Ian Hoffman, Identity Evropa PA coordinator

  • May 4, 2019 3:12 am

from Philly Antifa

Ian Hoffman AKA Papa Pizzagate; Identity Evropa PA Coordinator

One of the Identity Evropa originals!

A devoted white nationalist, Ian Hoffman of Palmyra, PA was arrested on assault and battery charges at Unite the Right in 2017,(https://archive.st/lryf ). He was doxxed then, but its time for a redoxx! Ian Hoffman is the Pennsylvania coordinator for Identity Evropa and handles the t-shirt orders for his fellow nazis. One time he put up stickers in Harrisburg, before they were promptly removed by locals.

He’s 30 years old, born on July 25, 1988 and is a diehard Trump supporter. Hoffman enjoys trolling the opposition using racial slurs, and posting it to Discord: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/481597551272001546/509197425601413136/unknown.png. He has declared that “we have a president who is openly calling himself a nationalist. Demographics are being discussed openly (and not always favorably) on cable television. Senators and pundits are using language that would only have been heard from White Nationalists as recently as 5 years ago.” Hoffman goes on to say that he thinks Trump won because he hates a lot of the same things regular Americans hate too, like Globalism, political correctness, bureaucracy, the “deep state”, multiculturalism and so forth. Further illustrating his belief that the time is right for proudly claiming one’s white identity, Hoffman helped cement connections between Identity Evropa and politician Steve King of IA, saying “The left went full court press on ‘STEVE KING IS A WHITE NATIONALIST’ and he still won.”

Hoffman’s social media is full of loads of garbage, including this sad attempt at poetics:

“Nationalism is Rising

Globalism is falling

Neoliberalism is on it’s way out

Trump taught the American public to hate the media, and they do.

People are seeking other answers to the truths

of our broken society and system

White Identity is in the air.”

Around the holidays, Ian Hoffman recommends encouraging Identity Evropa members to “name the Jew” to their parents and family. Going on to say that “White people [are] not acting in self-preservation and group interest. Let’s focus on improving that. Promoting these ‘grand Jewish plans’ makes us sound extreme, inaccessible and unhinged, so may as well drop it and focus on what we can do.  Ultimately, whether or not you believe in the plan is irrelevant” and ending his diatribe with “I’m SURE that if (((THEY))) didn’t circumcise young men, America would be [a] white ethno-paradise.”

An active shit-poster, Ian is easily searchable on social media; Ian Hoffman’s twitter is www.twitter.com/papapizzagate with an archive of http://archive.fo/NLKOS, his followers are archived here http://archive.fo/jajud, plus which white supremacist trash bags he’s following can always be found here http://archive.fo/IfIG3 His private youtube, is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L78ORLT1zY and his public YouTube is https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChoqPqK5guwUdFXSgVW0XVw/videos(http://archive.is/9u498 ) which he makes a lot of money off of https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/481597551272001546/516044381526949891/unknown.png so flag him for explicit content to get him de-platformed and make this Nazi broke again.

 

Don’t forget Ian, the internet is forever and we will keep finding you and finding you.

Ian lives alone at 129 W Main St, APT 2E in Palmyra, Pa. In a show of how empty his life is, he lists his hobbies as cars, entrepreneurship, dirt bikes (his field of work now) and bonsai trees.

Address:

129 W Main St

2E

Palmyra, PA

Age:

30

July 25, 1988

Social media:

Twitter: www.twitter.com/papapizzagate http://archive.fo/NLKOS, followers: http://archive.fo/jajud, following: http://archive.fo/IfIG3

YouTube (private): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L78ORLT1zY (unlisted/private video, same avatar as Twitter)

YouTube (public): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChoqPqK5guwUdFXSgVW0XVw/videos (http://archive.is/9u498 )

 

Charlottesville connections:

Analysis of Action Following the Police Shooting of Kaleb Belay in West Philly

  • April 27, 2019 4:11 am

from It’s Going Down

A collection of texts from Anathema, an anarchist publication out of Philadelphia, about anarchist action and analysis following the police shooting of Kaleb Belay in a rapidly gentrifying area of the city.

It’s well known that West Philly is rapidly gentrifying. Developers and more moneyed renters and buyers continue to successfully take more space from poor and working-class Black people. In this process, one of the few negative consequences these newcomers might experience is getting robbed in the neighborhood. In January, the number of robberies in the heart of gentrifying West Philly shot up, in the area between 41st and 49th streets (from east to west) and between Ludlow and Cedar avenues (from north to south). At least eight robberies were reported during that month, according to a University City District (UCD) report. Four homes on Hazel and Larchwood avenues between 49th and 51st streets were also burglarized during this time.

In response, a few of the more unapologetic gentrifiers not only reported the incidents to the police, but also attended a “community meeting” hosted by the police. Following the meeting, the Philly police announced that they would have an increased police presence in the area, including foot patrols specifically in the area between 48th-52nd streets. Sure enough, residents have noticed a lot more cop cars as well as cops on foot in the area since.

On Wednesday, March 6, this increased cop presence and paranoia culminated in the cops shooting a young Black man who live near 49th and Hazel — exactly where gentrifiers had been complaining about burglaries and robberies taking place. Claiming that they had been called to the scene in response to a “stabbing incident” (no stabbing victim was found at the scene) and that he was holding a knife outside a house on the street, the cops shot 25 year old graduate student Kaleb Belay six times (three in the chest). As of this writing he is stable condition at Penn Presbyterian Hospital.

