Authored by Charles "Sam" Faddis via ANDMagazine.com,

Occupy ICE Vigil “Call from Occupy ICE PDX for a vigil outside of the Portland ICE Detention Center on July 17th. On July 17th, at 8:30pm OccupyICEpdx will be hosting an outdoor vigil beside Portland’s ICE Detention Center located at 4310 SW Macadam Ave. Join us as we remember a fallen comrade Willem Van Spronsen, a person who gave their life in order to stop the seperation of North Western families. Let us also honor and mourn all migrants and assylum seekers killed by today’s harsh immigration policies. Before we begin the much needed work of strengthening our communities resistence to ICE, let us honor the actions of Van Spronsen and mourn their loss. We must close Portland’s ICE Detention Center and North West Detention Center, then keep shutting them down until they are all abolished. As Maru Mora Villalpando from La Resistencia said “If this place wasn’t here (NWDC), that person would be alive today. People have died because of the detintion center and people keep dieing because of immigration enforcement.” We are the fire that Will melt ICE! The vigil begins at 8:30pm with an Indigenous land acknowledgement, followed by the reading of William Van Spronsen’s manifesto. We will finish the event with a few chants that hopefully have us walking away from the vigil feeling joyfully revolutionary.” It’s Going Down – “…publicize and promote revolutionary theory and action”

The above language, misspellings included, is taken verbatim from a website called “It’s Going Down,” which is in its own words: a “digital community center from anarchist, anti-fascist, autonomous anti-capitalist and anti-colonial movements” whose mission is to “publicize and promote revolutionary theory and action.” “It’s Going Down” is the website of the Antifa movement in this country.

To review – Van Spronsen is the individual who only days ago attacked a migrant detention facility in Tacoma, Washington where illegal immigrants are held. Van Spronsen was armed with a rifle and carrying incendiary devices. He set one vehicle on fire and was killed while attempting to detonate a large propane tank at the facility, which would have likely resulted in a catastrophic fire and the deaths of many of those inside.

Van Spronsen was a domestic terrorist.

Van Spronsen’s Manifesto

Before attacking the detention facility Van Spronsen, good terrorist that he was, wrote a manifesto and sent it to the press. It reads in part:

“I regret that I will miss the rest of the revolution.” “I strongly encourage comrades and incoming comrades to arm themselves.” “I am antifa.”

Van Spronsen’s manifesto was published in full on “It’s Going Down” along with a giant, adoring caricature of the man with the caption “Rest in Power.” The website’s commentary regarding Van Spronsen’s attack ended with this statement, “In those regards, what he did was heroic.”

This kind of hero worship – of madmen planning mass murder and involved in attacks on government facilities – is the kind of thing we have long associated with Islamic terrorists and their state sponsors. Hezbollah is famous for parading caskets carrying the bodies of their “martyrs” through the streets to whip up the crowd and stoke revolutionary fervor. The Palestinian Authority, to this day, is regularly criticized for paying compensation to the families of suicide bombers and glorifying them in the press.

Terrorism At Home

Yet, this is not happening in the streets of Beirut or on the West Bank. This is happening right here in the United States, and it is happening right now.

It is also going to get much, much worse before it gets any better. The commentary coming from far-left propaganda organs, and some members of Congress, is not calculated to calm the waters. We do not hear condemnation of the use of violence or calls for restraint. In fact, we hear nothing from those who have done the most to fan the flames and incite this kind of terrorism.

When asked directly by the press to comment on Van Spronsen’s attack, Congresswomen Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Ilhan Omar all pointedly declined to provide any statement. This despite the fact that much of what was written in Van Spronsen’s manifesto could have been lifted virtually verbatim from any number of speeches given by these women. This despite the regular use of inflammatory rhetoric such as this.

“I learned a long time ago that when change happens it’s either because people see the light, or they feel the fire. We’re lifting up these stories in the hopes that you will see the light. And if you don’t, we will bring the fire.” - Rep. Ayanna Pressley.

Identity Politics and Division

The Democratic Party turned loose the forces now at work years ago in the interest of electoral advantage. It went all in on identity politics, division and rage. Rather than work to unite this country it saw it to its advantage to turn Americans against each other and to drive people to the ballot box -not based on hope or promise – but based on fear and rage.

We are paying the price now. Van Spronsen is dead. Out there in the darkness untold numbers of new Van Spronsens are writing their manifestos.

And “It’s Going Down” is standing by to publish them and celebrate the newest martyr for the cause.