 Call to Action: Oppose First Public Meeting of Anti-Gay Mars Hill Church 10 AM this Sunday, October 16th, 2011 at 3210 SE Taylor Last month Mars Hill--an evangelical megachurch with nine branches in Washington and one in New Mexico--postponed its first public meeting after a dance-in and kiss-in was organized by LGBTQ folks in Portland to protest the church’s hateful message equating homosexuality with cancer. Mars Hill claimed the postponement was a result of parking concerns due to the Belmont Street Fair scheduled to take place the same day. In an effort to save face, Mars Hill Pastor Tim Smith and a colleague met with the Q Center’s Executive Director Barbara McCullough-Jones and Operations Manager Paul Fukui, and waited for the controversy to blow over. We are not satisfied with this empty gesture that fails to address Mars Hill’s active promotion of bigotry and dehumanization of LGBTQ people, women, yoga practitioners, and others. The church has announced plans to open its doors to the public for the first time at 10 AM this Sunday, October 16th, 2011 at 3210 SE Taylor. We urge active opposition to the scheduled opening. Let’s show Mars Hill that organizing against LGBTQ people will not fly in the Rose City! Add Comment  Photo courtesy of Alex Milan Tracy. On the afternoon of Saturday, July 31st about 65 people converged in downtown Portland to participate in the Call to Action Against Racism and Fascism, a coordinated effort by anti-racists in North America and beyond. In Portland, anti-racists from Portland Anti-Racist Action, Sisters of the Road, Rose City Copwatch, and Bring the Ruckus along with others from the community came together to oppose bigotry and white supremacist organizing in their city. The crowd was addressed by speakers from Rose City Copwatch and the Center for New Community who spoke to the need to confront racism and bridge struggles against white supremacist violence. The crowd then energetically marched through the Old Town neighborhood chanting "No Nazis, No KKK, No Fascist USA!" Read the full report here. Rose City Antifascists would like to express our dismay with the recent story, “Racists and Anti-Racists,” by Marcus Griffith published in the Vancouver Voice on Wednesday, August 4, 2010. The story contains a number of errors and misrepresentations of both our organization and militant anti-racism in general. It is disconcerting that Griffith quotes a “staff member” allegedly with Rose City Antifa, when our organization does not have staff, and no member of our organization was interviewed or even approached by Griffith for the story. What remains is an article based on an unnamed source within Portland law enforcement, as well as on statements from neo-Nazis. Griffith manages to ascribe to Rose City Antifa positions that contradict or misrepresent our own written statements. Those who wish to judge our alerts and analysis for themselves may do so at: rosecityantifa.org. We are most seriously concerned that Mr. Griffith allows a Portland law enforcement officer to characterize the actions of our organization as equivalent to gang activity, and as “less a battle of ideology and more of a turf war between competing gangs.” Rose City Antifascists is a political organization that opposes organized fascist groups and movements; it is not a criminal association whose goal is to control “turf.” Our opposition to individuals involved with groups such as Volksfront, Blood & Honour American Division, the National Socialist Movement, and the Northwest Front is based on their political efforts which often involve extreme violence. These efforts aim to purge our region of people seen by white supremacists as undesirable--whether this means people of color, Jewish people, sexual minorities, leftists, or others perceived as enemies. The fact that members of neo-Nazi organizations may engage in criminal activity as part of their political work or their individual lifestyles, is for the most part incidental to our own political efforts against them. Griffith’s police narrative of a “tit-for-tat” conflict is based on false equivalencies, and is an attempt to remove actions from their political context. Rose City Antifa’s work in recent months--since the attempted assassination of Luke Querner--has consisted of: hosting educational events and a conference, flyer campaigns, fundraising, media work, and help with one protest. Several of these activities were scheduled in advance of Luke Querner’s shooting, although our organization is of course proud of the solidarity work we’ve done since then. Our initial flyer campaign exposing neo-Nazi activist Jeffrey Jay Thomas was explicitly in response to a “Blood & Honour” neo-Nazi gathering in the Midwest, not as Griffith portrays via our alleged “staff member.” When