It’s never worth it to call the police over some lost property — and we personally won’t call them to deal with any of our problems. The high 40 and low 50 streets are undergoing intense gentrification. Know that the police’s role is to attract more gentrifiers and push people originally from the neighborhood out. That’s what happened when University of Pennsylvania cleared out an entire neighborhood (what was once called the Black Bottom) of West Philly in order to move the school there decades ago — that’s why UCD security roam the neighborhood.

The police are just looking for an excuse to roll in and further the dispossession and extermination of Black people from the neighborhood.

Resistance Following the Shooting of Kaleb Belay

The night after the police shooting, a group of 20-30 people marched down Baltimore Ave with a banner reading “Fuck the Police.” At least two new buildings on the ave between 50th and 48th streets, all with gentrifying new architecture, had windows broken, and one had “Fuck Cops” written on it. The Mariposa Co-Op, which has been a beacon of gentrification in the neighborhood for a long time (known for calling the police on panhandlers), had red paint thrown at one of its surveillance cameras. Anti-police tags and stickers were put up. After the police arrived, things calmed and the march went to the hospital where Kaleb is recovering before dispersing. Throughout the march many passersby and drivers shouted “Yeah, fuck the police!” and other words of encouragement. There were no arrests.

On March 8th, opportunists Refuse Fascism/Revolutionary Communist Party held a candle-lit vigil for Kaleb near the site of the shooting. This event was poorly attended and seen by many as an attempt to use the grief and anger around the shooting to recruit for their organization.

On March 10th, the Philadelphia Ethiopian Community held a debrief and discussion at the Ethiopian Community Center in West Philly. Kaleb’s lawyer and his boss/family friend gave updates on his situation. Next steps to assist Kaleb and his family were planned. Over the weekends of March 16-17th and 23-24th there were fundraiser events for Kaleb at the Ethiopian Community Center.

A march demanding justice for Kaleb went to the district attorney’s office on April 6th. Simon Haileab, Kaleb’s attorney, reports that Kaleb is recovering slowly; he is out of the intensive care unit but remains at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. Police are charging him with aggravated assault, simple assault, and possessing an instrument of crime. Anyone interested in donating money to Kaleb can do so by visiting his gofundme here or dropping off money at Bookers Restaurant at Baltimore Ave and 50th St.

An Analysis Of the Anti-Police March Following the Shooting of Kaleb Belay

When some discontents spray-painted and smashed windows after the police shot an immigrant graduate student in Cedar Park, many were quick to condemn the attacks. These criticisms did not target the anti-police and anti-gentrification sentiment behind the attacks, but rather their choice of targets. The thing about anger and revolt is that it strikes out at what is perceived as oppressive.

No uprising has ever surgically delivered anger to the doorstep of only the most oppressive and powerful, while excluding the lesser contributors of a stifling society. Not everyone is going to track down the head honcho of this or that realty company when they see an example of gentrification around the corner.

In relative terms, what happened to the businesses on Baltimore Ave is calm; police violence has sparked much more devastating responses in other contexts – like the burning of entire neighborhoods.

It also bears mentioning that at the time of this writing, despite many critics suggesting better targets for vandalism (the police, University of Pennsylvania, money lenders, banks, etc), none of these targets seem to have been vandalized. These critics seem content to suggest how others express their anger and direct their rebellion without doing so themselves. If these people are waiting for the ideal targeting of the proper institutions and yet they do not plan on going after them themselves, they are simply waiting. When people start to condemn all but the most pure and correct actions, they climb the stairs of an ivory tower.

Will arrogance about how others struggle move someone closer to freedom? It seems more likely to lead to further separation from those who are struggling and making concrete their rebellion, to create a roadblock for feelings of solidarity. Throwing paint at the expensive Mariposa Co-Op grocery store and breaking the glass door of a fancy-looking new apartment building along Baltimore Ave, some of the actions during the demo that were later criticized by others, targeted small businesses whose gentrifying impact is felt in this particular neighborhood where police shooting took place.

It is gentrification that led to the increased police presence in this neighborhood, which inevitably led to a black man getting shot. In addition to wanting to push back against gentrification in this area, those who criticize colonialism, or ecological destruction, those who hold nihilist perspectives, and even the less discriminating among the anti-capitalists may see the destructive actions on Baltimore Ave as a step in the right direction. We don’t all imagine liberation in the same way, but it should be understood that a dramatic transformation of society is necessary, so when we see that taking place on a small scale as destruction we can understand it to be part of that liberatory transformation even if you would go about it that way yourself.

“There are many who await the hour of liberation impatiently, but how many work to bring it closer?”

Scott Baxtin—Erie, PA fascist.

  • April 25, 2019 12:16 am

Submission

attached are some screenshots of a facebook review and profile of Scott Baxtin, a Patriot Front member from Erie, PA that is likely attending the Horna show in [on 4/10] Allentown at 4pm

Unicorn Riot Coverage of Candace Owen Protest

  • April 15, 2019 11:28 pm

from Twitter

Far-right campus group Turning Point USA’s director Candace Owens just showed up at UPenn campus in Philadelphia. She ignored our questions about whether TPUSA plans to address ongoing neo-Nazi infiltration and recruitment among their membership.
[Video Here]

A group of Proud Boys and others have shown up and started a heckling match with antifascists opposing Candace Owens and Turning Point USA at UPenn in Philadelphia
[Video Here]
We were able to briefly interview Candace Owens when she appeared at UPenn in Philly today. Owens didn’t respond to a Q about her recent dubious Congressional testimony & called it “a weird question” when we asked about being cited in the New Zealand mosque shooter’s manifesto.
[Video Here]

Boycott Gertrude Hawk

  • April 15, 2019 11:14 pm

from It’s Going Down

Local activists are protesting chocolate company Gertrude Hawk’s continued employment of Steven Scott Smith of Pittston, Pennsylvania. Smith is a neo-Nazi and founding member of the Keystone State Skinheads, as well as a former member of the KKK and a leader in the Pennsylvania chapter of the Council of Conservative Citizens.

