 BOOT DAVID IRVING OUT OF TOWN!
David Irving’s last anti-Semitic speaking engagement in Portland was met with resistance from local anti-racist and antifascist groups. This time, we intend to shut him down. Irving’s speaking tour serves as a platform for spreading lies and hate, and as a source of income for Irving. Will we allow a fascist to financially gain from spreading racist propaganda without opposition in the Rose City? Not a chance. Please join Rose City Antifascists in letting David Irving know that racism in any form is not welcome in Portland. Continue checking our blog for opportunities to get involved. For more information on David Irving, please refer to our 2009 Portland Indymedia release here, and South Side Chicago ARA's release below the cut. As always, if you have information or tips about racist or fascist organizing in Portland, please contact us at fight_them_back [at] riseup [dot] net or call our voicemail tip line at 971-533-7832. Add Comment  Kevin William Harpham March 9, 2011, Gene Johnson and Nicholas K. Geranios of the Associated Press and the News Tribune reported that an arrest had been made in connection with the bomb found on the parade route at Spokane’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration. Kevin William Harpham, 36, who the Southern Poverty Law Center recorded as being associated with the neo-Nazi National Alliance, and who federal agents describe as a white supremacist, is charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and possessing an unregistered explosive device. As Jessica Robinson’s March 14th OPB News article elaborates, the pseudonym that Harpham used on neo-nazi forums, “Joe Snuffy,” was very active in online white supremacist circles, writing about “race wars and The Turner Diaries.” In addition to his ties to the National Alliance and his online neo-nazi activity, Harpham reportedly sought out a North Idaho Aryan Nations group requesting information. The DREAM (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) Act, which would have allowed students who entered the United States before age 16 and who have lived in the country for at least 5 years and eared a G.E.D, High School diploma, or who had been admitted to an institution of higher learning to stay in the United States legally as conditional permanent residents, failed in the Senate on Dec.18, 2010.
The failure of the DREAM Act as a federal bill highlights a significant and disturbingly successful trend of the mainstreaming of white nationalism and Nativism, and the very real consequences thereof. This is not a new trend, but one that has evolved over time, rooted in and linked to such white supremacist groups as the Aryan Nations and the KKK. (Leonard Zeskind, “The New Nativism,” 2005.) Spokane: Bomb Discovered on MLK Parade Route 01/24/2011
 Bomb found in Swiss Army backpack on MLK day, FBI Seattle On Monday, January 17, city workers in Spokane, Washington discovered a bomb along the planned route for a unity parade in honor of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. The bomb was hidden inside a Swiss Army backpack and could be detonated remotely. Its placement on a metal bench in front of a brick wall facing Main Street had the potential to fatally direct shrapnel at passing marchers. The bomb was defused without incident, and the march--though re-routed--went ahead as scheduled. FBI investigators report finding important evidence at the scene, including two T-shirts from neighboring Stevens County, Washington. State Representative Kevin Parker hosted a community forum on Saturday, January 22 in Spokane to listen to residents' concerns. Last year, an explosive device was found and defused in front of Thomas S. Foley U.S. Courthouse in downtown Spokane on March 23. No arrests have been made in the March case and it is unknown if the MLK parade bomb is related. For more information, see CNN article here.  Graffiti at Irvington School -- photo Ross William Hamilton/The Oregonian The Oregonian reports that the Irvington School in northeast Portland has been tagged with racist graffiti. On the morning of Saturday, January 8, a resident near the school discovered spray-painted messages which according to the newspaper “included swastikas, racial slurs and the words ‘white power.’” If you have any information surrounding this incident or other instances of racist propaganda and intimidation, please contact our organization. We will be monitoring this situation. Fascist Counterculture, Underground Music and Antifascism: The Agalloch / Allerseelen Tour Revisited 01/11/2011
Overview
Despite the concern of anti-fascists and anti-racists, the Austrian far-Right post-industrial project Allerseelen proceeded on a West Coast tour from December 15 – 22. Four of the six Allerseelen dates were in support of the popular Portland “dark metal” group Agalloch. These four shows took place in Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. In response to this Agalloch / Allerseelen tour—and two earlier Allerseelen shows without Agalloch in Portland and Salem—Rose City Antifascists issued a statement documenting the politics and associations of Gerhard Petak and his Allerseelen project. Significant controversy followed. We aim here to address some of the responses to our activity; to clarify our position in cases where the content and intent of our writing has been misrepresented or misperceived; and finally to stress why we believe antifascism is important, why counterculture matters, and why fascist countercultural efforts should be opposed.  Randal Krager (L) with (L-R, foreground) other neo-Nazi leaders Del O’Connor (Blood & Honour America), David Lynch (American Front), and Mike Lawrence (Volksfront) circa 2009. On November 30, 2010, antifascist hackers targeted and disabled over a dozen fascist, neo-Nazi, and white power websites, publicly releasing information from several neo-Nazi forums as well as associated email addresses. In a press release, the hackers explained their action as a response to neo-Nazi violence:
We did this in solidarity with our comrades who have been attacked by organized fascists in the past year - the November 8 attack at Jason and Bonnie Devine's home in Calgary, the March 27th shooting of SHARP [SkinHeads Against Racial Prejudice] Luke Querner in Portland OR, the April 6 bombing of an anti-fascist house in Vancouver, and the murder of Russia RASH [Red and Anarchist SkinHeads] founder Ivan Khutorskoy just over one year ago. [1] Rose City Antifascists (RCA) discovered a particularly noteworthy email in the wealth of intelligence made public by the hack. In a message dated October 15, 2009, Randal Krager—founder and president of the neo-Nazi organization Volksfront International—delegated tasks involved with running the group while he prepared to spend a year in the Middle East working for a private firm, possibly connected to the US military presence in the region. On November 28th, 2010, unknown assailants set fire to the Salman Al Farisi Mosque in Corvallis, Oregon. No people were injured in the arson attack, but the building suffered fire damage. At the time of writing no arrests have been made in this matter, although a person of interest has been named, questioned and had his residence searched by police.
