men like Rush Limbaugh, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Fox New’s Sean Hannity and tech billionaire Peter Thiel, and finally, members of the far-Right including Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes, Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio, conspiracy theorist and white supremacist Mike Cernovich, far-Right Groyper and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, neo-Nazi collaborator and anti-Semite Jack Posobiec, “dirty trickster” and Trump surrogate Roger Stone, and vile Islamophobe and ethno-nationalist Laura Loomer, to name a few.

The article puts together much of the intelligence and reporting compiled by others and offers unique insight as to how deep Alexander is into planning the January 6th insurrection. In 2009, Alexander was involved in Republican organizing. In 2010, Alexander began working closely with the Tea Party, and in the years following became more and more involved with far-Right organizing. His Magnum Opus would be founding “Stop the Steal” in 2018, in response to a close senate race in Florida. HuffPost reports:

Alexander saw an opportunity in Florida, where a tight U.S. Senate race between Democrat incumbent Bill Nelson and the state’s Republican governor, Rick Scott, had gone to a mandatory recount after absentee and provisional ballots narrowed Scott’s lead. Republicans were apoplectic. Scott talked about “unethical liberals” trying to “steal this election.” Trump alleged “election fraud.” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) circulated a conspiracy theory about unmarked vehicles moving fake ballots in the dead of night.

Alexander took to the street. He gathered angry Trump supporters outside the Broward County Supervisor of Elections to protest the recount. The Proud Boys turned out. So did Stone, who’d participated in and claimed to have orchestrated a similar spectacle in 2000 ― the “Brooks Brothers riot,” during which a mob of white Republican operatives tried to force their way into Miami-Dade County polling headquarters and put a halt to the recount in that year’s presidential election.

Alexander used his various platforms and projects to direct hatred toward politicians, journalists and elections. In 2019 he launched a birther smear campaign against Kamala Harris which he frequently tweeted about. Then-president Donald Trump even retweeted one of Alexander’s birther tweets only to eventually delete it. A month later Alexander was invited to a Social Media Summit at the White House.

In September 2020, Alexander began laying the groundwork for a new “Stop the Steal” campaign, one that would inevitably and intentionally lead to the January 6 White Riot at the Capitol in DC and result in the deaths of 6 people during and immediately following the siege. In early November, when it became clear that Trump would lose the election, Alexander rallied his angry followers which consisted of Trump surrogates, QAnon followers, MAGA supporters, militia organizations, white nationalist organizers and neo-Nazis. On January 6th, Alexander addressed the siege via video, “I don’t denounce this.”

Alexander’s ability to network and move through the ranks of the political GOP and far-Right is worth taking a much closer look at. Not only was he able to form his own close connections, but he used his platform to galvanize angry right-wing supporters from across the country to come to the US Capitol and make a fascist coup attempt. For the full story, please consider taking the time to read the article. It’s important that we know who we’re up against.

Laura Loomer Audio Reveals She’s Pro-White Nationalism

Thanks to Eyes on the Right, a three-year-old audio interview has surfaced in which Laura Loomer declares herself a supporter of white nationalism. The conversation took place in December 2017, when Loomer appeared on an episode of Nationalist Public Radio, an alt-right podcast hosted by Amerika.org’s Brett Stevens.

Amerika.org was launched in the early 2000s. Stevens used this platform to hail Osama bin Laden as a “messenger of peace” who was unfairly “maligned in the…Jewish-owned media.” Readers could sign up for his “Death to Israel” mailing list. Following the 2011 Oslo shooting, in which 77 people were murdered, Steven wrote that he was “honored” to have been referenced in Anders Brieivik’s manifesto. In 2016, Stevens became a part of the alt-right, writing about the “Great Replacement,” continuing to peddle antisemitic conspiracy theories, and later using the Iron March forum to recruit.

In the December 17th interview, Stevens tells Loomer that the podcast promotes enthno-nationalism, to which Loomer responds that she does not oppose ethno-nationalism, and even states, “Yes. I’m pro-white nationalism.” She insists that there is a difference between white nationalism and white supremacy, but she does not elaborate on the distinction. She goes on to say that the United States began as a white, “Judeo-Christian” ethnostate, but is now being destroyed by multiculturalism. Loomer, who has long been an open Islamophobe, goes on to say that she is against Jews and Muslims “mixing.” She also claims that anti-Zionist Jews who oppose ethno-nationalism “are not really Jews.” In another clip from the podcast, Loomer says that Palestinians “are not legitimate people,” and that they need to be kept out of Israel by force.

This news is disturbing, but not terribly surprising. Loomer has allied herself with white supremacists for years, and although she now tries to distance herself from overt anti-Semites such as Richard Spencer, she continues to repeat anti-Semitic dog whistles, going so far as to complain about “left-wing globalist Marxist Jews.”