If you would like to join the local Easter boycott of Gertrude Hawk Chocolates, you can call the company and let them know at 1-800-822-2032, or let them know via the following social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gertrudehawkchocolates
Twitter: @GertrudeHawk

Turning Point GTFO

  • April 14, 2019 9:44 pm

from Facebook

Candace Owens, Hitler apologist, the racist alt-Right’s best black friend (https://www.theroot.com/candace-owens-is-racist-white-americas-black-friend-and-1833921887), and communications director for Turning Point USA, sure has been making the rounds recently. After testifying at the House Judiciary Committee with the clear intention of derailing a hearing on white nationalism, and gracing Storrs, CT with her authoritarian rhetoric at the University of Connecticut on April 9, Owens is making her way back to Philadelphia. She will give a talk at the University of Pennsylvania on Monday August 15, in an event sponsored by the UPenn College Republicans and ultra conservative paper The Statesmen.

While Owens tries to deny the white supremacist politics behind TPUSA and the broader right movement in the so-called U.S., she fully embraces and espouses positions that are explicitly anti-trans, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim. Examples include statements that trans identities are “a mental disorder” and that “Europe will fall and become a Muslim majority continent by 2050. There has never been a muslim majority country where sharia law was not implemented.” After Owens was mentioned in the manifesto of the Christchurch, New Zealand, shooter, her response was literally “LOL.”

Suffice it to say that Owens, along with her buddy Charlie Kirk and TPUSA, run in the same racist dog-piling circles as Ben Shapiro, Tucker Carlson, Lucian Wintrich, and other white nationalist, white supremacist groups such as the Proud Boys. All of these individuals and groups have several important things in common: they deny that racism is a problem while simultaneously spewing white supremacist, homophobic, misogynistic rhetoric that has been directly linked to violence and mass killings. They claim Hitler’s only mistake was “globalism” rather than focusing on “nationalism.” They spout hateful rhetoric about immigrants and workers alike, not to mention women, Muslims, the trans community, and people of color. They simultaneously call for a weaker government while chumming up with grand fascist and white supremacist himself, Trump.

More in-depth analysis of Owens’ politics can be found here: https://itsgoingdown.org/how-white-nationalist-jared-taylor-wrote-candace-owens-playbook/
here: https://itsgoingdown.org/call-to-action-shut-down-charlie-kirk-and-candace-owens-at-uconn/
and here: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/438072-ted-lieu-plays-candace-owenss-comments-on-hitler-out-loud-to-her-at-white

As noxious as Owens and TPUSA are, and as crucial as it is to drive them out of town when they do show up, it is equally important to recognize that they are invited by people who actually live in Philadelphia. UPenn College Republicans are actively attempting to advance anti-trans, islamophobic, xenophobic, misogynist and anti-immigrant politics in Philly. That they are doing so from a university that is and has been aggressively advancing gentrification in west philly is especially noxious.

We call on all students, staff, employees, and Philly residents to denounce and disrupt both her appearance and the sniveling rich kids who invited her. We cannot stand by and watch as her positions are cast as “free speech,” “dialogue,” and “conversation” when we know what it really is – an authoritarian project to carry out violence against ourselves and our friends and neighbors.

There can be NO platform for fascists and racist hatespeech! Come out Monday April 15 to SHUT DOWN fascist speech in Philadelphia, remind Candace of the last time she tried to step foot in our city https://twitter.com/PhillyANTIFA/status/1026468028383457282 https://twitter.com/PhillyANTIFA/status/1026508608836722689, and let our community and neighbors know we have their backs! Bring drums, whistles, trumpets, other noisemakers, and your dance shoes for a party in the street. 6:15PM, College Hall, UPenn, off 34th & Spruce.

We also call on all those who can to crew up and engage in autonomous actions. Diversity of tactics should and must be respected.

Gritty says Get the Fuck Out
No Borders.
Trans Day of Revenge 24/7/365.
Queer as in Fuck Nationalism.
FTP // 1312 // (A)

Turning Point USA’s Director of Communications, Candace Owens, is scheduled to speak in Philadelphia

  • April 11, 2019 11:12 pm

from Twitter

Turning Point USA’s Director of Communications, Candace Owens, is scheduled to speak at the University of Pennsylvania on Monday the 15th of April, at College Hall room 200. Since this event was announced, the community has organized to shut down this engagement early by making phone calls to UPenn President Amy Gutmann at 215-898-7221 and emailing Ms. Gutmann at presweb@pobox.upenn.edu. Joann Mitchell, Senior Vice President for Institutional Affairs and Chief Diversity Officer, can be contacted at 215-573-9162 or joannm@upenn.edu

We must act now to protect our community. During a TPUSA speaking engagement held at Colorado State University, masked members of the neo-Nazi Traditionalist Workers Party showed up carrying shields, chanting the Nazi rallying cry “blood and soil!”

