The Alt-Observer Weekly Summary highlights activities from revolutionary communist, radical anarchist, fascist and other ‘alternative’ political groups that fulfill our intelligence requirements for both the Alt-Left and Alt-Right groups. This report is available for Intelligence subscribers.
In this Alt-Observer Weekly Summary… (2,066 words)
- Gallup: What is the meaning of Socialism to Americans today?
- Antifascists clash with Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer
- Boston Communists threaten to guillotine Republican Senators
- Pipeline protestors shut down and climb 50ft crane
- Former Black Panther hosts mandatory anti-semitic lecture
- RGA: International solidarity with election boycotts
- Proud Boy threatened by LA Communist/Anarchist Skinheads
- Richard Spencer’s National Policy Institute Inc regains tax-exempt status
- Identity Evropa Rollup
- Weekend Rollup
Priority Intelligence Requirements
- PIR1: What indicators describe the Alt-Left movement’s strength, capabilities, sentiment, and capabilities?
- PIR2: What indicators describe the Alt-Right movement’s strength, capabilities, sentiment, and capabilities?
- PIR3: What are the new indicators of future politically related violence?
- PIR4: What is the current threat index score for the Alt-Left movement?
PIR1: What indicators describe the Alt-Left movement’s strength, capabilities, sentiment, initiatives, and infighting?
National
US Gallup Poll: According to a recent Gallup poll, 23% of US citizens believe Socialism refers to equality and 17% believe it is the government control of business and the economy, which is half of the percentage of people who answered similarly in 1949. Meanwhile, 37% of US citizens do not know what Socialism is.
(Analyst comment: the results from this poll indicate two things: Americans today are less educated on Socialism than they were 70 years ago and positive attitudes towards Socialism are becoming more common in America. The rise of Socialism in America can be primarily attributed to the education system. The youth are not being properly educated on the history of Communism or the economics of Socialism throughout their education, which leaves them uneducated, naive and vulnerable when they enter the university system, where they are often indoctrinated with Marxist ideology by their professors. Since 1949, the threat of Communism has been replaced by threats such as terrorism and cyber attacks, which has led to Communism disappearing from national headlines. Millennials in particular have never lived in a world where Socialism and Communism did not pose a threat to American peace and democracy. This undoubtedly correlates with the growing popularity of figures such as Bernie Sanders and groups like Antifa among millennials and young Americans in general.)
[Source: https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/243362/meaning-socialism-americans-today.aspx?utm_source=facebookbutton&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=sharing]
[Source: http://www.people-press.org/2010/01/25/publics-priorities-for-2010-economy-jobs-terrorism/]
[Source: https://news.gallup.com/poll/6586/issues-2002-election-terrorism.aspx]
[Source: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/02/27/us/politics/most-important-problem-gallup-polling-question.html]
North East
Rhode Island: During a “Resist Marxism” rally in Providence, Rhode Island, an Antifa protestor called Proud Boy and Patriot Prayer member Tiny Toese the “N-word”, which then escalated into violence between the two opposing groups. Video of the confrontation shows Toese and a few other anti-Communist activists being surrounded by dozens of protestors, who then assaulted the patriots. Meanwhile, police in riot gear looked on from the other side of a barricade directly behind the patriots. After about a minute of fighting, the antifascists began using pepper spray, which resulted in the police finally stepping in to break up the violence. Following the confrontation, Toese and the other patriot activists posted pictures of themselves completely covered in pepper spray.
[Source: https://upriseri.com/news/2018-10-07-ocean-state-against-hate/] [Source: https://www.facebook.com/ProudboysColumbus/videos/vb.160358671207626/1048131392035680/?type=2&theater]
Massachusetts: The Alt-Left group Greater Boston Communists posted the following image on their Facebook page this week:
[Source: https://www.facebook.com/GreaterBostonCommunists/posts/2099039716805600]
South East
North Carolina: Following the devastation of Hurricane Florence, dozens of Alt-Left groups began “decentralized disaster response efforts” to help those effected by the hurricane. Their efforts were detailed in a blog post by the Mutual Aid Disaster Relief (MADR) network,
“Autonomous, decentralized revolutionaries are again coming to the fore, dreaming with their hands — listening, loving, fighting, and utilizing their skills, networks, and quickly-beating hearts to get supplies to Indigenous, Black, migrant farmworker communities, people experiencing homelessness, and others historically neglected and ignored by the state and non-profit industrial complex, standing shoulder to shoulder, working for a #JustRecovery, and reiterating that our hope for a livable future rests, now and always, in each other’s hands.
Our mobile crews deliver box trucks of supplies directly to communities in need. Our other crews are in the community patching people’s roofs, clearing debris, distributing harm reduction supplies, continuing wellness checks, engaging in search and rescue, setting up community cellphone charging stations, as well as much much more, and all the while receiving warm meals, cold water, and strengthening and lasting bonds of friendship from impacted community members who were strangers just two weeks ago.”
