A lot has been written in the aftermath of a coordinated attack by right-wing agitators at HOPE 2018. We wanted to take the opportunity to collectively respond to false information being shared, both by HOPE organizers and attendees.

Myth: People were intimidated by the mere presence of people with Trump attire — and that’s all that happened.

Fact: While right wing agitators at HOPE were easiest to spot by their Trump attire (such as MAGA hats, a Pepe the frog patch, a “no safe place for snowflakes” t-shirt, etc.), they especially stood out for their abusive behavior, including but not limited to:

· Trying to rush the stage when Chelsea Manning was speaking and again tried to approach her ambush-style after her interview with Radio Statler.

· Following people to their hotel rooms

· Berating people after their talks

· Making comments about people’s appearances and threatening their electronic devices

· DDOSing Q&A time with harassing questions

· Blocking aisles and trolling people trying to get through by accusing them of “fat shaming”

· Backing people into a corner and screaming in their faces to try to instigate fights

· Standing up at a session dedicated to Heather Heyer and bragging about marching with fascists at the #UnitetheRight white nationalist rally in Charlottesville in which she was murdered (the man who did this also appeared to be carrying a concealed weapon)

HOPE volunteers contributed to these situations by separating people from speakers, but not kicking them out, which led to targeted stalking/harassment afterwards. Mike Roadancer even went so far as to accuse an attendee who was harassed by a bad actor of “provoking” the incident and told him he was “on his own” unless he was physically assaulted.

Myth: HOPE attendees spread absurd rumors about the conference welcoming Nazis simply because they were not prepared to deal with people wearing hats and acting intimidating.

Fact: Some HOPE staff and volunteers appeared to be friendly with the white nationalist/fascist disruptors, getting food with them, taking shots together behind the security table, and other behavior. HOPE staff also seemed to have no problem with both police and federal informants in the space. Additionally, not removing these bad actors led to further harassment and stalking of multiple individuals.

It wasn’t just right-wing agitators in MAGA hats, but also intelligence contractor and FBI informant Tom Ryan, who was hanging out with Frank, HOPE’s head of security, as well as two federal agents who were skulking around during an interview with formerly imprisoned journalist Barrett Brown.

Myth: The presence of fascists did not define the conference.

Fact: Much of the response was due to the lack of action from HOPE volunteers and staff. The fact that the presence of fascist disruptors went unnoticed by staff and attendees is a testament to the coordinated response by a spontaneous, makeshift group of attendees who happened to be competent, connected, expert crisis responders. Among other things, this group:

· determined that the disruptors were indeed a coordinated group, not unconnected individuals

· kept continuous track of where instigators were in the building and even around/outside the hotel

· attempted to identify them and determine their strategy

· protected speakers who were targeted in many ways by physically blocking fascist instigators from getting to them, finding alternate routes for them to travel to, from, and within the hotel, and providing quick and coordinated backup when an altercation seemed imminent

Notably, these were all paying conference attendees who would’ve preferred spending their time at the event sitting in on talks or attending workshops rather than having ineffective conversations with security, and then doing security’s work for them.

It was great that a lot of people stepped up to fill in for HOPE security, but it also meant that paying attendees were not able to relax and enjoy the conference because the threat hadn’t been taken care of appropriately. This is especially true for speakers that were intentionally targeted, for vulnerable groups who are directly threatened by fascists, and for people who have previously been on the receiving end of fascist violence. For many of us, the presence of fascists isn’t something that can simply be ignored.

Myth: Making offensive comments, cornering people, blockading aisles, following people and trying to instigate them, etc. doesn’t qualify as harassment because it’s not repeated.

Fact: Actually, the dictionary definition of harassment is to “subject to aggressive pressure or intimidation.” Nowhere in HOPE’s Code of Conduct does it state that each victim of targeted harassment needs to be pestered multiple times, though in many cases that did in fact happen. Victims should not need to be harassed multiple times before staff takes action. Harassment only needs to happen once to be unacceptable.

Myth: HOPE attendees were responsible for harassment because they were snarky.

Fact: Victims of coordinated, targeted harassment are never responsible for that harassment. Additionally, responding to hateful behavior with “snark” is not a violation of HOPE’s Code of Conduct.

Myth: Staff wasn’t ignoring complaints.

Fact: Many people on HOPE staff were repeatedly dismissive of reports, and even defended the presence of fascists. As explained earlier, many of us at HOPE, particularly individuals in vulnerable groups often targeted by fascists, simply can’t sit back and relax when we know fascists are in our spaces. We don’t consider attempts to get HOPE staffto put their Code of Conduct into effect so that all of us can have a more inclusive and welcoming conference “complaining.”

Myth: People complaining about the pathetic response just want to whine and do not have suggestions to help.

Fact: In fact, we do have many helpful suggestions for HOPE volunteers.

1. Stop trivializing coordinated, targeted harassment by focusing on t-shirts or chalking it up to exaggeration on Twitter.

2. Acknowledge that there is a power differential in Code of Conduct violations. There is a difference between loudly stating that one has marched with Nazis and, say, wearing a Bernie hat.

3. Ask speakers to read the Code of Conduct out loud before each talk.

4. Have a clear process for complaints, such as t-shirts identifying response staff, and coordination between staff to do the heavy lifting rather than asking attendees to continue to speak to different people.

5. Train staff in recognizing fascist and alt-right symbols and tactics.

6. Train staff in incident response, including some of the behaviors listed above that attendees performed for them.

7. Vet volunteers to make sure none of them are coordinating with outside agitators.

8. Continue working with attendees to come up with a strategy to combat this.

We are sorely disappointed that conference organizers seem more concerned about not banning particular hats than enforcing the minimal Code of Conduct they already have. This is the kind of situation that leads to someone getting jumped and beaten outside the venue by a gang of fascists, and the reason this didn’t happen is a testament to a spontaneous group of attendees banding together and taking action.

Some people who experienced and organized to oppose harassment at HOPE will no longer be returning for future conferences. Some are willing to put the work in to make improvements. Others would like to see commitment to change from HOPE as an organization first. We hope that in the future HOPE can be better prepared for this kind of organized harassment and disruption, and many of us are willing to help you come up with a strategy for how to put a stop to it. Fascists should have no place at HOPE.

Organizations:

ActSecure

Anon Anarchist Action a(A)a

Digital Freedom Initiative

Four Thieves Vinegar Collective

fread.ink

Hispagatos

Riseup.net

Technology Action Project

T4Tech

Individuals:

AJ Bahnken

Barrett Brown

Benjamin

Bill Budington

Caroline Sinders

Chelsea E. Manning

Cooper Quintin

Daly

Deviant Ollam

heartsucker

Jason Wins

Maggie Mayhem

Micah Lee

Mixæl S Laufer

Nima Fatemi

ReK2

Troy Cregger

William Gillis

Yael Grauer

Other accounts:

No Code Will Save You: https://c4ss.org/content/51088

No HOPE For Fascists https://heartsucker.com/blog/2018/07/28/no-hope-for-fascists

Media coverage:

HOPE Conference Criticized for Allowing Far-Right Harassment: https://www.unicornriot.ninja/2018/hope-conference-criticized-for-allowing-far-right-harassment/

What Went Wrong at the HOPE Hacking Conference: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/wjkjzm/what-went-wrong-at-the-hope-hacking-conference

Prior statement:

No Fascists at HOPE: https://medium.com/@nofashathope/statement-no-fascists-at-hope-c6873a64cc94

To add your name to either statement (please specific which one), email nofashathope@protonmail.com.