TPUSA is responsible for the Professor Watchlist, which targets and harasses “leftist” professors for being “anti-American.” Their adulation of free speech and patriotism just barely veil a neo-fascist organization working hand-in-hand with a “soft white power” movement to recruit 18 to 22-year-olds — a well-worn tactic of early fascists from the Blackshirts to the Hitler Youth. Concerned citizens of Philadelphia must contact UPenn administration and let them know we refuse to allow this in our city of brotherly love.

TPUSA’s former national field director, Crystal Clanton, texted, “i hate black people. Like fuck them all… I hate blacks. End of story.” TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk said Clanton was “the best hire we ever could have made,” & “Turning Point needs more Crystals; so does America.”

While less aggressive tactics continue, such as phone calls, emails, speaking with the staff, and spreading awareness on social media, it seems likely that a large-scale confrontation is inevitable. We consider TPUSA to be a threat to our city.

By mainstreaming Alt-Right ideology, TPUSA has aligned themselves against feminism, internationalism, anti-capitalism, immigrant and refugee solidarity, workers’ rights, LGBTQ rights, indigenous rights, and ecological responsibility.

Meet Bentley Hatchett II, aka Rosenkranz, writer for TFP Student Action & Foundation For A Christian Civilization

  • March 19, 2019 11:18 pm

from Panic In The Discord

Although he doesn’t appear on Discord, perhaps due to using a different username, or altogether opting out of using service, Bentley Hatchett II AKA Rosenkranz was identified based on the participation in one of Identity Evropa’s Slack work spaces (as leaked by Unicorn Riot), where he used his real name in the description of his slack username. Bentley is an alumnus of Baylor University in Waco, Texas and is originally from Texas, where he resided in Austin. He is 24 years old.

taken from his facebook, archived at http://archive.is/3jmzz

Per his facebook page, Bentley Hatchett II is a part of Tradition, Family, Property Student Action, which is part of the Tradition, Family and Property network, which is one of the world’s largest anticommunist and anti-socialist networks worldwide. The organization’s national headquarters are in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania. Here is a screenshot from Bentley’s TFP profile.

his TFP profile is archived here: https://archive.fo/6Khli

TFP is already a suspected fascist organization that lightly hides under the veneer of religious freedom. It has been criticized for its homophobic rhetoric, its embrace of creationism, and its participation in climate change denial. You can read all about it on their Wikipedia page.

TFP Student Action’s activities include distributing fliers and other literature on the streets of universities, sponsoring speakers on campuses, hosting student conferences, and organizing protests and petitions, especially against the provision of information about abortion and the acceptance of LGBT students at Catholic universities. Its most recent campaign is against the 96 Catholic colleges and universities that allow LGBT student groups. Homophobia, transphobia white supremacy, and fascism are always linked. Perhaps this is why Bentley took it upon himself to join Identity Evropa, now known as American Identity Movement (AIM) after their communications were leaked, perhaps seeking to build coalitions between white supremacist organizations and ardently anticommunist organizations like TFP.

The headquarters of Tradition, Family, and Property is in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania, which is the town where Bentley lives as well.

Bentley Hatchett’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bentley-hatchett-ii-522026142/

Bentley lists the Foundation For A Christian Civilization, a 501(c)3 organization. We researchers wonder how the IRS would feel if they knew the Foundation was employing known white nationalists with intentions of connecting transphobia, and homophobic to white supremacy. Keeping in mind that nonprofit status for hate groups is not allowed. Their GuideStar profile connects them directly to tfp.org

pulled from America Needs Fatima, American Tfp guidestar, archived here: http://archive.fo/PyKGJBack in Bentley’s hometown of Austin, it looks like Bentley’s dad, Bentley Gerald Hatchett I, has racked up quite the record of his own with multiple charges of unlawfully carrying a prohibited weapon, and even familial violence.

Full unredacted version here: http://archive.fo/o2ChC
You can find more information about Bentley on his blogspot blog, Contemporary Crusader. 

Panic! in the Discord Antifa created this article.
If you have tips, send them to: panicinthediscord@riseup.net or @discord__panic on twitter

Meet David Fanelli, Identity Evropa Fash In Pennsylvania

  • March 11, 2019 9:22 pm

from Panic In The Discord

Going by the username V. Balboa on Discord, David Fanelli, born on 03/28/1988, is a prolific member and the designated leader of operations for Identity Evropa in the state of Pennsylvania.  He has over 1,700 messages on the Identity Evropa Discord server, and has been with Identity Evropa since their inception. Fanelli appears to be responsible for almost all of the IE stickers around Philly. According to his social media, Fanelli currently works for Boeing.

You can spot him very briefly in the following video in a blue t-shirt, on the side of other fascist groups, and standing right next to the Identity Evropa flag at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville:

David Fanelli at UTR
David Fanelli at UTR
David Fanelli at UTR

You can him hear yell “build the wall!” at about 22 seconds in, and he makes a few later appearances, as well. You’ll also be able to see David wearing the same glasses in these photos from “Unite the Right” and pictures on his Facebook.

The video has been archived offline, so even if David somehow gets it removed, it will still be available for viewing and re-posting.

David liked to post pictures of himself on Discord — before Identity Evropa was deplatformed from the service this weekend.

Here, you can see him sporting his IE apparel at a Trump rally:

Discord post from V. Balboa showing David Fanelli at a Trump rally (the orientation of the Discord post is sideways here).
David Fanelli doing the White Power symbol in an IE t-shirt.

