WEBVTT - How Portland Beat the Proud Boys 0:00:04.640 --> 0:00:09.600 Ah, it could happen. Here is a podcast that you're 0:00:09.640 --> 0:00:13.600 listening to, and you know, mostly we talk about problems 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:16.640 that you should be aware of. Sometimes we talk about solutions, 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:20.160 and today we're kind of going to talk about a solution. 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:25.040 Today is one of our famed Good News episodes. So everybody, 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:28.080 everybody celebrate and also give your name for the folks 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:37.239 at home. Yea, I'm James, Yay, I'm Gare, Yeah, I'm Chris. Wonderful. 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:41.080 That was perfect. That was that was completely natural, just 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:45.640 just like we practiced. UM. So the thing that the 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:48.400 thing that is noteworthy and the thing that we're celebrating 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:51.360 and also explained today is that this summer we were 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:55.480 recording this what like a day into September, two days 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:59.440 into September UM, so we are we are Yeah, it's 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:03.200 September first. So we have officially gotten through the summer 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:07.960 um without a right wing rally in Portland that degenerates 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:10.640 into a gigantic brawl. This is the first year that 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:13.679 has happened since two thousands seventeen. So, starting in two 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:17.280 thousand seventeen, Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys and other 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:21.039 affiliated groups would vary regularly and they would do it 0:01:21.040 --> 0:01:24.800 throughout the year, but particularly during the summers, UM hold 0:01:24.959 --> 0:01:28.120 protests and marches, and these all had different themes. They 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:31.880 were the Second Amendment rallies, rally against Marxism rally and 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:35.200 support of the fucking cops, the hymn to rally, all 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:38.880 sorts of stupid, stupid fucking names. Um. But the main problem, 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:41.080 the main purpose of them all was so that there 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:44.640 would be gigantic fistfights between you know, proud boys and 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:47.760 Patriot Prayer brawlers and anti fascists. That was the reason 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:50.680 to hold these events, and they got increasingly gnarly and 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:55.160 increasingly violent, until everything culminated in the summer of and 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:58.240 this massive Trump caravan through the city with like thousands 0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:02.360 of trucks, people shooting paintballs and spraying mace and throwing 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:05.440 shipped off the back of trucks. And then a Patriot 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:09.160 Prayer member named Aaron Danielson got his ass shot to 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:14.480 death by an anti fascist during a somewhat unclear altercation 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:17.040 outside of a parking garage. What I can say is 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:22.639 that everyone involved was heavily armed. Um. And yeah, after 0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:27.280 that there were some more very ugly fights, but UM 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:30.720 an increasing like thing that happened was that there would 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:34.520 be gunfire at these protests and the next year, UM, 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:39.600 at an anniversary fucking fistfight thing, a right wing demonstrator 0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:43.200 fired into a crowd of anti fascists in downtown for Portland, 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:47.480 who returned fire and drove him off. He was arrested. Um, 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:49.960 a bunch of There was a big stupid fight at 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:52.160 a kmart in another part of town the same day, 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:56.160 debandoned kmart parking lot that held a massive brawl and 0:02:56.680 --> 0:02:59.519 several of them got. Several of the proud boy types 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:03.079 got the old nasty charges from that one. After the police, 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:05.359 as they generally did, chose not to take any kind 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:09.120 of action. Um, and then you know, things kind of 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:11.800 peat it out, um and nothing. There have not been 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:14.600 any right wing rallies since. There was one mass shooting 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:18.600 attack on a weekly racial justice protest in Portland earlier 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:22.640 this year, UM, where a fascist fired into a crowd 0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:25.480 of women who were doing corking duty. Um. He killed 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:33.240 one woman, UM, and he wounded four other people and UM, yeah, 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:36.040 he was taken down, shot twice in the hip by 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:40.240 a protester who was armed security for that march. And 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:42.800 after that there hasn't really been anything. And this is 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:44.920 the interesting one of the things that's there's a number 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:47.320 of things that are interesting here, but one of them 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:50.520 is that this has occurred while Proud Boy chapters are 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:54.280 recording record recruitment. There's more new chapters of the Proud 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:57.240 Boys than there were prior to January six. And there 0:03:57.240 --> 0:04:00.480 have been at least two hundreds something right wing gatherings 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:02.960 around the country with like