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Led by Unite the Right attendee, Latinos for Trump director + former InfoWars 'reporter,' the Proud Boys are holding a protest in #Portland today they claim will be a "powder keg," "10 fold" the violence of previous events. An anti-racist festival is planned miles away. A thread.
The Proud Boys, led by Enrique Tarrio, who marched in Charlottesville as a member of the Proud Boys "military wing," and is the Florida Director of 'Latinos for Trump,' are planning to hold a rally today in #Portland to "End Antifa."
Tarrio is joined in the organizing of the #Portland rally by Joe "Rambo" Biggs. Biggs is known, according to @mmfa, for encouraging date rape, punching trans people, and also for posing as a "journalist" at InfoWars. https://www.mediamatters.org/right-side-broadcasting/new-host-unofficial-version-trump-tv-encouraged-date-rape-and-punching
Last year, Joe Biggs and other Proud Boy leaders revived visits from the FBI before a August 2019 rally in #Portland, also against antifascists, because of numerous threats on social media to murder and injure people. https://itsgoingdown.org/proud-boy-leaders-tone-down-after-fbi/
While the Proud Boys are not white nationalists - they do not want to form a new all-white State - but they do embrace the paleoconservatism of Pat Buchanan, who's book, "Death of the West" they read from at events and gatherings.
One of Buchanan's advisors, Sam T Francis, was directly involved in white nationalist think-tanks and groups. Such as the Council for Conservative Citizens (who influenced Dylann Roof) and American Renaissance, which produces a print magazine and hosts a yearly conference.
Francis was fired from the Washington Times after making racist comments at the white nationalist American Renaissance conference in 1995. A year later, Buchanan ran for President. Francis would go on to edit the Council for Conservative Citizens publication.
Another racist who would also later be published in the pages of American Renaissance, Gavin McIness, one of the founders of @VICE, would go on to form a group called the Proud Boys. In the pages of AmRen, McIness argued that blacks and whites should not live together.
Announcing the formation of the Proud Boys in the paleoconservative magazine Taki's in 2016, a job which was given to him by white nationalist Richard Spencer, McIness envisioned the Proud Boys as a pro-Trump gang that could engage in violence against Trump's political enemies.
By 2017, Proud Boys members were organizing + planning to speak at the Unite the Right rally, which some Proud Boys attended, as did their "military division," the Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights, led by white nationalists Kyle Chapman + Augustus Invictus. https://twitter.com/IGD_News/status/898028765086834688
After the Unite the Right disaster, McIness tried to claim that there was no connection between his group and Unite the Right, despite the fact that Proud Boys were part of the organizing, Augustus Invictus was supposed to speak, and many Proud Boys attended the event.
Unite the Right showed that while the Proud Boys were not ideologically neo-Nazis or full on white nationalists, they were still open to building working relationships with those groups - especially against common enemies like anti-racist and anti-fascist protesters.
Here's one Proud Boy explaining why neo-Nazis are his "best friends." https://twitter.com/IGD_News/status/1019822020672962560?s=20
It's this building of a pan-far-Right street fighting force that has been the goal of far-Right organizers like Joey Gibson + is something that the press has largely ignored - that far-Right organizers - even of color - are able to work directly with racists towards common goals.
Thus the point of unity among groups like the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer, groups which include open anti-Semites and white nationalists - is not ideological, but instead a tactical embrace of violence against their enemies. https://itsgoingdown.org/headshot-antifa-scum-joey-gibson-associates-escalate-calls-for-violence-following-murder-of-portland-anarchist/
In recent months, this embrace of violence has manifested into real-world attacks. Several months ago, a far-Right Trump supporter was filmed leaving a park after pipe-bombs were thrown at protesters. https://www.opb.org/article/2020/08/19/explosive-portland-protest-navy-seal-fbi-investigation/
Another pipe-bomb attack and attempted drive by shooting followed a far-Right pro-police rally and involved associates of Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys. https://www.wweek.com/news/2020/08/17/far-right-protester-fired-two-gunshots-at-black-lives-matter-demonstrators-last-weekend/
Proud Boy Alan Swinney, who has a long history of violence, was also recently sued for violent attacks on anti-racist protesters on August 22nd, the same day that Swinney, who has a visible Proud Boys tattoo, pulled a gun on protesters. https://www.newsweek.com/portland-protest-lawsuit-paintball-swinney-1529114
Other local Proud Boys like Tiny Toese, who is currently back in jail, also have a long history of attacking and assaulting random members of the public on the street. From youth outside the Vancouver mall to people on the streets of #Portland. https://www.opb.org/article/2020/08/29/proud-boy-tusitala-tiny-toese-arrested-in-clark-county/
Here's a clip of Tiny articulating why he doesn't mind the Alt-Right or neo-Nazis showing up to Proud Boy or Patriot Prayer rallies - because they have the same goal of 'ending antifa.' https://twitter.com/IGD_News/status/1144887283780337664?s=20
Patriot Prayer and Proud Boy associates are also part of a lawsuit stemming from a violent group attack of patrons sitting outside of the Cider Riot bar on May 1st. https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2019/11/judge-rules-cider-riot-owners-1-million-lawsuit-against-joey-gibson-can-move-forward.html
The Proud Boys engage in violence because their entire neo-fascist worldview revolves around violence. This is why they celebrate and promote dictators like Pinochet - because he murdered his enemies by throwing them out of a helicopter.