Just to make the connection crystal clear, here’s his Facebook:

 

He put his antisemitism on display regularly in the Discord logs, sometimes using triple parenthesis in messages, like this post:

He admits his, and Identity Evropa’s, political intentions are to build a white ethno-state:

David liked to post pictures of his dog on Discord. He also posts those on Facebook:

V. Balboa Discord post of Fanelli’s cute pooch. Doxxed by his dog!

You can also see here that David posted a picture of a book he’s reading on Discord. He also posted it on his *very public* Facebook, which he has since taken down. But don’t worry, we have an archive.

David’s books on Discord
AAAAAND David’s books on Facebook. Matchy-matchy.

Fanelli is invested in infiltrating local GOP offices nationwide, but especially in Pennsylvania. As you can see from his archived Facebook friends list, he has many friends that are local pundits and politicians in the GOP in Pennsylvania.

You can see his full archived friends list here: http://archive.is/j50Hq

You can view Fanelli’s archived profile here: http://archive.is/nOnuP 

Fanelli posted this photo on Facebook on October 25, 2018, captioned “GOP dinner party.” After doing some sleuthing, it looks like he was rubbing shoulders with the GOP at the Center City GOP Pre-Election Party with Sen. Scott Wagner on October 25 in Philadelphia.

Fanelli at GOP dinner party in Center City, Philadelphia
Info/details about the GOP dinner party
Info about the GOP gathering Fanelli attended.

According to a database searches and confirmation from local antifascists, Fanelli lives in Upper Chichester, Pennsylvania at 1997 Mill Road, and works for Boeing according to his archived Facebook account. He probably works at Ridley Park Boeing. Here’s their number: (610) 591-2121

David Fanelli AKA V. Balboa – PA

Age:30, 3/28/88

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.fanelli.71066 (http://archive.is/nOnuP)

Friends list: http://archive.is/j50Hq

Employment: Boeing

Activism with IE:
-Signed up for Leading Our People Forward 2019
-Says he will attend the American Rensaissance conference

Charlottesville connections:
Attended Charlottesville

Identity Evropa’s Neo-Nazi Organizing Plans Revealed In New Leaks

  • March 8, 2019 8:49 pm

from Unicorn Riot

[Philly Anti-Cap note: This post only contains information relevant to Identity Evropa in or near Philadelphia. To read the rest of the article visit Unicorn Riot’s website linked above.]

The New Jersey chapter of IE seems to have been meeting at the restaurant Moran’s in Hoboken, and Philadelphia metro area chapter has been gathering at the Sproul Lanes bowling alley in Springfield, PA.

According to the Slack chat, members of Identity Evropa’s Philadelphia chapter met with Billy Ciancaglini, the GOP candidate in Philly’s 2020 Mayor race, on March 4, 2019.  Reached for comment about his alleged meeting with Identity Evropa, Ciancaglini told Unicorn Riot, “Go away. You are sad and pathetic. Get a life.”

A Slack chat in which an Identity Evropa member describes meeting with Philadelphia GOP Mayor candidate Billy Ciancaglini

Statement on Mumia Abu-Jamal

  • January 1, 2019 8:49 pm

from Philly IWW2

Mumia Abu-Jamal has always maintained his innocence in the 1981 fatal shooting of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. His prosecution was politically-motivated because of his Black Panther Party membership, his support of the MOVE organization and as a radical journalist. His 1982 trial and subsequent 1995 PCRA appeals were racially biased: the prosecution excluded African Americans from the jury; and PCRA trial Judge Albert Sabo, the same judge in Abu-Jamal’s initial trial, declared, “I’m gonna help them fry the n—-r.”  Abu-Jamal’s frame-up stands out as the city’s most notorious wrongful conviction.

On Dec. 27, Mumia Abu-Jamal won a significant case before Judge Leon Tucker in a decision granting him new rights of appeal.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner: The Philadelphia Chapter of the IWW  calls on you to do the right thing.  Do not stand in the way of justice.  Do not appeal Judge Tucker’s decision.

Cease defending former Philadelphia DA and later PA Supreme Court Judge Ron Castille’s now-discredited claim of impartiality.  Justice must extend to controversial cases your predecessors held untouchable.  Allow Abu-Jamal to go forward with re-arguing his appeals, which Judge Tucker states “would best serve the appearance of justice.

Philly Police Harass Jewish Cops: Lawsuit

  • December 6, 2018 8:19 pm

from Unicorn Riot

By Chris Schiano, Unicorn Riot December 6, 2018

Philadelphia, PA – A new federal lawsuit alleges that a culture of anti-Semitic and racist harassment has been allowed to thrive at the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD).

Court filings submitted on behalf of two Jewish officers claim that the police department and the City of Philadelphia tolerate supervisors who have “created a racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-Jewish environment at their employment at the PPD.” Unknown PPD officers are also believed to be behind graffiti of Nazi symbols and slogans found on a Jewish cop’s locker and inscribed on his patrol car, incidents the lawsuit asserts were never looked into properly.

The primary complaint in the lawsuit was filed on November 19, 2018 on behalf of Stacey Gonzalez and Pavel Reznik, both Philadelphia Police officers and practicing Jews. The lawsuit primarily focuses on conduct by Corporal Karen Church of Philadelphia’s 9th district, who is “known for making racist remarks toward non-white and non-Christian officers” according to a sworn Internal Affairs statement by Officer Gonzalez.