Proud Boys and other affiliated 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:07.920 groups in attendance since January six, um so nationwide, the 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:11.600 kind of rallies that Portland's been saying since got more common, 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:13.560 and they didn't happen at all in Portland this year, 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:15.560 and that's what we're here to talk about today. I 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:19.840 think there's a couple of things that are have contributed 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:22.360 to the current state of affairs um which I think 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:25.520 broadly can be described as the right is kind of 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:28.760 scared to do big events in Portland. There have been 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:31.599 a couple of like sputtering attempts. They drove through town 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:33.800 on their way to Washington real quickly as part of 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:36.679 this caravan once, but they didn't go through downtown again. 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:39.400 It wasn't like one guy did fire it people on 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:42.320 a bridge with a handgun, which the police did nothing about. 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:44.320 But they're not willing to like hang around. And I 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:46.920 think there's a few reasons why they've been scared off. 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:50.560 Number One, they keep getting shot um. That has happened 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:54.599 several times now. UM. Number Two, the physical resistance to 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:58.279 them has been gnarlier as of the fights. UM, people 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:00.800 have gotten smarter about how they do some aspects of 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:04.359 the fighting, involving like a lot of property, like spraying 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:07.440 paint on people's fancy body armor and ship, which is expensive. 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:11.800 And then after five years of ignoring it, um, the 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:14.919 state has actually started charging right wing brawlers with felonies, 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:20.120 which has scared I think a lot of them off. Um. 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:22.040 And yeah, so that's that's kind of where we are now. 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:23.440 And I think one of the things people should be 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:27.359 paying attention to is what Portland's had to do and 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:29.560 and both how long it took, but also like what 0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:32.880 kind of things were involved to actually get to this point, 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:35.839 because other folks are going to need to be willing 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:37.200 to do some of the ship people had to do 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:40.280 in Portland for years, which includes like fucking strapping on 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:43.880 gear and going out to confront these people in the street. Yeah, 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:47.120 I think Um, it's really interesting, right because I just 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:52.640 I know you've written a piece about this for New Lines. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:55.640 that'll be up by the time this this runs cool 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:57.920 and yeah I just read it if it was pretty good. Um. 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:02.120 It reminds me of when we talk about anti fascism historically, 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:04.960 right We we sort talked about the high points a lot, 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:07.479 and the one that at least I see most people 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.599 going back to is the Battle of Cable Street in London, 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:13.520 in which people will probably I know you've had it 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:18.160 in Bastards episodes before, yes, And it's it's very similar thing, right, 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:21.320 Like it's a broad inter sexual coalition of people who 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:23.320 are like, we will not let you do this ship 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:26.080 in our space, and we will physically fucking stop you, 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:28.400 and if the police try and protect you, we will 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:31.680 stop them doing that as well. There's incidents between most 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:34.880 of these fascists and anti fascists like throughout the thirties 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:37.040 and a lot later in British history, but it's a 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:40.720 very similar kind of playbook, I guess right. It's like 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:44.160 physical force opposition to fascist gatherings and not letting them 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:47.559 feel safe in your space. Yeah, not letting them feel 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:50.560 safe and not letting them go unopposed, because I mean, 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:52.320 one of the things that was kind of repeatedly a 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:57.320 factor in Portland is that when the anti fascists outnumbered 0:06:57.520 --> 0:07:00.640 the right from the start, and significantly there was a 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:04.560 lot less violets on on the days when that happened. Um, 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:07.080 And so it wasn't always a matter of people needing 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:09.240 to show up to literally fight. There are times when 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:10.760 like a show of force can work, and I think 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:14.080 a good example of that in recent times in Texas 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:17.120 in the DFW area obviously is a hot point for 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:21.200 different right wing groups, including the Proud Boys harassing LGBT 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:23.800 events stuff like drag Queen Story Hours and that sort 