In the post MADR provided a list of groups who participated in the disaster relief. The following is a list of groups given by MADR:
- Blue Ridge Autonomous Defense
- Interfaith Alliance for Climate Justice
- Mutual Aid Carrboro
- NC Solidarity Network
- Tidewater Solidarity Collective
- Appalachian Medical Solidarity
- River City Medic Collective
- Community Restoration Initiative
- Durham, NC Mutual Aid Disaster Distro
- Crowd Source Rescue
- Operation Airdrop
(Analyst comment: The following is a quote from the blog post that provides great insight into what the motivations are behind these relief efforts: “We have seen homes with signs about shooting looters, as well as armed folks setting up neighborhood blockades. All while box stores sit boarded up full of much-needed food, water, baby items, and so much more. Capitalism makes us believe in scarcity, while shelves literally sit fully stocked, waiting to be sold at a profit for those with the means. The neighborhoods we are working in bring Racialized Capitalism, Xenophobic Nationalism, and Settler Colonialism into full view. It is such a vivid example of the hierarchies and oppressions we fight and the need for intersectionality.”)[Source: https://mutualaiddisasterrelief.org/they-dont-care-about-us-but-we-keep-us-safe/]
Louisiana: Leau Est La Vie Camp activists protested the Bayou Bridge Pipeline this week by shutting down and climbing a crane to prevent the pipeline’s constriction. Pictures and video of the protest shows two activists sitting on the crane while another climbed her way to the top of the crane. The protest shut down construction of the pipeline for hours.
In addition to posting pictures and video of the protest, Leau Est La Vie Camp also shared a link to their GoFundMe account that is raising money for future protests. As of 08 October, 2018, the fundraiser has received $53,246 of it’s $100,000 goal.
[Source: https://www.facebook.com/LeauEstLaVie/posts/563671354064095]
[Source: https://www.facebook.com/LeauEstLaVie/posts/563671354064095]
[Source: https://www.facebook.com/LeauEstLaVie/videos/344229962789711/]
[Source: https://www.gofundme.com/nobbp]
Mid-West
Michigan: Former Black Panther Emory Douglas hosted a lecture this week at the University of Michigan, which according to witnesses compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler and accused Israel of committing genocide. The anti-semitic lecture series has reportedly been made mandatory for all of the university’s art students.
A Jewish student who attended the lecture posted a picture she took during the lecture on Facebook and wrote that, “In what world is it ok for a mandatory course to host a speaker who compares Adolf Hitler to the Prime Minister of Israel?” Additionally the student announced that she will “no longer sit quietly and allow others to dehumanize my people and my community.”
[Source: https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2018/10/08/university-of-michigan-hosts-mandatory-anti-semitic-lecture-comparing-netanyahu-to-hitler/] [Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10215058973526371&set=a.1027471645666&type=3]
South West
Texas: Red Guards Austin (RGA) wrote in a WordPress article this week that they will be standing in “international solidarity” by boycotting the upcoming November midterm elections. According to RGA, their “comrades” around the world will also be boycotting to “expose the imperialist nature” of elections. The following is a quote from the WordPress document in which RGA announced their boycott:
“We express our utmost solidarity with these struggles as internationalists. We seek to expose the imperialist nature of the US elections, US imperialism is the world’s main aggressor as the sole hegemonic imperialist power today. While it is experiencing deeper and more profound crisis its desperation to legitimize itself among its own people has never been more evident.
We extend our international solidarity to the youth of Brazil, we have included two unofficial translations of articles detailing their election boycott which is taking place right now. We also wish to extend revolutionary greetings and support to our comrades in Canada of the Revolutionary Communist Party (PCR-RCP.CA) who will be mobilizing the people for a combative demonstration against their own imperialist bourgeois elections on the streets of Montreal on October 1st.”
[Source: https://redguardsaustin.wordpress.com/2018/09/29/international-solidarity-on-the-election-boycotts/]
West Coast
California: In a series of Facebook posts the Red & Anarchist Skinheads (RASH) of Los Angeles threatened to retaliate against LA Proud Boy Levi Romero after he threatened RASH and other anarcho-communist groups in an Instagram post. The following is a picture of Romero’s post:
RASH’s post featured screenshots of Romero’s post and read,
“Self proclaimed western chauvanist, memeber of the Los Angeles of the “Proud Boys” and all around alcapurria Levi Romero with his analysis on street subcultures in the city. Pretty laughable but highlights their necessity to cling to their bad ideas, wrong assumptions, stereotypes etc. to carve a platform for themselves. This ain’t Burbank Levi.” [sic]
Another post by RASH featured a picture of a brick with Romero’s name on it and the hashtag #thisaintBurbank.
[Source: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=419829908544980&id=195424507652189]
[Source: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=419414515253186&id=195424507652189]
[Source: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=419401481921156&id=195424507652189]
PIR2: What indicators describe the Alt-Right movement’s strength, capabilities, sentiment, initiatives, and infighting?
