

In recently uploaded selfies, far-right conspiracy theorist Joe Biggs endorses violence and murder against activists, and condones the legacy of extrajudicial murders perpetrated by fascist dictator Augusto Pinochet against political dissidents.

Once again, the far-Right is planning to invade downtown Portland, intent on staging a battle with “communists and leftists.” Reminiscent of the June 30 and August 4, 2018 Patriot Prayer rallies in which far-right brawlers, white nationalists, and neo-Nazis came from all over the country to hunt activists in downtown, national groups and far-Right media personalities from far outside of Portland are coming here on August 17, 2019 to bring their branded political violence to our streets.

Among these media personalities is Joe Biggs, a former InfoWars employee, who has long been claimed by neo-Nazis as a fellow anti-Semite. His calls for violence have been by far the loudest, and he claims to be rallying white nationalist groups like the American Guard and the Proud Boys to come to Portland in large numbers.

Rose City Antifa has uncovered evidence that neo-Nazis associated with the Daily Stormer plan to return to Portland for this event to fight alongside the far-Right, as they did in the summer of 2018.

We call on the community to defend itself, as it has countless times before. We must tell these far-Right and neo-Nazi groups that they are not welcome in Portland, and their search for victims on our streets will not be tolerated! Join us on August 17 at Waterfront Park to defend Portland against far-Right attack!

Background of Events Leading to August 17, 2019

Throughout 2017 and 2018, a number of far-Right rallies organized by Joey Gibson and Patriot Prayer invaded Portland. In contrast to Joey Gibson's false “freedom” platfom, Joe Bigg's posturing is more like that of a school yard bully. However, they have the same intention: to unleash a coalition of the far-Right against liberal and leftist targets. Previous events united a number of different groups of differing political ideologies, from the far-Right Trump supporters like Gibson, militia groups like the Three Percenters, the white nationalist Proud Boys, to the white supremacist group Identity Europa, and a number of neo-Nazis groups like the Traditionalist Workers Party, the Hammerskins, Cascade Legion, the Daily Stormer Book Clubs, and even the KKK.

The details of these groups attacking Portland are now too long to be summarized in one article. For those new to the topic, please see the small selection of articles below for detailed accounts of who attended these rallies, their actions, what groups they are associated with, and the nature of their politics.

Joey Gibson's clout on the far-Right significantly faded after local activists gathered to oppose his rally on August 4, 2018. That day, the Portland Police Bureau attacked the anti-fascists with grenades and pepper spray, causing serious injuries among both activists and journalists. Those attacks would later be determined to be unprovoked. It was also later revealed that at that event members of an out-of-state far-Right group were found with rifles in a sniper position above the crowd, but were allowed to keep their guns and were not detained.

However, on May 1, 2019 Gibson was able to launch himself back into the headlines with the help of islamophobic far-Right media personality Andy Ngo. On that day, Gibson, accompanied by several Proud Boys, anti-Semite David Willis, and fascists Ian Kramer and Eric Oelkers, came to a Portland bar where activists were holding an event. There, they pepper sprayed people, threw bottles, and after a fight broke out, Kramer hit an activist with a metal baton, knocking her unconscious. Andy Ngo filmed the encounter, and released the video online, identifying the person who was knocked unconscious and causing her to suffer threats and harassment from the far-Right, but never identifying the assailants.

Nearly two months later, Andy Ngo announced that the Proud Boys would return to Portland for “The Battle of Portland Part 2” on June 29, 2019, nearly one year after the Patriot Prayer rally on June 30, 2018. He promoted this event with further footage of Proud Boys assaulting activists.





Ngo announces the Proud Boy rally on Twitter.

Rose City Antifa organized a response to this planned incursion along with many other community groups. Due to this community response, the Proud Boys failed to show up to their own event. At the counter-protest, Ngo repeatedly attempted to identify individual activists in the crowd using his video cameras, and after he was asked to leave several times, he was removed, and sustained injuries in the process.

