In light of the Oregon legislature drafting an anti-doxxing bill to be potentially passed in 2021, here are a few reasons why doxxing is an important tactic for antifa and why –as always- there is not an equivalency with the Far Right’s use of this tactic. https://www.wweek.com/news/state/2020/10/26/oregon-lawmakers-consider-making-it-a-crime-to-dox-someone-and-banning-law-enforcement-from-posting-mugshots/

The motivation for the bill is presumably the Far Right use of doxxing to harass anyone who goes to left protests, especially #BLM. So we’ll point out how the right use of the tactic differs markedly from what we do & how a blunt legal instrument could create harm.

The typical right-wing “doxx” uses easy-access, public info from a left protest to pretend every person swept up in a mass arrest is a member of antifa. The low critical thinking of the intended audience makes it unnecessary to produce any evidence for such claims.

Anyone who is antifa or just has firsthand knowledge about left dynamics knows it is patently absurd to assert that hundreds upon hundreds of ppl are #antifa because they were arrested at a #BLM protest. (TBC: Being pro BLM or being antifa are not shameful, unlike being a Nazi.)

There’s a widespread right-wing fiction that antifa is a massive nefarious cabal sowing chaos and running BLM. So these lousy, malicious “doxx” jobs reinforce their confirmation bias. It’s a circular argument created from disinfo: antifa is huge/BLM because all BLM = antifa.

As usual what the right accuses the left of, they are actually doing. While often the right & press say something like “antifa doxxes those they *believe* to be fascists” RCA actually supplies a very large amount of evidence to back such claims. We don’t publish hunches.

RCA has existed for 13 yrs & every person we have ever doxxed has proven ties to white supremacist &/or fascist organizing. Every fact can be independently confirmed. We actually don’t publish some info we have bc even something 99% confirmed doesn’t meet our high standards.

Our audience is the PDX community so we want to maintain a level of trust that we provide good quality info. The Far Right audience is Atomwaffen Division and similar. Not ppl especially known for impeccable ethics or judgment.

The difference in audience is important & something that the Far Right is well aware of. Nazis are in fact the actual worst. Despite the widespread efforts of the Republican Party & Far Right to push the “both sides” idea, it remains bullshit. Here’s some stats (CW murder):

Anti-fascists:

1993: John Bair, a SHARP, killed Eric Banks, a neo-Nazi.

2020: Michael Reinoehl, antifa/BLM supporter, killed Aaron Danielson, Patriot Prayer member.

Total= 2 deaths in 27 years

Victims were known hate group members & motivation was self-defense.

Far Right:

1995-2020: 329 people murdered by the Far Right.

2015-2019: 64 killed in 34 attacks by white supremacists

Victims were children, pregnant women & others killed at religious & community spaces. Motivation was creating fascist terror.

It should be noted that these figures on the Far Right are likely underestimated e.g. the Las Vegas shooter, Stephen Paddock, was Far Right yet his 58 victims are not included. Also several murders by Boogaloo Boys have happened after this study. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/27/us-far-right-violence-terrorist-threat-analysis

Aside from these type of stats on violence, what you fight for matters. Antifa simply is not the same as Nazis because what Nazis want is to dehumanize, exploit, and exterminate the majority of ppl. We want to prevent that. Just as many other antifa have throughout history.

The motivation shapes the tactic. The Far Right doxx, just like Far Right violence, mostly targets vulnerable, normal ppl in order to spread fear. Whereas the antifa doxx targets fascist political actors w/ objectively horrible ideas & who are working to hurt a lot of ppl.

This legislation has the potential to be a major boon to fascist organizing by debilitating one of the most effective tools we have to expose and shame fascist organizers. Antifa doxxing uses social pressure and community accountability to modify racist/fascist behavior.

While fascists are looking for new places to live & new jobs, that is time & energy that they aren't spending on organizing Unite the Right recaps, attacks on PDX Pride, & similar dangerous activity. It provides a disincentive and material obstacle

Our doxx: a bunch of community members call a company to urge them to fire a white supremacist.

Right-wing doxx: an unhinged Nazi shows up at a Black mom’s house because she protested police brutality.

There are multiple ways these results & methods can be distinguished.

Anti free speech laws historically end up being used mainly against the left. As antifa we are using slingshots while the right has the mega-cannons of Fox, Breitbart, etc. The right has a lot more options & resources to get around such laws. And who enforces the law matters.

Law enforcement doesn’t prioritize prosecuting the Far Right. They have repeatedly indicated this in statement & deed, from the Feds to PPB. Legal consequences for the Far Right are mainly due to antifa, journalism, & the resulting public pressure on authorities to act.

The idea that we should retire & let the authorities handle the situation is naïve and unsupported by evidence e.g. Gov Brown increasing police power to deal with Proud Boys created a welcome wagon for the right and a brutal beatdown of the press and left.

Antifa generates intel, educates, and mobilizes the public to deal with the problem of fascism. By undercutting this public pressure mechanism, you end up with rogue and/or actively right-wing state bodies responsible for overseeing groups they admittedly view as comrades.

If the purpose of this law is to target the Far Right, it would make more sense to not simultaneously harm the main groups opposing them. It is easy enough to find things the right alone does. Dems legitimizing "both sides" by focusing on doxxing is unstrategic & unethical.