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:26.720 of thing, and members of the elm Fork John Brown 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:28.600 Gun Club who we've had on the show and and 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:31.840 other affiliated groups have been showing up armed in an armor, 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:35.680 most recently to protect like a drag brunch um that 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:38.480 was being counter protest. And you can see like photos 0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:40.800 of like there's a Proud Boy with a bat with 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:44.560 fucking barbed wire wrapped around it, and there there and 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:46.880 in this like, you don't show up with the bat 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:49.280 wrapped in barbed wire unless you're hoping you're gonna get 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:51.840 to bash somebody's fucking head in, and that guy wound 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:54.720 up standing off at the sideline all day long because 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:57.880 a bunch of people were there with rifles. I think 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:01.040 that guy may not legally be allowed to possess firearms. Yes, 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:04.640 I also suspect that guy has a felony record. Yeah, 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:07.560 because he also had a nightstick and like several other 0:08:07.680 --> 0:08:11.680 like more ninja like meamed here weapons. It was yeah, 0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:14.680 yeah to me, and look if if I'm going to 0:08:14.720 --> 0:08:18.160 be totally fair meme to your weapons. No, no side 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:20.520 in this fight. Because for a long time in Portland 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:22.280 there was an individual who would bring a pair of 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:27.920 samurai sorts to everyone and we're we are talking gas 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:32.280 station grade samurai. Yeah, they have the oil slick effect. 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:35.720 They must have. They must have. No, he never drew 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:37.760 his blades because of course then he would have had 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:40.120 they would have had to taste blood. That's the rule. Yeah, 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:44.840 that's the legal ramification that. Ye. Also, it's impossible to 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:46.680 take the swords out when you have them mounted on 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:51.120 your back. It's literally possible to take this sort the 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:55.600 tactical backscrip. It's an offensive position. But no, I think 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:58.439 it's worth talking about the types of other cities where 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:02.560 there have been a sizeable amount of far right protests 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:07.320 this summer, especially targeted at queer people. Um, and how 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:09.760 Portland is one of the cities where that did not happen. 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:11.720 I mean, we've seen a lot of stuff in Dallas, 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:15.840 and the people have been doing a pretty good job 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:19.280 and both denying the right ground to game, but also 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:21.840 denying them any of their like fight footage that they 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:25.000 love to gather. They've they've done a really good job 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:28.559 at balancing that aspect, which is very, very challenging. It's 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:31.880 very challenging and it takes a lot of discipline. And obviously, 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:34.679 when we think kind of tactically about what guns mean 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:37.160 in a situation like this, they're tools that have up. 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:39.840 The downside of guns is that if things go wrong 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:42.760 and everybody is strapped, the potential is for things to 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:46.480 go very fucking wrong. Indeed, Um, the upside is that 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:49.600 when you have a line of people with rifles, the 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:52.320 dudes with knives and batons and ship are I hell, 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:53.680 have a lot less likely to want to start a 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:58.080 fucking fight because it's the the consequences are immediately obvious. 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:00.600 You could look at it as kind of like the 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:04.200 protest equivalent of mutually assured destruction of sort of the 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:06.880 old Internet, like of of how the US of the 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:11.920 Soviet Union managed nuclear tensions. Um. But it it. It 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:14.679 has been very effective in Dallas for that reason, and 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:17.480 I think it's I think the fact that protests became 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:21.960 increasingly armed in Portland and also that there are by 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:27.120 my account at least three cases of fascists uh being 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:32.080 run off or injured or killed by protesters with firearms. 