By David Futrelle
Yesterday, at an alt-right “Patriot Prayer” rally in Vancouver, Washington, the driver of a Confederate-flag-bedecked truck sped backwards into a group of AntiFa counterprotesters; luckily those in his path were able to jump out of the way.
Here’s how Willamette Week described the incident:
A black Chevy Silverado with Oregon plates and two large American flags and several small flags hanging from its windows (along with a Confederate flag decal displayed on the back window of the cab) drove up to the marchers. It was driving slowly down a street flanked by people dressed in black bloc clothing.
As the crowd parted to clear the way for the truck to move forward, protesters filled the street behind it and started throwing rocks and water bottles at the truck.
The driver suddenly put his vehicle in reverse and accelerated toward the protesters. As he sped up, people jumped out of the street.
The driver continued to drive in reverse for nearly a block, stopping at the next intersection and revving his engine.
The incident was captured on video by journalist Mike Bivins; unfortunately the camera angle makes it hard to see what was going on behind the truck as it backed up.
Whoa, dangerous stuff. People throwing stuff at this truck pic.twitter.com/9PJvK31euB
— Michael (@michaelbivins44) September 10, 2017
Shortly afterwards the truck was pulled over by police, the driver was briefly detained, then released without charges.
The driver was apparently quite pleased to remain a free man, posting a brief video of himself literally wrapped in the American flag and shouting out “no arrest for this proud [unintelligible] patriot!” His brother went on to praise his actions on Facebook, as Mother Jones journalist Shane Bauer noted in a tweet.
https://twitter.com/shane_bauer/status/907282637747716096
Despite the obvious similarity to the car attack in Charlottesville that left antifascist activist Heather Heyer dead, this incident has gotten almost no coverage in the media. Given that Wilson faced essentially no repercussions for what he did, I suspect it won’t be long before we see this terroristic tactic used again by someone else on the far right.
@TheKND Yup.
I’m assuming that was a ‘Damn you, autocorrect!’ moment? 😉
IOW, civil war.
this time, your government isn’t even going to TRY to stop it.
hell, they appear to be hell bent on ENCOURAGING it.
You would be following in the footsteps of MLK for one.
Terrorist, probably ISIS! Detain him, if you don’t shoot him first, charge him with any and everything. Stoke the fires, grease the machine. We’ve always been at war with Westasia… Oh, he’s white… nevermind…
Fuck cars
@Ichthyic
Shh! We’re not supposed to talk about THAT part of King’s legacy! We’ll upset the liberal centrists!
@Fishy Goat
You are correct, always be ready for violence. Which is why I support having Antifa around. Not everyone is willing or capable to defend themselves and the police have shown which side the favor.
But also be ready with cameras, and very bright lights, and mockery. Defend, document and expose.
@Ichthyic
Yes! They are the worst to get rid of and why we have KKKebler Elf Sessions as Attorney General, enough centrists were willing to look the other way when he was up for nomination. It’s absolutely sickening.
I think a useful rule is “Don’t start the violence…but if someone else does, do what’s necessary to defend yourself and/or others”.
And how many of them started whining that they weren’t really racists when they were identified. I don’t doubt they’re casually racist, but I think some of them simply regard Nazi marches as Trollcon rather than a serious political statement. No better way to Trigger a Liberal than to literally advocate for the installation of White Supremacy and genocide, LOLZ!!!
I’m not in a position to march, but I salute those who are. You’re keeping the pressure on these shitstains. Don’t let them get away with pulling the “for the Lulz” or “social experiment” or “I was only joking” or “ironically” card. March with Nazis, you’re a Nazi. Expose and identify.
Pressure their employers to sack them. Pressure police departments to charge them. And stay safe.
My position is that whatever reason you have for adding your presence to Nazi/Fascist/Klan/White Nationalist rallies, once you’re there you’re functionally one of them. The rallies are there to both intimidate ad to recruit, and the ‘in it for the lulz’ guy is doing his part towards these ends same as anybody. Lie down with dogs, you get fleas. Like I could give a shit what’s in your heart….. you’re doing the work that your very presence is called to the rally to do.
@Bobbie La Bomb
^ all of that.
@Tosca
As has been discussed in earlier threads, there is no such thing as preemptive violence when it comes to gatherings of nazis. It’s always defensive of self or others.
Stay safe, all. Using airhorns for warnings definitely sounds like a good idea, and video recording like this, if safe. Are there people at these protests who job is specifically to act as lookouts, maybe posted somewhere with a good view? Maybe best to stay back from vehicles if possible, it’s just too risky when they can’t be trusted not to use it as a weapon, and it’s hard to predict what a dangerous/aggressive driver will do. Doesn’t seem worth the risk to throw things at a truck, given the damage a paranoid/violent white nationalist could do in one.
