cannot do that, and they save lives.”
Katherine is referencing the violence during the Unite
the Right protest in Charlottesville, in which several of the
alt-right demonstrators struck counter-protesters with flag
poles and other improvised weaponry.
Alexandre Baretich, the creator of the Cascadia flag,
says, “I don’t think it’s about the media at all; it’s about
security culture.”
His flag — blue, white and green horizontal stripes
with a Douglas fir — has been co-opted by a local racist
organization, True Cascadia, the mission of which is
to “promote a White ethnic consciousness in the Pacific
Northwest and prevent, as well as reverse, the increasingly
discriminatory policies enacted in opposition to Whites in
our own homelands,” according to its website.
Baretich opposes this use of the Cascadia flag.
“It’s a lot of fear of being doxed and being tapped by
the fascists themselves,” he says. “I think people are afraid
that these hate groups are going to target individuals.”
While Baretich uses that name publicly, there aren’t
any photos of him online. “I don’t want my picture on
Facebook,” he says.
Joe Lowndes is a UO political science professor who
studies right-wing politics in the United States. He says, “I
think that the threats posed by fascists right now are quite
real.” He cites increased violence towards immigrants,
people of color, Muslims and Jews as proof of that threat.
“You have to have your head in the sand to say that
there has not been quite an upsurge in white racist violence
in the streets and white racist organizing with the central
government institutions in the United States.”
Antifascist organizing has grown dramatically to
meet that threat, Lowndes says. “People flocked to antifa
organizations in the thousands.”
And he says antifa tactics are effective. “White
nationalists will sometimes say that the places where they
are able to grow their movements are the places where
there is the least resistance.” Antifascist organizing on
college campuses has made the work of racist groups more
difficult, Lowndes adds.
The media often defines antifa as street militants, he
says, but these groups also do education and community
organizing. And he says antifa is one of the few clear
responses to the frightening threat of fascist organizing.
“Many liberals are turned off by it but a lot of people are
drawn to it,” Lowndes says.
LEE OF SPRINGFIELD ROUGHNECKS
Political Context
antifa is “trying to silence the voices of fascists in their
community. They’re doing so in the name of promoting
safer communities for groups of people that those fascists
might be targeting.”
But violence isn’t the only way of going about that.
Lane Community Defense Network (LCDN) is a
“community support group that can provide resources for
the communities,” according to Ariel Powell-Córdova, who
works with the network. LCDN provides support during
protests and marches, and pulls down fascist propaganda
in Eugene and Springfield.
“A lot of it has been around campus, but there’s also
plenty of it in the Whiteaker, west Eugene, south Eugene;
it’s everywhere,” she says.
Powell-Córdova says fascists put up propaganda to
signal that they control an area and that people of color and
‘Since it is here, it is our responsibility. It’s our problem.
Specifically, it is the problem of white liberals in Eugene.
People of color and LGBTQ people are the victims of this and
they’re also the ones who have to stand up against it.’
— RHEUBEN BUNDY, LANE COMMUNITY DEFENSE NETWORK
Antifa and Violence
Some antifascist organizers also resent that the media
focuses on street protests and defines the ideology by that
violence. The violent Berkeley protest in August garnered
considerable media attention, but organizers say violence
is not representative of antifa in general.
“Antifa is about defense,” Baretich says. “There are
individuals who can be violent in society in general, but
generally speaking antifa is a defense stance.”
“If someone walks in your house and is threatening to
kill you, does knocking the gun out of that person’s hand
count as violence? You take it out of context and it looks
like violence,” Baretich says.
Others say antifa does plenty of work that doesn’t garner
media attention, but still works against fascism. M, who
uses an initial to protect his identity for safety reasons, is
a member of Neighborhood Anarchist Collective. M says
Charlie Landeros, a military veteran and UO-based
activist, considers the propaganda in town to be a direct
threat to the safety of local people of color. “It’s not just a
graffiti problem. It’s a declaration by neo-Nazis of taking
spaces,” he says.