The lawsuit also names the City of Philadelphia and the PPD as defendants, claiming that city administrators essentially signed off on anti-Semitic conduct inside PPD by failing to address the issue when officers brought it to their attention. 10 unknown officers, or John Does, are also named as defendants in the lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, Corporal Karen Church commented to Officer Gonzales, “Why doesn’t the United States just take a missile and blow up Israel?” Another officer, Sergeant Oneeka Noble, is accused of making anti-Semitic remarks towards Gonzalez during preparations for a Memorial Day barbecue, reportedly telling her “Stacey, don’t bring in no motherfucking Kosher shit“.

Other incidents mentioned in the complaint were events reported by Pavel Reznik, a Russian Jewish police officer who is also party to the lawsuit.  Included along with the complaint are photographs being used as evidence exhibits in the case. The photos show Reznik’s police locker with ‘SS’ bolts scratched into it along with the German word ‘Totenkopf’.

Nazi graffiti on the locker of Jewish Philadelphia Police Officer Pavel Reznik

The locker graffiti, which seems to clearly target Reznik as a Jew, is a clear reference to Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. ‘SS’ stands for ‘Schutzstaffel’, the name of an elite Nazi German paramilitary unit created by Adolf Hitler. ‘Totenkopf’ is a German word for “skull” or the “death’s head” symbol which was used by SS units assigned to concentration camps. The ‘Totenkopf’ symbol is still popular today among neo-Nazis and white supremacists.

Another photo included as evidence in the lawsuit shows Reznik’s PPD patrol vehicle with a Star of David and the phrase ‘Hebrew Hammer’ inscribed in the grime that had built up on the side of the car.

A Star of David and the words “Hebrew Hammer” drawn in dust on Philadelphia Police Officer Pavel Reznik’s patrol car

According to the lawsuit, neither of the incidents of clearly anti-Semitic vandalism targeting Officer Reznik were properly investigated by the department.

Reznik wrote in his sworn statement that since he first joined the police academy in 2006, he had become aware that PPD “discriminates heavily against Jews” and claims that officers often made anti-Semitic comments around him such as “We’re just getting ‘Jewed out’.” One exchange is alleged to have taken place in which an officer made a comment about Jewish food and another officer responded, in a joking tone, “Don’t be racist,” to which Officer Marcus O’Shannesy reportedly replied “It’s not racism, it is anti-Semitism.” According to the lawsuit, another police officer named Dougherty also chimed in, saying “Jews can’t cook for shit, their Chanukah food sucks“.

The lawsuit alleges that Reznik faced further retaliation related to his religion. He was reportedly told “That’s some bullshit, no need for you to go home early… what are you, special?” when he asked to be able to attend a Jewish police officer’s honor guard event. He was also denied time-off requests while his wife was pregnant, and made to work shifts while other other officers lower in rank than himself were getting their time-off requests granted.

According to the suit, Reznik has stopped requesting time off to celebrate Jewish holidays because he assumes his requests will be denied and he will face retaliation.

Reznik said he was also subject to harassment based on his Russian nationality and other officers seeing him as an immigrant. He claims that while enrolled at the police academy, a superior told him “I must break you; we must destroy your country” in a mock Russian accent. Reznik also maintains that another officer frequently made derogatory comments about “all the benefits immigrants get, without doing any work“.

In addition to specific anti-Semitic remarks and acts of harassment, Corporal Karen Church and other PPD officials are accused of retaliating against Jewish officers by subjecting them to “unwarranted and disproportionate warnings and punishments … wherein discrimination was exhibited“. Punishments against Jewish cops complaining about anti-Semitism reportedly included being made to stay late while non-Jews were allowed to leave, and being prevented from taking time off for Jewish holidays. “There are always courtesies given to Christians to worship their holidays and leave early, but the rest of us are nailed to the directive when it comes to our holidays,” Gonzalez said in a sworn statement.

After Gonzalez complained about Corporal Church’s “bomb Israel” comment, Church retaliated by making her stay late while other officers were allowed to go home, the suit claims. Church is further alleged to have taken disciplinary action against Gonzalez for leaving work to prepare for Yom Kippur, while non-Jewish officers were said to be running similar holiday errands around the same time and were not disciplined. Church is also said to have refused to let Gonzalez work any half-days during the Jewish holiday, despite allowing Christian cops to take half-days during Christmas and Thanksgiving.

“…PPD supervisors … directed discriminatory and prejudicial acts towards Jewish police officers and would intimidate these police officers by insulting them, requiring them to perform additional work not asked of other officers, (mainly white Christian officers) and precluded them from taking adequate time off for religions holidays, gatherings, and other Jewish religions expressions.” – Gonzalez & Reznik’s complaint

According to Officer Stacey Gonzalez’s sworn statement to PPD internal affairs, she believes the racist and anti-Semitic conduct by Corporal Church was knowingly tolerated by police higher-ups, including former Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey:

“If you know this person has a history of making derogatory comments, you are protecting her if you don’t take any action against [her] … She even stated out of her mouth she was protected by someone on the second or third floor …” – Officer Stacey Gonzalez Internal Affairs interview

In her statement to PPD Internal Affairs, Officer Gonzalez also claimed that the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), which often negotiates on behalf of officers with grievances, discouraged her from speaking out about her allegations of anti-Jewish discrimination:

“…the FOP (Mike Trask and Roosevelt Poplar) said they weren’t going to have anything to do with it. They said to take it to your people … They stated they didn’t want anything to do with my complaints regarding the Christian holidays.” – Officer Stacey Gonzalez Internal Affairs interview

John McNesby of the Philly FOP, speaking to the Philadelphia Inquirer, claimed that the police union was not involved in, or aware of, the lawsuit about anti-Semitism in the department:

“This is the first I’m being made aware of this … To my knowledge they’ve never contacted [the union] or requested any assistance, which would be their first line of defense … but they took the path that they did, and it’s under litigation and I guess they’ll figure it out on that level.” – John McNesby, President, Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police

Corporal Karen Church, as well as several other PPD officers named in the new anti-Semitism lawsuit, have all been named in previous litigation over discrimination and workplace harassment in Philly’s police department.

