Background

On July 18, 2019, two U.S. Senators introduced a resolution attempting to designate “antifa” as a domestic terrorist organization. In a week that saw a Trump rally featuring a racist chant for the deportation of a progressive, black Muslim congresswoman, there can be no clearer sign as to where we are at, than this effort to declare anti-fascism itself illegal. The Republican party is explicitly targeting political opposition. There is no definition of “antifa” outlined in the resolution. “Antifa” is used as a warning. It is shorthand for the dissenters who won't be brought to heel. If passed, this resolution would be a powerful new weapon for silencing leftists and dissent in the U.S.

In this resolution, the Senators specifically mentioned anti-fascists in Portland, targeting our community for defending itself from the fascists, neo-Nazis, and white supremacists who have assaulted our city for the past three years. Portland has been a target for the most violent elements of the right because of its progressive character. The strategy of the far-right has been to attack the left wherever we have the audacity to exist: in higher education, in Berkeley, at Pride events, at union meetings, at Planned Parenthood, and in a symbolic city of progressive values such as Portland. It is not enough for them to have their own conservative communities, the presidency, the Supreme Court, the Senate, the massive right-wing media apparatus and funding base; they also must harass, violently attack, and terrorize anyone anywhere who dares to disagree with their oppressive views.

The rationale for this resolution is a manufactured threat which only exists in the absence of critical thought and inquiry. The greatest domestic political threat in the U.S. today is the far-right. The far-right committed 98% of ideologically-driven murders in 2018. We have seen that death toll here in Portland. Larnell Bruce, a black teenager, was brutally murdered by a white supremacist outside a 7-11 in 2016. In 2017, Jeremy Christian, a Patriot Prayer rally attendee and white supremacist, fatally stabbed two passengers and seriously injured a third passenger on a Portland MAX train after they attempted to stop him from harassing two women of color. Proud Boys have driven around our city streets looking for people to assault. LGBT+ community members have been repeatedly attacked, and they have been called liars when they organize to defend themselves. The Portland Police Bureau has assisted the right at every turn. Stories like this are echoed all over the country. This is the true threat of our times.

Anti-fascists have protected numerous community events, spaces, and demonstrations from fascist violence. Anti-fascist have suppressed and stopped fascist activity and recruiting; disseminated valuable information to communities about threats to their safety; produced research and writing which would not otherwise occur; provided care and support to members of our community impacted by fascist threats and violence; hosted educational events on a variety of issues; conducted benefits for vital services like reproductive rights; and much more. Anti-fascist action works. The Proud Boys, after invading our city multiple times and causing grievous injuries to community members, failed to show up to their June 29, 2019 rally (named the “Battle of Portland Part 2”) after a diverse coalition of activists gathered to oppose them. Anti-fascist organizing in Portland is part of a larger anti-racist and anti-oppression movement that has been working for decades to disrupt white supremacist rallies from Berkeley to Charlottesville.

The vast majority of what anti-fascists do does not involve black outfits at protests. Anti-fascists are easy to dehumanize with superficial commentary on the clothing and masks that some use to protect themselves. But anti-fascists are your neighbors. Some anti-fascists are people fighting for our lives and dignity, because we are people of color, queer, trans, of a targeted ethnicity or religion. Some anti-fascists are people who are cashing in on our privileges to protect those who are more vulnerable. Anti-fascists are regular people: moms, teachers, carpenters, servers, healthcare workers, and veterans. Fighting against the oppression, bigotry, and violence that we call fascism requires ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Stopping fascist activity is a goal common to all people of conscience. These Senators would call us all domestic terrorists.

Not every person of conscience agrees on tactics, but they would all be considered terrorists according to this proposed resolution, because they declare themselves opposed to white supremacists and concentration camps. This resolution would open the door to violations of their civil rights. If “antifa” are terrorists, so are the thousands of Portlanders who stood against Patriot Prayer on June 4, 2017 and August 4, 2018, and the hundreds who peacefully blockaded the ICE offices in SW Portland. It would call the activists and spiritual leaders who stood against white supremacists in Charlottesville on August 11 and 12, 2017 domestic terrorists. It is no surprise that these Senators are proposing this measure now, as rallies against ICE are drawing attention to the deaths occurring in U.S. refugee concentration camps. People across this continent see the atrocity that these camps represent, and are demanding that the government stop causing suffering and death through its racist immigration policies. These Senators would make that dissent illegal. And so we, as anti-fascists, condemn their resolution absolutely.

Statement of Anti-Fascists and Allies

We, the undersigned, wholly condemn any attempt to criminalize community efforts to stop white supremacist assaults and close concentration camps.