It’s depressing but unsurprising to see that this situation can even still arise, with protesting crowds around but the far righters still having close, easy access to vehicles. Shouldn’t there be barriers, police?
*teeth grinding*
Well. He seems nice.
*headwall*
Hi folks, long-time reader, first-time writer.
First, short introduction so that you may know where I’m speaking from. I’ve been involved in the Autonomist (Social-Anarchist) movement in northern Europe for the last 15 years. This entails Anticapitalist, Feminist, Antifascist and Environmentalist activism and organizing, I’ve come to follow WHTM and your community here for some time, as it’s been a great way to follow the various reactionary groups and their overlapping spheres of thoughts and deeds in a US-centric context.
My main contribution to this discussion will be as an active antifascist with some experience in both organizing resistance and street-levelactivism.
@Leo: First, lookouts are only really helpful if you have a thorough knowledge of who to look out for, not all fascists are as brazen about their allegiances, which means that your lookouts need to rely on an extensive preemptive intelligence-gathering, and even then, you can’t hope to know every potentially violent fascist, as that’s more or less all of them, and there’s no guarantee that the ones engaging in attempted vehicular homicide have been active enough to get noticed.
Second, asking the police to protect counterdemonstrations is completely counter-intuitive, we cannot rely on the police to protect us from the fascists, that should be absolutely clear to anyone. Barriers will also hinder the counterprotesters in case of fascist aggressors attacking with missiles or melee-weapons, and a hemmed-in crowd is dangerous if panic arises. While most of my experience is that antifascist protesters are generally alert to the discomfort of those around them, panic can make even the most experienced protester forget to take care of themselves or their comrades.
The only meaningful defense against vehicles is to remain vigilant and be wary of potential chokepoints on your route. The same goes for resisting police-repression, as they are fond of using these areas to blunt the edge of the protest, and kettle or detain it.
@Tosca: As a longtime-participant in the European Antifascist movement, I have to disagree. Allowing the fascist to strike the first blow emboldens them. They thrive on their percieved martial success, and they mythologise their own machismo and seek to weaponize it. Where the Antifascists have successfully gone on the offensive and incapacitated the fascists and dismantled their ability to act with violent impunity, they also pose less of an immediate danger to their percieved enemies. In Germany, Scandinavia and the British Isles, fascist resurgence in the late 80’s/early 90’s was curbed by a militant and proactive antifascist movement, and the same can be said for the 00’s/10’s EDL-like movements who suffered humiliating defeats in the streets and in direct confrontations. It generally doesn’t pay to allow your enemy to dictate the terms of engagement, which is what “allowing the fascists to strike the first blow” essentially entails.
In closing, although Antifascism in essence is a reaction, it still needs to be proactive to be efficient and open up the space for other struggles to be successful.
@Romi
There was a fantastic interview on Sam Seder’s Majority Report podcast with Mark Bray, author of Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, where he describes the results of interviewing some of the antifascist activists who would open up to him. A lot of the nitty-gritty day-to-day work they do is simply tracking Neo-Nazi personalities from community to community, doing stuff as simple as promoting awareness of what the individual stands for and even stuff as simple as calling a young skinhead’s parents to let them know what their kid is doing. What gets seen on camera is usually the last thing an Antifa member wants to be doing; why risk life and limb when a phone call or email can lead to the necessary intervention?
If there’s one deficiency, I think it’s the one you’ve highlighted. They need to harness the power of humour to suck the wind out of the alt-right’s sails. Because as much as the alt-right loves to use ludicrous iconography and pretend it’s all a joke, they want to be taken seriously, and they’ll hide behind jokes so long as they need plausible deniability of their hideous opinions.
That said, it’s a fine line to walk between taking the threat they pose seriously and using mockery to take them down a peg. I’ve used the example of a guy following them with a tuba (which when dealing with these guys might be riskier than imagined).
@PoC
Very true. My qualification was the promise of America for exactly that reason. Promises are aspirational, not reality and America’s reality is one of flagrant white supremacy at its core. One of these days, it might be able to deliver, but not with capitalism as practiced now. My country (Canada) has the same issues.
@Gussie Jives
Yeah, apparently there’s a new(er) kid on the Canadian alt-reich block: Rise Canada (claims to be for equality, but is virulently anti-Muslim) which unfortunately shares a similar name with an online sportswear store. Kellie Leitch is a fan. 😛
@(A)utonomist Escapist, welcome, and thank you for your comments! I’m glad to hear from you, you’ve got a very valuable perspective. I hope that you feel comfortable to keep commenting if the mood strikes you!