Karen Church and Sergeant Robert Deblasis were both sued in 2011 by Robin Middleton, an African-American Philadelphia Police Officer and Christian Baptist, who said that she was harassed by Church and Deblasis on the basis of both her race and religion. Middleton’s lawsuit claimed that Church, with Deblasis’ knowledge and approval, prevented her from being able to attend religious services. Middleton also claimed that Deblasis routinely called her “the Blessed One” and would make the “sign of the cross” gestures towards her at work. Middleton also alleged that Deblasis and Church retaliated against her for her complaints about this harassment; when she became injured on the job, they refused to provide her with either an injury report or a hospital referral.

Deblasis had also been named in a previous lawsuit that claimed he harassed PPD officers for their involvement in interracial relationships. The new lawsuit contains a statement from Officer Gonzalez to PPD Internal Affairs in which Gonzales claims another officer overheard Deblasis using the phrase “the ‘N’ word” to refer to a black person.

This fresh scandal tying Philadelphia’s police to anti-Semitism and Nazi imagery comes just two years after an uproar involving an officer sporting a Nazi tattoo while on the job. During the 2016 Democratic National Convention, which was hosted in Philadelphia, pictures emerged of Officer Ian Hans Lichterman sporting a forearm tattoo with a Nazi German eagle design under the word “fatherland“.

McNesby & the Philly FOP defended the Nazi tattoo as “not a big deal” at the time, while the police department declined to discipline Lichterman, saying no policies had been violated. The department has since instituted a new tattoo policy and Lichterman was never fired, but ended up leaving PPD to take a new job as a federal police officer guarding the Philadelphia Navy Yard.

Former Ian Hans Lichterman sports a Nazi tattoo while assigned to protests outside the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Photo Source: Evan Parish Matthews/Facebook

Read the full text of the complaint in Officers Gonzalez & Reznik’s lawsuit (with Internal Affairs interview transcripts) below or click here to download the PDF.

Anti-Racist Crowd Overwhelms Small Far-Right Rally in Philly

  • November 20, 2018 6:17 pm

from Unicorn Riot

By Chris Schiano, Unicorn Riot November 19, 2018

Philadelphia, PA – Over a thousand anti-racist protesters gathered on Independence Mall on Saturday to oppose a “We The People” rally organized by right-wing groups tied to groups like the Proud Boys and the Three Percenter militia network.

The rally was organized by a Facebook page called ‘Sports Beer and Politics’, associated with Philly-area far-right organizers Zachary Rehl and Holly Delcampo. Social media postings leading up to the event showed organizers coordinating with members of the violent “western chauvinist” Proud Boys, a group which has been called a “gang” by its founder Gavin McInnes. Members of the neo-Nazi group, Keystone United (formerly called Keystone State Skinheads), had also indicated that they would be attending.

Around 10:30 AM, as both the far-right rally and the counter-protest began, Philadelphia police made their first arrest as officers with bikes pushed anti-racists and journalists across the street to create a wider perimeter. After police forcibly created a control zone, the event largely consisted of two opposing rallies on either side of the street. The far-right group had between 12-50 attendees throughout the day, with the anti-racist counter-protest opposing them made up of roughly 1,000 people.

See our livestream coverage from the event below:

(Correction: At times in our livestream Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Melvin Singleton is misidentified as Police Commissioner Richard Ross. Any reference to Ross in our stream narration actually refers to Singleton. Unicorn Riot regrets the error.)

Many different Philadelphia groups came out for the event, including several unions, the Philly Coalition for Real Justice, and a coven of witches.

Witches hex Proud Boys in Philadelphia. Photo by Unicorn Riot.

The Philadelphia Flyers’ new mascot, ‘Gritty’, who has become an international antifascist symbol, made several appearances, along with internet sensation ‘Grumpy Cat’:

‘Grumpy Cat’ puppet operated by two people at the anti-racist counter-protest. Photo by Unicorn Riot.

After about an hour of speakers with a sound system and a marching band drowning out the right-wing rally from across the street, two Proud Boys were spotted in the counter-protest crowd. The two men, David Kuriakose and Simon Greenwood, had previously been identified as present at the Proud Boys’ gang beating attacks in New York City outside the Metropolitan Republican Club last month. Kuriakose was charged and arrested for his alleged role in the Proud Boys attack, according to the New York Post. The two men were escorted across the street, after some counter-protesters pushed them and threw items like water bottles.

Proud Boys David Kuriakose and Simon Greenwood ushered out of the counter-protest in Philadelphia by police, as hundreds of people chanted “assholes” at them. Photo at left by Unicorn Riot; New York photos by Shay Horse in upper right & Sandi Bachom in lower right.

Another altercation occurred down the street a few minutes later, in which a man seen hiding his face from cameras appeared to have been headbutted. Police who were already present at the scene quickly made two arrests. An unconfirmed report claims this scuffle was the result of a case of a man being mistakenly identified as part of the far-right rally.

