Urbandale posted:

including the woman who took the post to the back of the head.

the fasc just aren't as good at posting as we are.


i'm glad she's ok and feel real bad making that joke

On June 26, fascists were chased off of their intended rally site by hundreds of anti-fascist protesters at the California State Capitol building.

People from the Sacramento community and anti-racist protesters from around northern California started to assemble in the morning to prevent the white supremacists from entering the capitol grounds and holding their hate rally. Militarized police cornered the protesters on the street to allow space for fascists to assemble, but to their surprise the protesters heroically challenged them and took over the steps of the capitol building before the fascists could assemble.

Around noon several different groups of white supremacists, totaling about 20, charged protesters and attacked them while trying to get to the capitol building. A melee resulted in seven anti-fascist protesters being hospitalized, many for stab wounds or concussions inflicted by the fascists. A fascist was also reportedly hospitalized for injuries. In the end, the steps of the capitol were continuously occupied by anti-racist activists and the skinhead racists were never able to hold their rally—a huge victory!

The white supremacist fascists had taken out a permit under the banner of the Traditionalist Workers Party—a newly-formed group that aims to indoctrinate youth into white nationalism. The TWP tries to cover up its fascist intentions with less aggressive language on their website, but underneath their claims of concern for white workers lies their murderous hatred of immigrants and people of color.

Riding on the coattails of this year’s dramatically polarizing election, the group hopes to recruit new, young members and run racist political candidates for local office in various states. The chairman of the TWP, Matthew Heimbach, chose to stay home and avoided the event. The event was also supported by several other white supremacist groups including the Golden State Skinheads. Racist skinheads have a violent history in Sacramento including racist and homophobic murders.

The some 500 anti-racist protesters who covered the capitol grounds were people of many political orientations, races, genders, and ages united against the hate group and its preaching of deadly racist ideas. The counter demonstration was supported by many groups, including Antifa Sacramento, Anti Police Terror Project, Sacramento Brown Berets, the Progressive Labor Party, various anarchist collectives and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. A PSL member was attacked, beaten and pepper sprayed by fascists, but he was saved by protesters and is in fine condition.

During a clash, as at least four anti-fascist protesters were stabbed, the police offered no immediate aid and ended up threatening and trying to intimidate those who were documenting what was going on. The militarized Sacramento police and CHP brought out many of their favorite weapons to threaten protesters with—automatic rifles and bean bag rounds. They brandished batons atop horses and marched along police trucks and armored vehicles. Two Nazis who were allegedly beaten after giving a Nazi salute and attacking protesters were quickly swept into safety inside the capitol building by a group of police.

Despite the close proximity to large groups of law enforcement, no arrests were made regarding the stabbings—mirroring the injustices of the recent stabbings by KKK members in Anaheim in which no Klansmen were charged despite assaulting multiple protesters with deadly weapons. This precedent of impunity set in Anaheim emboldened these Northern California white supremacist groups to get a rally permit and bring knives and shields.

The police must share the blame for each of the people who were viciously stabbed in Sacramento. This turning a blind eye while fascists stab and slash a handful of youth is evidence of the complicity of this system and its police.

White supremacists should not be entitled to “free speech” to preach their hateful messages and incite beatings and murders. They should be arrested at once as a terrorist organization, not protected by the state. The people must continue to confront fascism and racism wherever it tries to grow! We must not be fooled when they try to put on a less aggressive face, like the Traditionalist Workers Party!

When the people unite we have the power to defeat those who would call for our abuse and murder, those who try to dehumanize the majority of people in this country, those who intend to revive the darkest horrors of racism, anti-semitism, and anti-LGBTQ bigotry! The people have the power to shut down the nazis and in Sacramento the people had victory!

Edited by Urbandale (June 28, 2016 03:51:32)

The Anti-Fascist Network is not about telling people how to campaign in their areas, what type of anti-fascist activity they should undertake or what political analysis they should adopt. We simply want to cooperate to defeat fascism.

The Anti-Fascist Network is non-hierarchical, will never work with the police and is not affiliated to any political party.

we would rightly criticize them for petty-bourgeois anarchism and idealism but because people are getting beat up they are suddenly exempt from ideological critique.

xipe posted:

So what would a communist led antifa do instead?

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-2/mswv2_10.htm

babyhueypnewton posted:

antifa is not resistance against fascists, no one would be against this. antifa is a specific tactic which evolved in a specific historical situation in which leftists make broad coalitions to stage counterprotests. what I have problems with is the idea that anti-fascism does not need communist leadership, that a popular fronts with anarchists and liberals is productive, and that antifa can scale up to fight the material conditions of real fascism and not just violent fringe groups.

if any other group said this

The Anti-Fascist Network is not about telling people how to campaign in their areas, what type of anti-fascist activity they should undertake or what political analysis they should adopt. We simply want to cooperate to defeat fascism.