In the aftermath of June 29, 2019 and the Proud Boys’ utter rout from Portland (defeated by a non-violent community rally, no less), the far-Right became apopleptic. Seizing upon Ngo's superficial injuries, and additionally, a bold-faced lie by the Portland Police Bureau that some milkshakes distributed at the counter-protest contained cement, the far-Right is using this moment to renew their attack. Anti-fascist activism succeeds at defending our communities, and it enrages them.

The centerpiece of this renewed assault surrounds an effort by US Senators Bill Cassidy and Ted Cruz to get “antifa” declared a domestic terrorist organization, a thinly veiled attempt to criminalize any community response to racism. (See our statement condemning this attempt at repression, signed by community resistance organizations across the country, here.)

The alliance between the state and the far-Right groups who have been invading our city is nothing new. Cruz has a relationship with the white nationalist Proud Boys beyond their shared rhetoric. And here in Portland we have seen countless instances of the Police Bureau shielding the far-Right and white supremacists from out of town, while attacking anti-fascist community members.



Ted Cruz (left) pictured with Enrique Tarrio (right), the chair of the Proud Boys organization, at AIPAC in 2019.



A petition to declare antifa a “domestic terrorist organization,” (left) created by Proud Boys chair Enrique Tarrio, along with an internal Proud Boys message supporting it (right). Ted Cruz and Bill Cassidy take their proposed resolution directly from this petition.

But the level of predicted violence coming from the far-Right and neo-Nazi propaganda in the lead up to August 17, 2019 rivals even that of last summer. Below, we detail the intensity with which these groups are readying to attack the city of Portland, and those denizens of our city who would stand up to racism and fascism.

Details of individuals involved with the planned August 17, 2019 assault of Portland

Joe Biggs

August 17th won't be the first time the far-right favorite among neo-Nazis and White Nationalists Joe Biggs makes an appearence in Portland. In April of 2016, on assignment from his then-employer Infowars, he came to join forces with local PSU Fascists, including Volodymyr Kolychev, for a pro-Trump rally near PSU. His tenure at Infowars also included endorsing and discussing the bizzare “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory.

More recently, Biggs has authored articles on the Republican-linked website Big League Politics, where he attempts a more neutral tone. But on his Twitter and other social media, he has had no qualms about broadcasting his murder-fantasies and death-threats publicly.



Biggs posts a Periscope broadcast wearing a shirt celebrating fascist dictator Augusto Pinochet's state murder of political dissidents while spewing threats against anti-fascists who organize to oppose precisely that sort of violence.



Biggs, pictured among the Proud Boys at the “Demand Free Speech” rally posts a fascist meme on Twitter referencing the extrajudicial murder of tens of thousands of activists in Chile by fascist dictator Augusto Pinochet, who would brutally execute some of those opposed to his regime by ejecting them from helocopters while in flight.



Biggs spreads unfounded conspiracies that antifa collaborate with ISIS and Al Quaeda, despite the fact that a good number of self-described anti-fascists have in fact bravely given their lives fighting against ISIS alongside the YPG & YPJ in Syria.



Joe Biggs celebrates the violence of the Proud Boys hate group while pretending that his alt-right associates actually care about Free Speech.



Biggs encourages his followers to prepare to shoot anti-fascists by projecting his own belligerence onto them. The far-right has been gunning innocent U.S. citizens down at epidemic levels.

In late June and early July, Biggs posted a number of belligerent and aggressive death threats against anti-fascist activists on nearly all of his social media accounts, resulting in many of his accounts being suspended. In the screenshot below, we see the eager response of Biggs’ followers to his visual suggestion of fascist extrajudicial murder. Notably, a Facebook user going by the name of Steven Douglas Whitener encourages Biggs to “let them make the death threats,” referencing the history of the 1979 Greensboro, NC massacre in which the KKK opened fire and murdered five anti-fascist labor organizers who had used the slogan “Death To The Klan”. Whitener is openly comparing Biggs and his allies favorably to the KKK, and requesting that he project some kind of “threat” from anti-fascists to use as justification and pretext to carry out a similar fascist massacre.