The majority of news outlets have framed the arson as a reaction to the attempted bombing of the Pioneer Courthouse Square Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, allegedly a Political Islamist jihad effort by Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, who now faces trial. Mohamud’s lawyers have indicated that they will argue during trial that the case is one of FBI entrapment. Mohamud apparently attended the Salman Al Farisi Mosque a number of times. Politicians, the law enforcement and the media are as quick to condemn the arson as they are in failing to analyze its roots.  On the night of Saturday, December 11, militant anti-racists distributed over a hundred “Wanted” posters in Oregon City and downtown Milwaukie. The posters, which were stapled and pasted in both locations, ask for community members to provide information on individuals associated with Volksfront International. Read the Rose City Antifa release about this action here. The following day, December 12, Rose City Antifa released another appeal for information, leaking 120 photos of Volksfront members and their gatherings to the activist website Portland Indymedia, and again asking for information on those pictured. See the albums here. This December, the Austrian far-Right “post-industrial” and martial music project Allerseelen is set to give a series of performances on the US West Coast. Allerseelen is the project of Gerhard Petak (AKA Kadmon and Gerhard Hallstatt) who also incorporates other performers into the act when playing live. Several of the Allerseelen shows are scheduled to take place in larger venues supporting the prominent Portland, Oregon “dark metal” group Agalloch, who will be touring to promote their new album. The hitching of Allerseelen onto the tour of a larger heavy metal act will provide new outlets for Petak’s extreme-Right messages. Agalloch, the group which Allerseelen will support, is at present crossing over from underground cult status to something nearer the mainstream, the group’s latest album even being promoted with a write-up and “exclusive first listen” on National Public Radio’s music webpage. It is troubling that the accompanying act Agalloch chose to expose its growing audiences to, has a long history of far-Right involvement and propaganda, and is an attempt to make aspects of fascist discourse acceptable. (Allerseelen will first play two separate headlining shows before joining the Agalloch tour.) Agalloch’s decision to further link itself to Petak / Allerseelen by appearing on a new compilation CD released by Petak’s label, is likewise of concern to anti-fascists and is of similar poor judgment. Linked below you will find an article describing Gerhard Petak's far-right political views and associations—while Petak has had contact with some people who could be fairly described as Nazis or neo-Nazis, Petak has also criticized the Third Reich in print, and we do not describe him personally as a Nazi. We place Petak’s viewpoints and advocacy on the terrain of neo-fascism and the far-Right, especially that of the European New Right. Some other ideological influences will be discussed in passing. If at times Petak’s viewpoints appear as a jumble of varied and even opposing influences, it is worth noting that fascism has always been a syncretic ideological movement—one that attempts to fuse differing elements into a single whole. Indeed, this syncretic nature has given rise to one of fascism’s primary qualities, that of simultaneously being “A and not A” and often harboring diametrically opposed impulses, such as attempting mass political mobilization while also vocalizing contempt for mass society. These contradictions unfortunately do not render fascism or fascist politics harmless. The dates of Allerseelen’s tour are: Waldteufel + Allerseelen: 15 Dec 2010 Portland 16 Dec 2010 Salem (+ HELL, Barghest) Agalloch + Allerseelen: 17 Dec 2010 Portland OR Berbati's Pan (+ Aerial Ruin) 18 Dec 2010 Seattle WA Neumo’s (+ Alda + Waldteufel) 21 Dec 2010 Los Angeles CA Ultra Violet Social Club (+ Winterthrall) 22 Dec 2010 San Francisco CA Great American Music Hall (+ Dispirit) We invite Agalloch to clarify its position towards the far-Right and fascism, and to indicate what precisely it meant by promoting Allerseelen to its audience. We furthermore invite Nanotear Booking Agency—Agalloch’s agent and responsible for the Agalloch / Allerseelen shows—to make clear why it has adopted a fascist-friendly policy of giving a platform to far-Right ideologues such as Allerseelen. | ROSE CITY ANTIFA
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