We condemn any attempt to persecute community groups who research racist threats in their community, and educate the people so that they might stop it.

We condemn any attempt by the far-right to strike a blow against their political opponents by demonizing the actions of human beings of conscience.

We condemn any attempt to protect the far-right gangs who make violent incursions into liberal communities.

We condemn any attempt to shield fascism, by attacking those who are in opposition to it.

In history, we have seen what happens when the state criminalizes dissent, when right-wing gangs are allowed to terrorize and kill with impunity, and when the police arrest those whose morality will not allow them to stand by, while immigrants and refugees are imprisoned in camps to die. As a community, we refuse to allow it to happen here. We have stood up to the forces of the far-right before, and now we must do so again.

Signed,

Rose City Antifa

Pop Mob

Q-CAFE

Pacific Northwest Antifascist Workers Collective

Seattle Solidarity Network

National Lawyers Guild Lewis and Clark Student Chapter

Cascades Abortion Support Collective

Socialist Alternative Portland

Southern Oregon Antifa

Eugene Antifa

Gresham Antifa

Antifa Seven Hills

Indivisible Bloomington & 9th District, Indiana

Berkeley Antifa

Minnesota United Against Fascism

MASS Appeal

Portland DSA

Corvallis Antifa

NYC Anarchist Black Cross

It's Going Down

Rocky Mountain Antifa

Chicago Antifascist Action

Panic in the Discord Network

Emerald City Antifa

Queer Liberation Front

Murfreesboro Anti-Fascist Action

Antifa International

Antifa Sacramento

Portland Interfaith Clergy Resistance

Antifascist Culture

Art for Change 818

Abolish ICE TPA

Love Has No Borders

Lower Columbia Community Defense

#DefendPDX

Cactus Collective

Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club

Houston United Front Against Fascism

Houston Socialist Movement

Nashville Direct Action

Jam City Antifa

Louisville Socialists

New York City Antifa

Anarchist Agency

No More Concentration Camps

Asheville Blade

Combustion Books

Raleigh-Durham General Defense Committee of the IWW

Knoxville Radical Alliance

Central Oklahoma Black/Red Alliance (COBRA)

Queer Anarchism

Unsettling Oklahoma

Oklahoma Industrial Workers of the World

The Gay Gay Gay Against the KKK

CenTex ARA

Asheville AntiRacism

Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement

Greater Portland Trans Unity

Hub City Antifa

Hoosier Anti-Racist Movement 574

Anti-Fascist Action of New Hampshire

Jewish Anti-Fascist Network of the Triangle

Open Flame Theatre

Long Beach Anarchist Collective

Asheville Solidarity Network

Asheville Showing Up for Racial Justice

Blue Ridge Anarchist Black Cross

Dirty Hands Collective

Direct Action Alliance

OccupyICEPDX

Portland Socialist Rifle Association

Northern California Anti-Racist Action (NoCARA)

The American Iron Front

Empathy Riot

The Portland General Membership Branch of the IWW

Mid Missouri John Brown Gun Club

Tilted Scales Collective

Boston Mountains Antifascists

Oakland Privacy

Struggalo Circus

Pastel Bloc

Truckee Meadows John Brown Gun Club

The White Rose Society NYC

Critical Resistance PDX

Brigada 71 / Cosmos AFA

National Lawyers Guild

FC Sankt Pauli Atlanta

PM Press

Lane County Rifles

Buffalo Anti Racism Coalition

Black Mast Antifa

Long Beach Antifa

Summit City AFA

Philly Antifa

Wu Ming Foundation - Italy

Corpus Christi Community Defense

Columbus Anti-Racist Action

WACA (Whistleblowers, Activists and Communities Alliance)

The Rain Society

Los Angeles Black Coyote Collective

Elm City Antifa

Seattle Indivisible

DC Antifascist Collective

Anti-Fascist Network (UK)

DSA Long Beach

DC Antifa

United Against Racism and Fascism NYC

Outlive Them NYC

Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Portland

Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC)

Bat City Antifascist Front

Socialist Party USA - Bend

Washoe Food Not Bombs

The Final Straw Radio

Individuals For Justice

Femmes Strike Back PDX

Narodnaya Samooborona (People's Self-Defence)- Russia

Free Lunch Collective

Screwston Anti-Fascist Committee

Vancouver for Peace

UnKoch My Campus

Empowerment Through Hardship

Indivisible Bainbridge Island

DSA Fresno

Los Angeles Antifascist Bloc

You may add your organization to this statement by emailing us at [email protected]