Joe Biggs makes open death threats against activists who organize to oppose fascist and neo-Nazi violence.



Joe Biggs endorses the neo-Nazi Anticom organization while advertising for his fascist rally in Portland on August 17th.

Daily Stormer Neo-Nazis Admire Joe Biggs

Biggs’ violent goals and ideology have not gone unnoticed on the discussion boards of the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer. A thread on the event encouraged neo-Nazis in the area to turn out and attend, even describing the event as a way to have “fun.” The “fun” that neo-Nazis are looking to have in our city is nothing other than opportunities to attack vulnerable people and activists, and radicalize conservatives drawn to events like these by the false victimization rhetoric.



Daily Stormer user Arminius_Faschismus promoting Joe Biggs’ August 17th event (by posting a video from Joey Gibson's YouTube channel), encouraging other neo-Nazis to join.



Another message on The Daily Stormer message board encouraging fellow neo-Nazis to come out and have “fun” at Joe Biggs’ August 17th event.



While obviously over-estimating the numbers at Joey Gibson's June 4, 2017 rally in Portland, The Daily Stormer user Arminius_Faschismus expresses how important it is to the neo-Nazi movement that rallies like these happen. The notion of “waking up” conservatives (“NormieCons”) refers to them being radicalized by the neo-Nazi evangalizing at these rallies.



A user on The Daily Stormer showcases Joe Biggs’ violent rhetoric and death threats regarding his plans to assault people in Portland on August 17.

Joe Biggs Appearances On InfoWars

Biggs has made several appearances on conspiracist Alex Jones’ InfoWars website to promote his planned August 17 incursion into Portland.

On July 16th, Biggs appeared on InfoWars with Alex Jones where the two of them spouted bizarre conspiracies and falsehoods about their idealized boogieman version of “ANTIFA.” For instance, they invented tales of “acid attacks” by anti-fascists, which have in fact never occurred. They also took time out to echo and elaborate on U.S. President Donald Trump's virulent racism and Islamophobia.



Biggs and Jones spout racism and Islamophobic rhetoric directed at MN congressional representative Ilhan Omar, including the baseless smear that she had at one time been married to her brother.



Predicating his comments with familiar inflammatory falsehoods Jones tacitly encourages his followers to murder people they believe to be their political opponents.



Inveterate liar Alex Jones, who is currently in the midst of multiple lawsuits for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress upon the victims of mass violence, fabricates grievances having to do with non-existent persecution from social media corporations and anti-fascist activists, while Biggs prepares the ground for cheap disavowals when one of his conspiracy-poisoned followers commits an atrocity.

Biggs also appeared on InfoWars on July 17th, this time with host Owen Shroyer, in a program where both men displayed their allegiance to fascists and neo-Nazis by playing footage from violent fascist rallies while railing against anti-fascist activists. In this appearance, Biggs also elaborated on his plans to overwhelm Portland and PPB with far-right activists deployed in military formations because, he said, “I would feel bad for a thousand people to show up to a permitted event and based on the law there, if antifa shows up to this permitted event, the police can tell everyone to disperse and arrest anyone who doesn't leave, then the event doesn't happen…" Biggs, like Joey Gibson before him, is inviting his followers to engage in violent tourism with the hope that they might be able to assault or murder people.



By showing images of white nationalists kicking at anti-fascist signs at the deadly Charlottesville neo-Nazi rally while simultaneously railing against anti-fascist activists as “Enemies”, Biggs and Shroyer signal their support for the neo-Nazis who marched at the rally where Heather Heyer was murdered by James Alex Fields. Biggs is also co-organizing the event with Proud Boys hate group leader Enrique Tarrio, who himself participated in the Charlottesville neo-Nazi rally.