Shortly after that incident, 48-year-old Proud Boy Alan Swinney, wearing body armor and holding a large flagpole, left the right-wing rally area in an apparent attempt to provoke a confrontation with counter-protesters. Quickly surrounded by anti-racists and reporters, Swinney was quickly escorted back into the fenced-off “We The People” rally area by Philadelphia Police as well as federal park rangers (the Independence Visitor Center where the rally took place is under federal jurisdiction).

48-year-old “Proud Boy” Alan Swinney in Philadelphia. Photo by Unicorn Riot.

A few minutes later, a group of the “We The People” rally attendees walked away from their rally location on Independence Mall. The group then walked a few blocks, escorted by dozens of police and about as many counter-protesters, to the old Philadelphia police headquarters. After presenting an award to police inside the building, the group waited around behind their police escort waiting to get picked up. However, the group had a hard time getting a ride, as an Uber driver, and later a taxi driver, both declined to pick up the passengers once counter-protesters told them they were affiliated with the Proud Boys.

Around this same time, Philadelphia police made a major show of force by Independence Mall in order to prevent counter-protesters from approaching far-right rally attendees who were leaving. Video by local reporter Joshua Scott Albert shows officers pushing a man into a tree before hitting him on the head with overhand baton strikes. At around the same time, officers were ushering Alan Swinney, the Proud Boy who had shown up wearing riot armor, into his Uber.

Red liquid that seemed to be blood was seen on the ground shortly after the police beatings. Philadelphia Police did not directly respond to an inquiry about whether overhand baton strikes to the head are consistent with policy, instead directing us to visit a webpage that includes PPD use-of-force directives.

According to Philadelphia Police Public Affairs, a total of four people were detained or arrested on Saturday, November 17: two for failure to disperse, one for disorderly conduct, and another for allegedly assaulting a police captain. No attendees from the far-right rally were cited, detained, or arrested.

The day after the rally, The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a story incorrectly claiming there was “no indication” that Proud Boys or Three Percenters were present at the rally. The story was eventually corrected two days later, but not before a headline on the front page told readers there had been “no sign of hate groups“.

The Inquirer’s curious claim was easily disproven by the documented presence of Proud Boys Alan Swinney, David Kuriakose, and Simon Greenwood. Numerous rally attendees were also photographed with clothes bearing the insignia of the Three Percenter militia movement, which provided security for neo-Nazis at Unite The Right in Charlottesville.

The event’s official organizers, Zachary Rehl and Holly Delcampo, also have their own unique and checkered backgrounds. Zach Rehl is the son and grandson of Philadelphia police officers, a fact he often uses when explaining the pro-police messaging of his events. However, Rehl himself has a criminal record, including a 2015 incident that resulted in him facing charges of aggravated assault, criminal mischief, terroristic threats, assault, reckless endangerment, and drunk driving.

Comments made by Holly Delcampo on Facebook have claimed that anti-racist protester Heather Heyer died in Charlottesville from a “heart attack” and “was not hit by a car“, echoing debunked conspiracy theories spread by the alt-right about the car attack at Unite The Right.

Notably, events organized in 2017 by ‘Sports Beer and Politics’ under a pro-Trump, pro-police banner, were attended by white supremacist extremists who were seen at Unite The Right in Charlottesville.

Unicorn Riot has previously reported on the involvement of “Three Percenters” in attacks and right-wing activity at demonstrations: Three Percenters attacked a Democratic Socialists of America gathering in Kentucky in September 2018; Three Percenter social media amplified false stories that Georgia police used to craft crowd management in April 2018; Three Percenters participated in an August 2018 rally in Portland; and through data requests Unicorn Riot recently determined that in St. Paul, armed Three Percenters were improperly released from police custody after detainment in the summer of 2016.

Live reporting, photo editing and research contributed by Dan Feidt, Unicorn Riot. 

Editors note: An earlier version of this story had mistaken Holly Delcampo for another person. Unicorn Riot regrets the error. 

Hate Group Organizers In Philadelphia

  • November 16, 2018 7:15 pm

from Instagram

from Instagram

Call to Action to Oppose Proud Boys, Militias, and Neo-Nazi Skinhead Gang Holding Nationalist Rally

  • November 13, 2018 4:26 pm

from It’s Going Down

Call for a mass mobilization against far-Right groups rallying in Philadelphia on November 17th.

On Saturday, November 17, a coalition of far-Right groups spearheaded by The Proud Boys and various militia groups, along with Keystone United/Keystone State Skinheads, one of the most violent white supremacist gangs in Pennsylvania, will be gathering in Philadelphia for a “We the People Rally.”

We’ve seen nationwide the violence and bigoted terror that happens when the far-Right organizes under the guise of “Patriotism” or “Nationalism,” and we’ve seen the deadly consequences of an emboldened insurgent fascist movement that’s been allowed a platform upon which to fester and spread their toxic and evil ideology.

We urge all people who can make it to show up and oppose them, to not concede a single inch and to not allow them any chance to recruit or grow in power. There will be a mass action coordinated by the Pushback Campaign to oppose them at the Independence Hall Visitor Center at 10:00 AM.

We also strongly encourage people to autonomously organize themselves and trusted friends into action and to be creative with how to oppose these fascists and ensure that they do not feel welcome in our city. We must ensure that Philadelphia does not become a hub of their organizing and that they are impeded every step of the way, and we must inspire a broader base of support for opposing them in the future!

In solidarity with the Pushback Campaign and all Autonomous groups and collectives involved in organizing this stalwart opposition, and those doing similar around the world! More info can be found here as well.

¡No pasarán!

-Some folks in Philly who are against Fascism