Richard Spencer: Despite being banned from all mainstream fundraising websites, Richard Spencer’s thinktank and lobbying group, National Policy Institute Inc., has reportedly had it’s tax-exempt status reinstated by the IRS. According to CBS News, Spencer’s group “lost it’s tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit more than a year ago after it failed to file tax returns for three consecutive years.” (Analyst comment: The National Policy Institute and three other Alt-Right “charity” groups raised $7.8 million in tax-deductible donations from 2007-2015) [Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/richard-spencer-national-policy-institute-alt-right-regains-tax-exempt-status/]
Identity Evropa Rollup
— Visited a monument celebrating the Mormon battalion that captured Tucson from Mexican forces in Tucson, Arizona
— Visited Bath House Row resort in Hot Springs, Arkansas
— Visited gold rush hot spots in Julian, California
— Posted propaganda flyers in Stamford, Connecticut
— Dropped a banner at the Castillo de San Marcos located in the oldest city in America, St. Augustine, Florida
— Posted propaganda flyers in Key West, Florida
— Visited the Barrington Hall plantation and swam in a creek near a Civil War boot factory in Roswell, Georgia
— Toured Old Forrester Distillery in Louisville, Kentucky
— Paid homage to French colonist and father of New Orleans Jean-Bapstiste Le Moyne de Bienville at a museum in New Orleans, Louisiana
— Went kayaking down the Huron River in Ann Arbour, Michigan
— Posted propaganda flyers in Bozeman, Montana
— Visited the historic Sandy Hook Lighthouse in Sandy Hook, New Jersey
— Posted propaganda flyers in Manhattan, New York
— Visited the NASCAR History Museum to celebrate American history and culture in Charlotte, North Carolina
— Posted propaganda flyers in Greensboro, North Carolina
— Visited a memorial to two cowboys killed by Native Americans in Oklahoma
— Visited the Museum of the American Revolution Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
– Posted propaganda flyers at Marconi Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
— Posted propaganda flyers at an anarchist bookstore in Washington: Seattle
— Posted propaganda flyers at Georgetown University in Washington D.C.
— Posted propaganda flyers near the Supreme Court in Washington D.C.
[Source: https://twitter.com/IdentityEvropa?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor]
PIR3: What are the new indicators of future politically related violence?
12 OCT: [Source: https://twitter.com/AntiFascistNetw/status/1045674627605942272]
13 OCT: Revolutionary University 2018 (Tools for Changing Society)
[Source: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2018/09/23/18817730.php]
27 OCT: #WalkAway From the Democratic Party March and Rally on Washington DC
[Source: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/walkaway-march-and-rally-on-washington-dc-gala-dinner-and-sunday-brunch-registration-49836262603?aff=eac2]
PIR4: What is the current threat index score for the Alt-Left movement?
Indicators of Revolutionary Activity
Strong Indications: 6
Weak Indications: 7
No/Negligible Indications: 6
We remain at 13 total indicators, and there’s been no change in the last week.
Weekend Rollup
Following the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court this weekend, thousands of protestors descended upon Washington DC to protest the confirmation. Protestors chased down and threatened the Republican Senators who voted for Kavanaugh to be confirmed, banged on the doors to the Supreme Court and called for the impeachment of President Trump. Protestors were joined by celebrities such as actress Whoopie Goldberg, comedian Amy Schumer, and model Emily Ratajkowski. Hundreds of protestors, including Schumer and ratajkowski, were arrested drying the protests for “unlawfully demonstrating.”
[Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/brett-kavanaugh-confirmed-today-protests-across-america-hundreds-arrested-washington-dc-2018-10-06/]
[Source: https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/04/politics/kavanaugh-protests-us-capitol/index.html]
[Source: https://www.teenvogue.com/gallery/kavanaugh-protests-washington-dc-powerful-images]
— Republican Senator Lindsey Graham (SC) being chased by a Kavanugh protestor.
[Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7uhIyZLd34]
— Protestors bang on the doors to the Supreme Court.
[Source: https://www.breitbart.com/video/2018/10/07/video-leftist-kavanaugh-meltdown-thats-breitbart-you-are-subhuman/]
— Comedian Amy Schumer being detained during the protests
[Source: https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/04/us/amy-schumer-emily-ratajkowski-arrested-kavanaugh-protests/index.html]
— Model/actress Emily Ratajkowski joins Kavanaugh protestors
[Source: https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/04/us/amy-schumer-emily-ratajkowski-arrested-kavanaugh-protests/index.html]
— Protestors gather on the steps of the Supreme Court
[Source: https://www.teenvogue.com/gallery/kavanaugh-protests-washington-dc-powerful-images]
— Hundreds gather in Cleveland, Ohio to protest the confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh
[Source: https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/cleveland-metro/protesters-plan-to-gather-in-cleveland-to-denounce-kavanaugh-confirmation]
— Atlanta, Georgia: Protestors gather in Woodruff Park to rally against Kavanugh’s confirmation.
[Source: https://www.11alive.com/video/news/protests-against-kavanaugh-confirmation-in-atlanta/85-8273850]
— Protests erupt in Seattle, Washington following the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh
[Source: https://komonews.com/news/local/seattle-protests-kavanaughs-confirmation-to-the-supreme-court]
// END REPORT