While celebrating acts of violent aggression carried out by white nationalist Patriot Prayer and Proud Boys affiliate Kyle Chapman, Biggs explicitly states that the purpose of his August 17th rally is to terrorize Portland residents and activists. Biggs also clearly states that he is organizing with American Guard, who are accurately described by the ADL as “hardcore white supremacists”



Biggs and Shroyer make light of the concentration camps where children are being held separately from their families as they experience sexual assault and murder at the hands of border guards. Biggs also makes sure to sieze another opportunity to reference a racist conspiracy theory about Ilhan Omar.



Biggs pretends that anti-fascists are the aggressors via some ill-defined “commie tactics” while infowars shows footage of the June 2016 neo-Nazi rally in Sacramento, CA where members of the Traditionalist Workers Party neo-Nazi organization stabbed multiple anti-fascists and then worked with police to prosecute them. Biggs and Shroyer are signaling their tacit support for the neo-Nazis who nearly murdered people at this event.

Joey Gibson

Patriot Prayer founder and consistent neo-Nazi collaborator Joey Gibson has also endorsed calls for violence and mass-murder at Biggs’ 8/17 rally.



Joey Gibson and Proud Boys hate group member Pete Venturo aka Petrena Peterson gleefully discuss far-right agitators’ desire to murder Portland activists on August 17.

This approach to speaking about threats of violence and their supposed justification has been a continuous theme from Gibson and his allies for years. They organize provocative, dangerous, and violent events (in direct coordination with fascists and neo-Nazis) in search of any defensive response at all which they can use as a pretext to vent their murderous aggression.



In late 2017, Gibson discusses the eagerness of his allies to find excuses to attack and murder more Portland activists. By this time, Patriot Prayer member Jeremy Christian had already used Gibson's strategy to stab three people, killing two of them.

Proud Boys



Carl Todd and his fellow Proud Boys such as Matteo Dagradi, JD Stockton, David Julian, and others are seen arming themselves to the teeth in preparation for the rally they are promoting as “peaceful” and “non-violent.” Despite their attempts to portray otherwise, August 17 organizers and attendees clearly know an event promising to “end domestic terrorism” will motivate far-Right violence.



Cast aside former Proud Boy and Patriot Prayer sycophant Russell Schultz believes the mass murder he hopes for on August 17 will somehow be appropriate retaliation for the 2017 killings in Las Vegas committed by a 2nd Amendment fanatic who ranted about Ruby Ridge, Waco, and FEMA camps.



Lynwood, WA Proud Boys hate group member Naphtali Robert Moore posts a flyer which uses the far-Right “Honkler” clown character, whose “Honk Honk” slogan is used by neo-Nazis as a dog-whistle for “Heil Hitler”. Moore's flyer also links to endantifa dot com, a forwarding address created by Proud Boys hate group chairman Enrique Tarrio to forward to a white house petition requesting that antifa be declared a “domestic terrorist organization.” Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump have followed the hate group's lead with this proposal.



Russell Schultz announces his plan to act as an agent provocateur among anti-fascists on August 17th. Schultz has repeatedly claimed that he has taken this action as a way of attacking anti-fascists and framing them for far-right violence.

Jered Gavin Bonneau

Jered Gavin Bonneau is Three Percenter and a failed congressional candidate who openly called for mass murder against anti-fascists at an August 18, 2018 far-right rally in Seattle, WA. He is using Biggs’ fascist provocations as an excuse to reprise his calls for political murder. A March, 2018 Spokesman Review article identifies Bonneau as a mental health technician at Eastern State Hospital near Spokane, WA.



Jered Gavin Bonneau reprises his calls for political murder of activists in Portland.



Jered Gavin Bonneau brags online about how big and strong he is, while his followers counsel him on how to avoid legal liability while openly organizing to assault people, celebrate violence by neo-Nazis like Nathan Damigo and Allen Pucket, and fantasize about murdering anti-fascists with an axe.