Thus, it's no wonder that Proud Boys leaders have been tied - even to attempted murder plots. https://www.thedailybeast.com/former-proud-boys-lawyer-jason-lee-van-dyke-allegedly-plotted-assassination-of-rival-court-docs-say
While claiming they want to stop make believe "antifascist terrorism," their own members are doing time for beating up a young African-American man at the neo-Nazi Unite the Right rally. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/second-man-convicted-in-charlottesville-parking-garage-beating/2018/05/03/245c726c-4ef9-11e8-af46-b1d6dc0d9bfe_story.html
Proud Boys in New York are also serving several years for a gang attack against antifascist demonstrators. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/22/nyregion/proud-boys-antifa-sentence.html
But while the Proud Boys engage in assault after murder plot after violent attack, Trump rants against #BlackLIvesMatter 
and anti-fascist protesters, not them. In fact, the Proud Boys have made real connections into the Trumpian State and the GOP.
and anti-fascist protesters, not them. In fact, the Proud Boys have made real connections into the Trumpian State and the GOP.
As Trump makes it more and more clear that not only will he attempt to steal the election, but that he knows it is his only chance of winning - the GOP knows that it needs groups like the Proud Boys to be their muscle in the streets.
This is something that the press by and large has refused to report on - the clear and direct connections between the Proud Boys, who have a history of actual physical violence against people, clear relationships with neo-Nazis, and a foot in the Republican Party.
For the last four years, the people of Portland have watched as neo-Nazis, white nationalists, militia members, Trump supporters and Proud Boys have flooded their streets for the explicit reason of physically attacking people.
The response from the local police has been to attack antifascists, anarchists, socialists, anti-racist community organizations and labor groups - while opening up a line of communication with the far-Right in order to coordinate with them. https://www.wweek.com/news/courts/2019/02/14/texts-between-portland-police-and-patriot-prayer-ringleader-joey-gibson-show-warm-exchange/
Local #Portland police have even stated that they view the fascist groups as "more mainstream" than those opposed to white supremacy and fascism. https://www.wweek.com/news/courts/2018/06/27/portland-police-saw-right-wing-protesters-as-much-more-mainstream-than-leftist-ones/
Such kid gloves on the far-Right has given them a free pass when it comes to rallying in #Portland, attacking people on its streets, and even setting up to carry out potential massacres. https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2018/10/16/portland-police-found-right-wing-protesters-with-a-cache-of-long-guns-atop-a-parking-garage-why-didnt-the-mayor-know/
This relationship between law enforcement and the fascist far-Right has embolden such groups to plan continued acts of violence over social media - all the way up to discussion of political assassinations and attacking anti-racist protesters. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/23/oregon-portland-pro-trump-protests-violence-texts
Tomorrow, autonomous anti-capitalist and anti-fascist groups - instead of confronting the Proud Boys directly, are holding a mass community anti-racist festival miles away from the Proud Boys rally. Come out and support the mobilization!
For a much deeper dive into the Proud Boys, check out this amazing research and reporting from @RoseCityAntifa. https://rosecityantifa.org/articles/s26/
The folks at @PopMobPDX are also taking pledges for people donating for every Proud Boys loser who shows up. Right now, they're at over $50 per head! https://twitter.com/PopMobPDX/status/1307457952823926784?s=20
Lastly, don't take it from us about what the Proud Boys are about - listen to them explain it to you in their own words.