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:35.280 That is part of why they didn't want to do 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:38.960 that ship so much anymore. Mm hmm. I think that 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:42.679 part's important too, because, like I I think there was 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:47.000 a real danger after written House that right wing protesters 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:48.320 We're gonna see this and just be like, no, we 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:50.120 can just shoot these people, right, because you know, you 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:53.160 have a situation where suddenly becomes very clear that the 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:55.240 state is not going to prosecute people if like right 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:58.959 wing protesters for shooting people. But you know, okay, if 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:00.600 if the if the determince is not to say, if 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:02.080 the insurance is if you get her to get into 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:04.920 a gunfight, you're gonna lose and get shot like that, 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:06.960 that I think has been extremely effective in a lot 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:11.880 of ways. Yeah, early sort of hadn't. I think it's 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:14.800 probably worth noting as well that like where it's been effective, 0:11:14.840 --> 0:11:18.480 it's been effective because it's been organized and like I 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:20.560 don't want to use the word discipline because maybe discipline 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:23.560 imply the authority that that doesn't exist, but like there's 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:26.120 been some kind of collective restraint in agreement on rules 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:29.760 of engagement and stuff, which because I've also seen folks 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:32.320 try to do this unilaternally, that does not sucking end well, 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:35.480 Like if you're if you're the one person open carrying 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:38.960 expecting the state where that's not legal, like you're just 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:42.800 the one person going to prison. Yeah, and obviously open 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:45.959 carry protests only work in states where that can be 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:48.800 done legally. Yeah, doing that in Texas is different than 0:11:48.800 --> 0:11:51.679 doing that in California. Yeah, that's what I'm here to 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:55.520 tell you. But yeah, I think it's a it's a 0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:58.959 force multiplier, right, Like these guys have I think, especially 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:01.920 people on the right, have absorbed so much like this 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:05.400 sort of like varo types of male as delineated by 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:08.600 the Greek alphabet bollocks, and they've convinced themselves that they 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:11.600 are alpha's and they can win a fight. Now James, 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:16.280 I've seen more Sigmas than Alpha's prote So many sigmas. 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:19.400 I've seen a few epsilons. Man, I don't know that's 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:22.800 the type of male. I met a real Sigma at 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:26.120 an anti mask protest in who brought his a r 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:28.720 in a sixty round drum and brag that he had 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:31.680 five hundred rounds loaded into magazines as he as he 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:34.520 protested masks in front of the state capital. And it 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:37.560 was like the people he was protesting were specifically like 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:40.400 about a dozen nurses who were standing around, let's say, 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:42.040 it was like you got do you need those five 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:45.760 hundred bullets? For those unarmed nurses were signs telling it 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:49.120 a mask he's ready for when the ship hits the 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:53.840 fan romic. I'm guessing, Oh, I I don't believe I 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:55.679 saw a MED kid. I used to try to make 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:57.640 a note of it. I will say the right. In 0:12:57.679 --> 0:13:00.800 the last year, I've noticed more MED hits and pictures 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:05.360 that I've seen so good good, I guess, yeah, but yeah, 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:07.559 like if you are a person who's not like physically 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:10.480 enormous or like, like I said, these guys have convinced 0:13:10.520 --> 0:13:13.719 themselves that like they somehow like top tier brawlers, even 0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:17.440 though seeing the Patriot Front videos they're very funny, like 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:21.000 it's like a force equalizer. I guess right. It allows 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:24.400 people to sort of enter that space without having to 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:47.680 be five massive dudes. I don't want to focus too 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:50.920 much on specifically firearms because I think that's less important 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:53.800 than and not that the primarialisson of Portland, which is 0:13:53.840 --> 0:13:56.520 what is necessary to stop these people from showing up, 0:13:56.600 --> 0:14:00.200 is consistent shows of force. And I think one thing 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:02.640 that I just kind of always found intellectually interesting is 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:05.120 that you know, when you when you read about like 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:09.480 military strategy, right um, for every like guy who's actually 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:13.520 kicking indoors getting into firefights in the field, you have 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:16.600 you know, nine or ten people behind him who were 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:19.560 responsible for logistics. Right Um. That's the only way a 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:22.800 modern military works. When you don't have a logistics train 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:24.520 set up like that, things go like they did for 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:27.680 Russia start of the invasion of where you have like 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:31.840 hundreds of tanks without fuel and ship. Um. When in 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:36.200 Portland protests, an average for a large protest, I would 0:14:36.200 --> 0:14:38.280 say the average was around a thousand people. Now that's 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:40.600 a large protest. Often they were smaller. But when you 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:43.040 would get these big hyped for a couple of weeks, 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:44.880 