Loomer is expected to run for the House of Representatives in the 2022 election, following her failed candidacy in the 2020 race. Hopefully this new revelation about her sympathy for white supremacy disqualifies her from office.

Paul Gosar Retweets America First Propaganda as Republicans Refuse to Condemn His AFPAC Appearance

House Representative Paul Gosar of Arizona retweeted the white supremacist motto “America First” on Sunday, less than two weeks after speaking at the America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC) hosted by fascist Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. The meme shared by Gosar depicts a sex worker at the window of a man’s car saying “$50 WHATEVER YOU WANT BABY.” In the bottom text, the man replies, “CAN YOU TELL EVERYONE AMERICA FIRST IS INEVITABLE.”

Responding to criticism following his appearance at AFPAC, Gosar issues a weak apology, stating that “white racism” is “not appropriate,” but also defending his choice to collaborate with the Groyper movement and “listen to what they’ve got to say.” Other Republicans refused to comment on their white supremacist colleagues appearance at the conference. As Christopher Mathias writes for the Huffington Post:

“In the week since AFPAC, the Republican Party has yet to rebuke Gosar. HuffPost this week reached out to the offices of seven prominent Republican politicians — including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) — to see whether they would condemn Gosar for attending an explicitly white nationalist conference. None responded. “

Fuentes, who Tweeted a photo of himself and Gosar drinking coffee together at a one-on-one meeting the day following their AFPAC speeches, was present at the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville. He has repeatedly made racist and antisemitic comments on his show, suggesting that racial segregation was better for society, and comparing Jews being burned in the Holocaust to cookies baking in an oven.

DRF Lab writes for Medium that AFPAC was organized almost entirely on Twitter and Telegram, using three key sock accounts created in January and February 2021 with the primary purpose of promoting ticket sales and posting updates on the event. Fuentes and the other accounts seemed to make a coordinated but organic effort to create excitement, support and attendance for AFPAC.

Doxxes

Steven Mark Van Zelst Jr., NSC-131 Member of Boston, MA

Antifa Garfield has exposed Steven Van Zelst, a violent neo-Nazi from Newtown Square, PA, now residing in Boston, MA. According to his social media activity, he recently joined the National Socialist Club, known as NSC-131. In one Telegram chat, he shared an image of a person with their face obscured posing next to graffiti reading “Join your local Nazis.” He appears to take credit for the vandalism, joking, “Look mom I’m famous!” Van Zelst also stated on Telegram that he was caught by Somerville, MA police spray-painting hateful messages featuring racial slurs.

Based on an old, leaked Discord message from years prior, Van Zelst was a self-identified national socialist at age 16, who idolized Hitler and cited SEIGE and Mein Kampf as his most influential texts. He is also a friend of Paul Landolt, known as “Revived,” of the Atomwaffen splinter group Fashlash. Van Zelst was highly active in a Discord chat called “Nazi Shitpost Nexion,” whose subchat titled “The Vlood Zone” was a cesspool of misogynistic, sexual violence. He also showed interest in the El Paso shooter’s manifesto and stated that Black people were better off as slaves. On Telegram, Van Zelst worked with Andrew Dymock of Sonnenkreig Division to create a channel dedicated to posting about and harrassing an underaged cosplayer.

Antifa Garfield asks that readers contact Boston University and inform them that Steven Van Zelst is a threat to the community. He has admitted to multiple acts of racist vandalism despite only living in Boston for months, explicitly endorses fascism, and is dangerously hateful and misogynistic. For more information, read the full thread.

Call for Solidarity

Support the Tenacious Unicorn Ranch

The Tenacious Unicorn Ranch, an autonomous, trans-run, antifascist Alpaca ranch in Southern Colorado is currently being threatened by the far-Right. According to their GoFundMe page:

We are a growing Transgender community in Southern Colorado. Our mission is to help trans and queer folk not only with a place to live but also provide a place to thrive and grow in a vibrant community of like minded queer folk.

The group has been profiled by a wide range of both local and national publications. In the past week, the group posted on Twitter, saying that they have been threatened by far-Right groups and are asked for solidarity. They wrote:

The Tenacious Unicorn Ranch is under attack by local bigots and militia. They have threatened violence, publicly, to us and those that help or associate with us. They have encroach on our property, armed, at night, with the intent to harm those of us that live here. We need help.

Increased threats have made it harder for folks at TUR to continue with their day to day operations and so people are encouraged to donate to the group’s GoFundMe. Folks are also encouraged to stay up on the latest news by following the TUR on Twitter.

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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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