I was gonna address some of the things I’ve seen on the thread but I see that’s been done by (A)utonomist Escapist. And by the way, welcome !
The only thing I can say about car attacks is that the next fucker tries that needs his windows smashed, his ass pulled out, and his car wrecked. No, it won’t be a good look, and yes chances are the police are going to go after you the moment you raise a hand, but since there are no real defenses against those attacks the only way to prevent them is to make them costly. Everyone, no matter how brave or stupid, has got their deterrent, and with nazis it’s the knowledge that they actually stand to lose something this time.
I’m hearing (as of now still unreliable, so grain of salt y’all) talk of a car assault yesterday near where I live, targeting a small group of people who just happened to be Antifa. Whole thing’s still a bit fuzzy and I’m still scrambling to contact them and confirm, but I’ll try to be in touch and relay info here as soon as I find the old phone that’s got the comrades’ numbers on it.
But assuming it’s true : I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a protest or anything going on, so I’m pretty sure the folks were going unmasked, which means the fucker knew their faces and where to find them out in the open. That’s not a nazi randomly charging at protesters, that’s a goddamn planned assassination attempt.
Tensions are escalating even here, far outside the US, but the US is the catalyst and whatever happens there has one hell of an impact. So USian Antifa need to speak up for every other country right now and make the statement that attempting to kill us off won’t be tolerated.
I hate to do that kind of appeal, but right now if that shit isn’t killed in the egg, I might be the next one to get crushed under a car.
@Sinkable John
I hope your comrades are all safe. The possibility for this to keep happening is really scary.
@(A)utonomist Escapist
Thank you for the interesting information, that gives a lot of insight. Rather than monitoring every potential threat, I was thinking a lookout, by giving a warning of an attack in progress, might be able to buy protesters a few extra seconds to react and get to safety, but can see how difficult that could be from your description. I know the police are often worse than useless, even actively harmful, I’m just still stunned to see them so openly not even pretending to prioritise the safety of protesters, when there is a known risk of such attacks. If you’re involved in European environmental activism, you might be familiar with our British police’s indifference to assaults on hunts sab by hunt members, too. Public opinion is absolutely against hunting, yet the police still choose to favour the powerful.
It’s probably pointless for you to demand the police do their job at protests, but maybe it’s something to get centrists doing on your behalf?
@Leo
It is pointless for anyone to demand that the police do their job at protests. The police are doing their job at protests. Clubbing, gassing, and/or shooting oppressed populations, poor folks, and leftists is a major part of the police’s job and has been for as long as there’ve been police.
Remember they’re on a side alright, just not ours. They’re not a neutral party. They can’t even pretend to that anymore. And they don’t.
@Dali, Sinkable John
You’re right, of course. By ‘try to get them to do their job’ I meant to try to get them to do what their job ought to be/officially says they should do, I suppose, but at present their job certainly seems to be to do as you describe. It’s so horrible, what the hell at that tweet???
At least with cameras and social media, we can see what they’re doing more easily. I wouldn’t trust the police as it stands, but maybe if more centrists could be encouraged to call for reform, including actually charging cops for any crime they commit rather than literally letting them get away with murders, it’d have faster impact than aiming for abolition of policing, though that could remain the goal.
PeeVee (the perpetually ignored + other stuff i cant remember sorry your comment is way up there + noice) :
do you live in the couv? your comment sounded like you witnessed the “proud boys” pepper spraying outta their windows??
anyways i live here and that was quite the spectacle, and covered pretty well on the local news
@Sinkable John:
Tracking people is one of the things neo-nazis do. Which is something any idiot asking “but why are antifa hiding their faces if they’re so convinced they’re on the side of good?” should know. Neo-nazis take pictures (and not just antifa, they’re out with cameras during pride parades, 1st of May marches, strikes, both legal and wild, and anything that looks leftish) in order to doxx (known tactic of the neo-nazis long before your first modem beep(and if you’re young enough to be unfamiliar with modems, maybe you shouldn’t be be telling your grandma how to suck eggs(sucking eggs is to fighting neo-nazis as alt-right is to neo-nazis))) people. And then attempt to murder them.
Which is why I’ve never bought into the notion that doxxing fascists is the worst we can do, because then they’d do it to us. They’ve always done it to us. They have never asked for our permission, they’ve simply done it, and then delivered mail-bombs.
This is just one of those things that so many people can’t or won’t accept and it’s so frustrating. Especially since a cursory study of social justice movements makes that damn obvious.
@Leo
Centrists aren’t gonna do that and you’re a fool to expect them to. Centrists are supporters of the status quo, that’s why they’re centrists.
This is a Clarence Darrow quote from 1902. Bolding mine. Sadly, nothing changes.