the Proud Boys are coming to town. You'd easily get 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:49.240 a thousand or two thousand people counter protesting, and you know, 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:52.040 it would be probably ten or fiftcent who were who 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:55.000 were showing up specifically ready to kind of throw down, 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:57.840 um and ready to throw down and also with some 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:01.160 experience doing it, and a much larger number who were 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:02.960 Some of them were there as medics. Some of them 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:05.200 were handing out water or other beverages, they were handing 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:07.520 out food. Uh. There were people who were there just 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:10.000 to yell and chant with signs to like be you know, 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:14.880 moral support. There were people there doing transport blocking roads. Um. 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:20.000 People they're doing you know, um intel and stuff, filming things. UM. 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:23.920 People who were there, uh you know, doing stuff like 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:27.880 um covering up live streamers cameras with with bubble rap sheets. 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:29.680 Or we used to have a band full of people 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:32.000 who dressed as bananas who would kind of kind of 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:34.240 try to distract and drown out the far right. There 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:36.560 was one beautiful individual I saw a couple of times 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:39.280 who was in black block except for they wore a 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:41.840 kilt and they carried a pair of bagpipes. And when 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:44.120 like you would get a couple of fascists approaching a 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:46.400 protester and like trying to get into an argument, he 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:48.200 would walk right up and he would just start playing 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:52.360 the bagpipes so that they couldn't an offensive. M Yeah, yeah, 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:55.960 it was beautiful, um, but kind of more important than 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:58.280 the specific you do need and I don't want to 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:00.560 like distracted this. You always need a cor of people 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:03.120 who are willing and ready to get into a fucking 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:05.920 fight when you're doing this kind of activism. But the 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:10.240 biggest thing is that people show up consistently. Um. And 0:16:10.360 --> 0:16:12.440 one of the things Portland had a number of different 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:16.720 organizations like pop Mob, Popular and more Mobilization that kind 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:23.760 of existed to organize less radical um or at least 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:26.680 kind of and not not necessarily less radical. Sometimes people 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:28.560 who were just like because of whatever in their life, 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:31.480 were much less interested in the actual getting into a 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:33.680 fight thing, but understood that the more people show up, 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:37.080 the safer it is, and succeeded in ensuring that there 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:39.720 was like a larger body of people at all of 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:43.400 these events, and that along with more rat groups like 0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:46.720 Rose City Antifa, who kind of particularly earlier in the fights, 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:48.880 was a big street presence as well as did a 0:16:48.880 --> 0:16:52.280 lot of research, and then other kind of newer um 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:55.040 and often kind of smaller anti fascist collectives that would 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:57.640 organize people to straight up fight. It was it was 0:16:57.680 --> 0:17:00.560 this mix of all of that that allowed it to 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:03.360 be that whenever they showed up, there was always a 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:07.760 group confronting them, and it was nearly always larger UM. 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:09.280 And it got to the point at the height of 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:14.080 you know, there was this right wing protest before time hand, 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:17.280 nobody quite knew how bad it was going to be. Garrison. 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:19.880 You and I got there right as things were starting, 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:24.439 and it was the anti fascists were outnumbered kind of 0:17:24.520 --> 0:17:26.520 at the beginning of the day, and things got really 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:30.640 violent very quickly. Within an hour or two though, about 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:33.080 somewhere around a thousand people had showed up on the 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:35.600 anti fascist side and we're organized and fighting. It was 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:40.040 a very impressive response time. Yeah, and I think it 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:43.440 is it's the actual it's the I mean, people used 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:45.879 the word like the term to diversity of tactics often 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:50.280 just to kind of defend actions that are more radical um. 