a protest arrived outside Thomas’ residence on July 31, this was part of Call to Action that involved anti-racist coordination and events held coast to coast. The Call to Action responded to a much broader resurgence of the extreme Right, not just to the attempted assassination in Portland which occurred within this upswing. Griffith fails to mention that the July 31 event in Portland was co-sponsored by three other political and community organizations. This crowd all became “members and supporters of the RCA” in Griffith’s account, because this fits with the police narrative of a two-sided, equivalent conflict, not a multifaceted situation involving different political actors. Griffith further flattens everything out by insisting that Rose City Antifa exists in “coalition” (the word is used three times) with Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP). SHARP are then compared to Volksfront by the Portland law enforcement source: “both have huge drug problems, domestic violence issues and a slew of other crimes.” There is no reality to such a portrayal, especially when one considers, for example, that Rose City Antifa consistently stresses anti-sexist and feminist politics. By copying a police script, Griffith is--intentionally or not--complicit with state repression. Articles such as “Racists and Anti-Racists” are generally intended to set the stage for and justify police crackdowns. The Portland “Red Squad”/Criminal Intelligence Unit has a long and inglorious history of surveillance and action against political opponents, as documented for example in the Portland Tribune’s five-part series on “The Secret Watchers” printed in 2002. Almost twenty years ago, the Portland Police also waged a campaign against anti-racist members of the skinhead subculture, viewing them equally as bad as, if not worse than, the neo-Nazis. These days, law enforcement is pretending to be even-handed, by paying as much attention to anti-racists who highlight neo-Nazi events and structure in their writings, as they do to the neo-Nazis who plot and attempt assassinations. In the broadest possible contours, what is going on is a three-sided political struggle between the state, fascist organizers, and a third pole of anti-fascists and radicals. Griffith simply doesn’t get it, and writes as if it’s a brawl between rival gangs in The Outsiders instead. It is unfortunate that a reporter for an “alternative” newspaper is so insistent on portraying the conflict from the state’s eye view. Finally, if members of Volksfront or other white supremacist groups are choosing Clark County as their new home and base of operations, then we encourage people in the County and the city of Vancouver to organize to stop these violent racists from posing the same threat that they have in Portland. We are happy to assist with anti-racist community responses.  On Saturday, July 31 at 2:00 p.m., community members will rally in the North Park Blocks at the corner of NW Burnside and NW Park for the national Day of Action Against Racism and Fascism. This event is being sponsored locally by Rose City Anti-fascists, Sisters of the Road, Rose City Copwatch, and Bring the Ruckus, and nationally by over 20 organizations. Over 150 community members will come together for this day of action in direct response to recent racist and fascist activity in Portland, Oregon. During the early morning hours of March 27, a Portland anti-racist activist was shot in what appears to be a well orchestrated attack. The attackers were members of the neo-Nazi movement. The police have responded by investigating antiracist activists while the would-be killers roam free. The March 27 shooting occurred within a context of increasing Right wing racist, homophobic, and fascist organizing and activity. The current economic conditions have created a situation in which overt racists and white supremacists have felt emboldened to act publicly, attacking communities of color and other perceived enemies. From self-proclaimed Nazis patrolling the US border to Tea Party activists who have repeatedly expressed racist views, it is clear that community members must push back directly and strongly against any forms of racism or fascism in our communities. This Saturday will be a time for the people of Portland to rally against racism and fascism in our community. July 31 Call to Action website: july31antifa.blogspot.com During the early morning hours of March 27th, a Portland, Oregon anti-racist activist was shot in what appears to be a well orchestrated attack. It is suspected that the attackers were members of the neo-Nazi movement. The victim is a member of the anti-racist skinhead movement, a son, a friend and has dedicated the past ten years of his life to fighting white supremacist organizing. The