“I believe that there is going to be a high likelihood
of a violent hate crime on this campus from the alt-right,”
Landeros says.
Landeros says he doesn’t identify himself as antifa
because of the connotation of “street brawls with Nazis.’”
Instead, he says, “I am antifascist.”
other vulnerable communities are not welcome in those
areas. “The intent there is to cultivate an area in which it
is safe to be a fascist, safe to be a white supremacist, safe
to be a neo-Nazi,” she says. “That cultivated environment
always precedes an uptick in hate crimes, always precedes
black and brown death.”
She points to a May incident in which a black student
was stabbed on the University of Maryland campus
shortly before graduation. “Around that time University
of Maryland had been experiencing an uptick in white
supremacist propaganda," she says. "That follows the arc
of history pretty well.”
Powell-Córdova says LCDN is a non-violent, antifascist
organization. But, she says, “the reality is that antifascist
organizing is inherently violent. The police are violent, the
imperial military state is violent, white supremacists are
violent. There is no way to escape violence in this work
because that’s what you’re living with.”
Landeros considers Donald Trump a fascist, and points
out that the federal government acts against antifa.
“Antifa is labeled a terrorist group [by the Department
of Homeland Security under President Obama]. That’s a
clear sign of the rise of fascism in this country,” he says.
“The federal government is more aggressive and more
harsh towards people who are against fascists than people
who are Nazis.”
Jen McKinney, chair of Eugene DSA, says, “we’re fighting
on two fronts anyway. We’re fighting white supremacist
organizations, but our government has engaged in suppressing
left behavior.”
McKinney says the DSA is antifascist, though it
organizes on other issues as well. She says Trump fits
“every single characteristic” of fascism.
Antifascist organizing should start at a small scale,
McKinney says. She says everyone should speak up when
they hear racism — that businesses should put up signs
welcoming people of all races, ethnicities, gender identities
and religions. “If you’re able to effect change on that small
scale, you’d be able to drive them out,” she says.
Addressing white supremacy in society is key for
stamping out fascism, McKinney says. “If you don’t feel
comfortable being called a white supremacist, look at why
you’re being called that,” she adds. “Don’t automatically
get defensive about it. Really, really look and think about
why the system is that way.”
Antifascist organizers span a wide range of political
beliefs, including anarchists, socialists, self-identified
revolutionaries and libertarians.
UO student Alice says she was radicalized after the
election of Donald Trump. “I was a pretty active protester
before Trump was elected, but I didn’t really consider
myself antifa until Trump was elected. Like a lot of people.”
There has been a notable rise in alt-right organizing since
the beginning of Donald Trump's campaign, according to the
Southern Poverty Law Center. “The number of hate groups
operating in 2016 rose to 917 – up from 892 in 2015,”
according to the SPLC website. It also documented 867 bias-
related incidents in the first 10 days after Trump’s election.
Though most see growth in the violent rallies that
periodically appear on the nightly news, those same groups
are gathering support and recruiting locally. LCDN’s
Rheuben Bundy says the most common fascist groups that
organize locally are Identity Evropa, Vanguard America,
American Front, True Cascadia and North Western Front.
Each of these groups has its own specific blend of
nationalism, racism and anti-Semitism. North Western
Front calls itself a “political organization of Aryan men
and women” seeking a white nation state in the Pacific
Northwest. True Cascadia has similar goals, while
American Front is a skinhead/neo-Nazi organization.
Identity Evropa is a white supremacist organization, as is
Vanguard America.
“Since it is here, it is our responsibility. It’s our
problem,” Bundy says. “Specifically, it is the problem of
white liberals in Eugene. People of color and LGBTQ
people are the victims of this and they’re also the ones who
have to stand up against it.”
Doxing the Right
Doxing is a online tactic utilized by angry people all
over the internet to harm those they oppose. When a person
is doxed, their real name is revealed to a group of people
that disagrees with them and potentially wishes them harm,
eugeneweekly.com • October 19, 2017
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