The Anti-Fascist Network is non-hierarchical, will never work with the police and is not affiliated to any political party.

we would rightly criticize them for petty-bourgeois anarchism and idealism but because people are getting beat up they are suddenly exempt from ideological critique.

I was going to write a thoughtful response to this and then noticed you were poopooing popular fronts with anarchists and liberals, and instead would just like to ask you what group you're proposing to form a popular front against fascism with if not liberals or anarchists.

As far as the St Paul Principals, its a way to ensure a wide variety of groups attended a rally and perform work while also attempting to reduce the risk of snitching.

babyhueypnewton posted:

xipe posted:

So what would a communist led antifa do instead?

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-2/mswv2_10.htm

Well I am gonna read that cos been meaning to anyway, but I don't think posting classic speeches help much in the task of transforming the concrete situations being discussed so no up vote for u

xipe posted:

One minor point I've seen is that forming these red fists should be even numbers to allow members in that to buddy up and look after each other, like some 6 fingered hand or something

It seems to me a simple communication system eg code words to shout between fists would allow them coordinate and do more complex actions (such as 3 hands forming a wedge to burst a cordon or 1 to dearrest and 2 to block) while still being flexible enough to adapt to dynamic situations.

So yeah this is why I feel kind of silly having talked about "grabbing" fascists, not that I recant that approach... just that I don't know specifics of the judo holds and flanking maneuvers and whatnot. Most important is that your instructions be easy to communicate to attendants who did not practice or plan. To include those people you have to forego complex actions and most on-the-spot communication. At some later time, when even random participants are still arriving ready for militant action, you can start arranging special tactics within groups.

So I think setting exact group sizes is not necessary; I think a good approach would be to try to get a minimum of two trained antifa in each unit. One to act as leader and pursue the group objective, the other to help untrained members stay focused (keeping them physically together and issuing orders on how to help the group leader) and to take control if the group leader gets arrested or stabbed. You don't need a special language with this, just agree within the group on any specific words connected to the group's task.

One major goal should be to change in appearance from a totally disorganized to a totally organized group without warning. This would have an immense psychological effect since the antifas greatly outnumber the more organized fascists. Coordinate your groups, then tell them to "disperse" but remain within close visibility (~50 feet) of the group leader. Set a signal - give a vuvuzela to one of the videographers - at which all participants immediately go to their group leader's side. This will turn a milling crowd into a group of cells in about five seconds.

You can also maintain a lot of compartmentalization and avoid the early appearance of strict organization by assigning letters to group leaders, then having a couple of antifa at the area entrances tell approaching participants which group leader to seek out. That way they don't have to remember names, they just assign one person to Group A, then one to Group B and so on. That way, groups are formed fairly quietly within the area being watched by police.

This still doesn't go past level of tactics unless you tie it to objectives like fucking up their soft targets at the back and routing them, in this unseasoned nerds opinion.

Advanced tactics can be very counterproductive in chaotic situations. Mostly, groups should only communicate with groups immediately adjacent. The broader picture needs to be extremely simple so that participants do not have to wonder, "did this flanking maneuver, in a place I can't see, work? Is it safe to run down that sidewalk as planned? Has a retreat been sounded?" I think the main broad goal should be to kettle the Nazis, only allowing them to leave nonviolently along a very narrow path where they can't bunch up, where they have to face large crowds of angry antifa, where they have to be photographed... if they try to be violent in that situation, they should be seized, searched for weapons, their ID taken, and then all of that delivered straight to the police.

When u talked about filming, what would you do with the footage?
Identifying enemy, legal evidence and propaganda are some I can think of, anything else?
Are go pros and drones any good?

The moment a fascist behaves violently toward an antifa - they must strike first, they need to always have the option of leaving rather than being violent - the videographer who best captures the attack should immediately post it to social media. Go-pros would be perfect if they are lifted up over 8 feet high - stay about 20 feet back from the front line and put the camera up at least eight feet. Here's how you get a steady shot with a piece of string, no long pole ("intended to be used as a weapon") needed. These videographers should also be part of a cell whose main goal is to get video from a good position and keep the camera safe and running.

But you should also have at least one person with a much more powerful camera at a much safer distance and elevation. This person can communicate with one or two key people on the ground and no more!

Try to get someone up to speed on editing black squares over people's faces on their home PC before the event, so they can go through the larger footage and remove identifying shots of antifa participants. Afterward, "Do you recognize this man?" posters should be posted all over the neighborhood, posted online and sent to the police and FBI to identify all Nazi attendants possible. Try to also keep a videographer on nearby streets to grab Nazi cars and license plates. I think drones are a terrible idea, they show too much advanced planning, Nazis can say they were used to drop chemicals or whatever, if they get knocked down they can seriously hurt a comrade, and the law in most cities is against them.

Edited by swampman (June 28, 2016 16:14:46)