Portland Police Department has suggested that the shooting is “gang related.” Already facing mass protests over numerous recent cases of police brutality and murder, the police treatment of this case is not surprising, and fits into a pattern of downplaying racist violence while targeting anti-racist activists. Although police and politicians attempt to portray cities like Portland as welcoming safe places, Portland and the Pacific Northwest has a violent and dangerous history. For 30 years Portland and the surrounding region has been targeted by white supremacist and neo-Nazi movements. Groups like White Aryan Resistance (WAR) and Aryan Nations waged an ongoing and underground campaign to both recruit young whites and to terrorize people of color, GLBTQ people, and others who were seen as enemies of their racist order. The 1980’s were an especially violent period in which neo-Nazi skinheads with ties to WAR beat Ethiopian immigrant Mulugeta Seraw to death. But this racist terror has not gone unopposed. Coalitions of anti-racist youths, militants from the GLBTQ communities, and individuals fighting for justice and dignity organized to beat back the racists and neo-Nazis. This organizing was often opposed and criminalized by the authorities who sought to disrupt independent antifascist organizing. This situation led organizers to rely on themselves and their own communities. The organizing by anti-fascists in Portland was a positive example and has been part of a broader, longterm campaign across the country. From NYC to LA, from Minneapolis to New Orleans, there is a history of peoples organizing to both defend themselves against racist terror, as well as come together to build multi-racial coalitions to discuss and plan forms of action to address conflicts and crisis in our various communities. The shooting in the context of growing reaction The March 27th shooting occurred within a backdrop of growing Right wing, racist, and emerging fascist organizing and activity. There has been a dramatic escalation of rhetoric and action from the broad Right. While all sectors of the working classes and poor face economic and social uncertainty, the racists, the Right wing, and the smaller but significant sections of the neo-Nazi and fascist movements are looking to divide our class and peoples. Where there should be united class anger against a system that is continually grinding people down, the Right openly demonstrates its contempt and hatred for our people. Fascists and neo-Nazis are looking for these moments of division in which they can move in, recruit, and carry out their own organizing. Call to Action We propose Saturday July 31, 2010 as a Call to Action Against Racism and Fascism. We want to use the CA to both engage the broad, independent, and radical antiracist/anti-fascist movements. We want mass and varied forms of protest and action. These actions can range from: music and DJ shows; educational events; outings of known Right and fascist organizers; street protest; immigrant solidarity and anti-minuteman action; and so on. While we want collaboration and coordination when possible, we also want to maximize the impact of this CA and thus argue for the greatest degree of creativity and initiative. We encourage individuals and organizations to determine what best works in their localities. We support the incorporation of any existing and ongoing anti-racist/anti-fascist action into this CA and imagine the CA as a way to bolster already active organizing. To reiterate, we argue for a maximum of creative and independent initiative and ask only that a) individuals and organizations endorse the call b) any public actions and events be promoted. We would not necessarily seek to publish details of planned actions unless requested to do so. We want to use the CA as a means to increase collaboration between our forces and work in a popular manner to highlight the need for a mass, radical response to racist and fascist organizing. Endorsers: Anti Racist Action - Central Texas Anti Racist Action - Los Angeles, CA Anti Racist Action - Portland/Rose City Antifascists Anti-Racist Action - Kent, OH Anti-Racist Action - Trenton, NJ Bring the Ruckus! Common Cause - Ontario, Canada First of May Anarchist Alliance Four Star Anarchist Organization Iron Rail Infoshop Kersplebedeb Red & Anarchist Skinheads – Northeast Solidarity & Defense Wild Rose Collective Workers Solidarity Alliance Endorse the Call! Email: july31.antifa@gmail.com. French: http://july31antifa.blogspot.com/2010/06/31-juillet-2010-lappel-laction-contre.html Spanish: http://july31antifa.blogspot.com/2010/06/31-de-julio-de-2010-una-llamada-la.html See july31antifa.blogspot.com for more information. | ROSE CITY ANTIFA
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