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:53.520 And there's the there's the other side of diversity of tactics, 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:56.359 which is pulling in all of the background support that 0:17:56.480 --> 0:18:01.080 creates this the sustainability for more radical actions like showing 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:03.000 up and actually being a frontliner to get into fist 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:05.240 fights with proud Boys. Then there's all of the other 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:09.159 stuff like whether that's like medics, other support teams, people 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:12.720 playing doing like queer dance parties to push fascists out 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:15.240 of areas. All those types of things not only make 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:17.920 the environment more sustainable, so people can show up over 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:19.520 a larger period of time because they don't get so 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:23.080 burnt out because all they're doing is fist fighting. Um, 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:25.360 So I think those actions are another our thing. That's 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:27.919 it's it's worth not just ignoring those and not just 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:33.440 discrediting those, because once you have that type of presence 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:36.439 and people know that you're gonna that, those are the 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:39.440 types of environments that you're able to create when you're 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:42.000 outnumbered by fascists and you need to call and need 0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:43.960 to need to put out a call for support if 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:46.600 you if you have this kind of reputation, that can 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:48.919 that can help get a lot of people out very 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:52.640 quickly and help with the that actually is like popular mobilization. 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:55.000 That right, that that's what that's what that's what that 0:18:55.040 --> 0:18:58.320 actually means. So that's how you can get the anti 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:00.639 fascist side to out number the fat side like we 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:04.080 saw in um, despite that not being the case. When 0:19:04.160 --> 0:19:08.960 when when when it started? Yeah? And I think because 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:12.800 the main thing that ended that fight was the was 0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:17.080 the anti fascist side just moving as a massive, massive 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:20.080 block and just pushing the fascists out of the area. 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:23.560 Like there's as soon as the fascist line broke and 0:19:23.600 --> 0:19:26.320 you have like hundreds and hundreds of hundreds of people 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:30.800 in Portland streets directing the flow of movement, you can't 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:34.280 you can't stop that the force. The force is too great. Um. 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:36.640 And that requires there to be a large amount of people, 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:39.840 including people who are not gonna get into a fist 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:42.920 fight with someone three times their size. Yeah. I think 0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:47.280 another thing, um that that maybe it's important is that 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:50.359 like and it's kind of at the core of anti fascism, right, 0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:53.119 It's it's it's possible for people who have done just 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:57.919 different tactics but different opinions like to create this broad 0:19:57.920 --> 0:20:00.960 based alliance and not get cross with each other and 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:05.400 not agreeing on everything. And yeah, or at least um, 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:09.600 stop fighting with each other long enough to drive the 0:20:09.640 --> 0:20:12.840 fascists out because Portland's By the way, another thing we 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:16.159 should acknowledge the Portland anti fascist community, it can be 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:18.800 quite messy. Um. There are a lot of different factions 0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:21.200 and disagreements, and there have been a lot of arguments 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:24.639 up to the present day. But you know, as a 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:29.040 general rule, when the right showed up, people mobilized and 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:31.720 and threw down against them. You know, despite the fact 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:34.240 that it was a mix of folks who were libs 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:37.520 and folks who were radicals and folks who were you know, 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:42.600 um something in between. Um it was And again I 0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:46.199 don't this was never a particularly clean process, and it 0:20:46.200 --> 0:20:48.440 didn't have to be. You know, you could point out 0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:50.840 and and if we had longer, we could point out 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:53.919 all number of different like flaws and shortcomings and like 0:20:54.000 --> 0:20:57.560 things that were done that we're wrong or unfair to somebody. 0:20:57.600 --> 0:20:59.600 But what was kind of more important than any of 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:02.240 the ways in which the movement was flawed was at 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:04.000 the end of the day, that it persisted, that it 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:07.800 kept bringing people out, and that it kept resisting, and 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:11.159 that the right seems to have kind of blinked before 0:21:11.400 --> 0:21:13.960 the left did here, Like that's what what matters more 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:16.919 than anything about Portland's people felt comfortable enough to continue 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:20.119 to come out and it felt worthwhile enough. But for 0:21:20.200 --> 0:21:23.000 the anti specifically for the anti fascist protests, they were 0:21:23.040 --> 0:21:26.200 able to create those environments that people that that families 0:21:26.240 --> 0:21:30.159 were felt totally comfortable coming out to UM and people 0:21:30.280 --> 0:21:32.960 felt that it actually was worthwhile, like there was it 0:21:33.000 --> 0:21:35.320 was it was worth it to take an afternoon out 0:21:35.320 --> 0:21:39.480 of your day to show up and say no and 0:21:38.640 --> 0:21:42.760 yeah and if you're able to physically display no, you can't, 0:21:42.800 --> 0:21:46.679 you can't come here. Yeah, And that was um. You know, 0:21:46.720 --> 0:21:49.119 obviously when we talked about the difference between doing that 0:21:49.160 --> 0:21:51.239 against the police as opposed to the right, you know, 0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:56.280