More receipts from Bonneau and his followers as they openly organize for the aggressive assaults and murders they hope to carry out.

Shane Kohfield



A relative newcomer to Portland's far-right activism ciruit, Shane Kohfield's relevant posts are notable for their violent content and disturbing obsessive tendencies. His testimony on the livestream from Haley Adams and Alyssa Vinsonhaler's recent attempt to protest in front of Ted Wheeler's home expressed similar unsettling themes of persecution, revenge and “slaughter”.



While standing next to Joseph Geraci at Haley Adams and Alyssa Vinsonhaler's “Occupy Ted's House” rally, Shane Kohfield talks explicitly about his desires and plans to murder people who he considers to be anti-fascist activists in Portland. Moments prior, Kohfield had also discussed having infiltrated the black bloc in order to surveil anti-fascists and frame them for far-right violence.

Tara LaRosa

Proud Boys affiliate Tara LaRosa has been a major agitator for Joe Biggs’ fascist rally on August 17th.



Tara LaRosa promotes Joe Biggs’ fascist rally, including to men's rights activist and conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich, whose relentless promotion of the baseless “pizzagate” conspiracy theory prompted a right-wing media consumer to open fire in a Washington D.C. pizza restaurant.



LaRosa promotes Biggs’ fascist rally to anti-semitic white nationalist Stefan Molyneux.



Tara LaRosa posts an image encouraging people to “end antifa” and touting the McCarthyist slogan “Better Dead Than Red”



At a recent event held by the Columbia River chapter of the Proud Boys hate group, Tara LaRosa poses for a photo with neo-Nazi Patriot Prayer member Edith Berlin DePoorter-Dixon aka Edie Dixon. Both are displaying the alt-right “ok” hand sign, which– while concealing itself in the guise of “irony” and “trolling”– nonetheless functions as a dog-whistle for “white power”.

Andrew Allwander



This receipt is just one of the times Eugene area martial arts instructor Andrew Allwander posted this lurid homicidal fantasy of carrying out an ISIS-style beheading against anti-fascist activists.



The McCarthy era slogan “Better Dead than Red”, seen in this post from Allwander, has made a striking come-back in the Trump era. Hash tags “endantifa” and “fightthem” make his violent intentions clear.



Andrew Allwander posts a litany of murderous fantasies along with the racist David Willis.



Song lyrics by the misogynist death metal band Cannibal Corpse enliven Allwander's murderous imagination.

Far-Right Murder Fantasies

In the Facebook comments and discussion about the August 17th hate rally, attendees and other supporters gleefully spew their fantasies of murdering and attacking people in Portland, including anti-fascist activists, and even the mayor.



A rally supporter declares they will shoot anyone who might throw a milkshake, and another “totally agrees” with this murder fantasy.



Discussion among White Nationalist Haley Adams’ supporters, where one calls for the mayor to be decapitated.



Patriot Prayer supporter Katy Weisberg - who also participated in the attack on the local bar Cider Riot on May Day - posts an image of a violent murder. Notably, the figure carrying the baseball bat wears a Celtic Cross on their lapel, a symbol often used by overt white supremacists.



Violent Patriot Prayer supporter Chris Ponte - who also participated in the attack on local bar Cider Riot on May Day - displays another image of gruesome murder. Another violent Patriot Prayer member, pedophile Deme Cooper, says that he shares his dream.

Stand with us on August 17

The far-right media would like to see Portland overrun by violent groups like these. But Portland is our home, and we will defend it. We will not accept our streets used as a playground for the right-wing and white supremacists to hunt and harm activists and Portlanders. Stand with us, and tell these groups that they are not welcome here in Portland. No matter how many brawlers they fly into Portland, no matter how many times they come, no matter how violent their threats are: we will defend ourselves and our community.

If you have any information about these groups or their plans for August 17, or other information about far-right and fascist organizing, please email us at [email protected].