Really looking around for a reason for local government and the FBI to announce this publicly other than to specifically terrorize anti-racist protesters with threats of repression, pretty sure we're not gonna find one. Remember when Reggie Axtell threatened the Mayor on video?
Really do not remember there being any kind of publicly announced manhunt for Reggie, or any of the other folks in this video. Might of course be because the video is of them unmasked, on a couch in their apartment, clearly identifying themselves?
Here's the same crew of folks, six months later, literally in front of the mayor's house (they would protest regularly in front of that house throughout the summer of 2019).
Oh, and here's that same crew of folks--Reggie himself even specifically mentioned alongside Haley Adams--being used as a key grand jury witness to bring criminal charges against anti-fascists for defending themselves against Nazis that same summer!
And, evergreen, pretty much that exact same group of fascist organizers hanging out with Rep. Mike Nearman at a (very small) rally on the Oregon coast, mere weeks after Nearman let members of the far-right into the capitol building in Salem on 12/21.
Portland Police are suddenly into highlighting the "dangerousness" of Michael Isaacs, a swastika-memelord and open Holocaust denier who has been frequenting local far right rallies for over two years...so that they can use his arrest to further demonize anti-racist protesters...
You know how folks in Portland and elsewhere keep harping on how harmful and just absurdly lazy it is for news outlets to just print police press releases as factual reporting? All of these articles reference the police account of Isaacs' arrest, but include nothing else on him.
Isaacs announced his (unintentionally solo) "event" in advance online via the prime Microsoft Paint graphic included below. Google results screencap also included because of "journalism," we guess. (Don't worry, the robot-reciting-endless-receipts part of this thread is coming!)
May Day Announcement #3
After so many long months of protest and struggle in our community we created this zine to welcome new antifascists into our fold and to clarify what we mean when we say "we are antifascists." (1/4)
As antifascists we could not do our work without the long line of antifascist activists, resistance fighters and all those who struggled for liberation before us. This May Day we honor their legacy and recommit to the fight ahead. (2/4)
Thank you to everybody who has supported our work over the past 14 years. We know that there are still many years of struggle ahead but Rose City Antifa is committed to defending our community and supporting the ongoing fight for collective liberation. (3/4)
A TIL thread about one niche example of historical connection between white supremacist movements and police violence:
One common firearm technique taught to police (and in most firearms classes) is called the "Failure to Stop" Drill, or "Mozambique Drill."
Supposedly for use in defense against an "attacker," it involves first shooting twice into someones chest, and then into their head if the first two shots have failed to "stop" them (from...shooting? Moving? Living?). It is, in basically every sense, a drill for efficient murder.
The drill was first named the "Mozambique Drill," because of the technique's origins: It was supposedly first used by--wait for it--a white Rhodesian mercenary (jacobinmag.com/2018/06/americ…), paid to kill guerrilla independence fighters in today's Mozambique in the 1970s.
The LNLA previously hosted Patriot Prayer member Alyssa Vinsonhaler at a forum during her City Council run last year. During this event Haley Adams and noted domestic abuser Chandler Pappas were photographed in attendance. The image is still on their website.
NOW WITH ALT-TEXT. Apologies. For May Day three years ago we created this zine highlighting the history of antifascist activism in Portland. Today we're re-releasing it in the hope that the memory of our collective struggle will give us strength for years to come.
Pages 5-8.
Filler page (for alt-text overflow) and pages 9-11.
For May Day three years ago we created this zine highlighting the history of antifascist activism in Portland. Today we're re-releasing it in the hope that the memory of our collective struggle will give us strength for years to come. Email us for the PDF version.