Anti-Racist Leif Erickson Day

from Facebook

Every October for the past decade often around Columbus Day Weekend, which is also around Oct. 9 – Leif Erickson Day – Keystone State “Skinheads” (aka Keystone United) and their supporters come to Philadelphia, PA to hold what they call their “Leif Erickson Day Celebration” at a Viking Statue ( that’s not of Leif Erickson) on Boathouse Row. Residents have come out to oppose them, most notably in 2013 when the neo-Nazis were overwhelmed by the opposition to their event. Since that year they have done everything they could to avoid the opposition whenever they organize this day. They didn’t have an event in 2014 until they were mocked, and over the past two years haven’t announced publicly or online, and held the event at night when no one is around to see them.

Well just like last year, we intend to come out regardless of their plans and celebrate us as a people. We will gather at the Thorfin Karlsfeni statue on Boathouse Row on Kelly Drive and rally against Racism, Colonialism, and KSS organizing in our city and state.

In the wake of Charlottesville, where several of the Leif Erickson Day Celebration attendees were seen, communities have been working to confront and keep down the activities of neo-Fascist in this society. Philly will be no different. We are calling on all Anti-Racists and Anti-Fascists to join us in confronting KSS & Co. and showing them that they are (still) not welcome in Philadelphia.

[October 7 from 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM at 1 Boathouse Row]

PA Alt-Knights Provided Security for Holocaust Denier and Fascist Augustus Invictus at Unite the Right

from Philly Antifa

PA Alt-Knights At Unite the Right providing security for Augustus Invictus (center with tie)
PA Alt Knights 2nd in Command Jeff Thomas discussing providing security for eugenics promoting, holocaust denying, fascist politician Augustus Invictus. Apparently participating in a Nazi rally that ended in a murder was “a pleasure.”

As our readers are no doubt aware, this “Unite the Right Rally” was a disaster for the Alt-Right and led to the death of Anti-Racist demonstrator Heather Heyer as well as multiple hate crimes and assaults by Neo-Nazi and Far Right rally participants. In the fallout, many of the rallies participants and organizers have turned on each other and/or distanced themselves from the Alt-Right.

One group that seems to have very few regrets is the PA Chapter of the Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights (FOAK). Their members were observed by Anti-Fascists on the ground in Charlottesville, and confirmed through social media, providing security for Augustus Invictus (real name Austin Gillespie), Florida Senate Candidate,  and total fucking cretin. Invictus was formerly a member of the Libertarian party, but even a party comprised almost entirely of Fedoras could not stomach Invictus’ Holocaust denial, advocacy of Eugenics, use of Fascist and White Nationalist talking points and imagery, and participation in animal sacrifice.  This led to several conflicts within the party that ended with Invictus switching his affiliation to The GOP.

Most of these “Kekistanis” were spotted a few months ago trolling the Refuse Fascism rally at Dilworth Plaza.  While these jerkoffs might seem like harmless fools, the murder of Heather Heyer goes to show just how dangerous and unstable the pathetic types attracted to the Alt-Right can be, and those that protect and enable them will not be spared their share of the blame.

We’re sure that the FOAK will describe this as “guilt by association,” a legal term appropriated by Nazi sympathizers to deflect and distract from criticisms.  Guilt by association is supposed to be in reference to criminal charge having no evidence other than “this guy knew that guy.” It’s not intended to excuse actual behavior, like attending rallies or defending Fascists, nor to insulate someone from the social consequences of doing so. Why exactly shouldn’t someone feel guilty or be judged by others for rallying and defending Neo-Nazis and Klansmen? That’s rhetorical, FOAK.

Spotted at the Unite the Right Rally:

Ellsworth George Lewis III

Ellsworth George Lewis III,, head of PA Alt-Knights, at Unite the Right
Ellsworth George Lewis III at Trump’s Inauguration

Despite claiming on social media that he would not be attending at one point, Ellsworth George Lewis was indeed present at UTR.

In a video posted by Youtube user “Khaos Kekmander Khrone” Ellsworth can be seen milling around nervously in a Bloodsport T-shirt. I guess because he’s a tough underground martial artist (lol)?

Ellsworth works at Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park, PA. Taylor (part of the Crozer Keystone Health System) continues to employ Ellsworth despite his continued association with White Nationalist, Far Right and Neo-Nazi individuals and groups.  Contact their public relations department (link above) and let them know how the public feels about that decision.  He lives in Prospect Park, PA on Lincoln Ave.

Jeff Thomas

Jeff Thomas at Unite the Right

Present with Ellsworth was his “second in command” Jeff Thomas.

Jeff Thomas

Jeff Thomas, was last seen in Philly repeating “I’m not a nazi” over and over while hanging with “Illegal Aryan” and American Vanguard member Daniel Reardon, who was also in Charlottesville.

Apparently hanging with Nazis suited Jeff Thomas fine because he was up to his neck in them at UTR.

In this video (at around 16 min) you can see he even has a brief moment of clarity and weakly comments that the guy carrying a swastika flag is “making them look bad.” No shit, Jeff. Racism and Fascism is a bad look.

Despite this comment, Jeff seemed to have no desire to exercise his first amendment rights to take a vocal stand against Nazism while surrounded by Nazis. How strange, since they love free debate and expression. Was he fearing for his safety should he object to open Nazism being the face of the rally he was attending?  Certainly his associates are not violent individuals like the “evil Antifa” he’s so scared of, so one can only assume his only issue with Nazis was that they were making him “look bad,” and it wasn’t worth it to him to argue.

So this guy will plan and recruit to troll Communists, but can’t be bothered to loudly state opposition to Nazism when it’s right in front of him, despite his claims that he views them both as “collectivism.” Cowardliness, thy name is Jeff Thomas.

After UTR, Thomas took to social media for damage control, again denying any wrongdoing and reaffirming his belief that the greatest fight he could be undertaking at this historical moment is to protect the Free Speech rights of Neo-Nazis.

In a rather hilarious thread on his FB page, Thomas makes the following claim:

What came out in the thread was ample evidence of his ties and sympathies for Nazism/Racism/Bigotry.

He refuses to answer this person’s question outright:

Good question, Jeff

He then goes on to claim that Augustus Invictus is a “great friend” who is “not afraid to debate”

Invictus is then tagged in on the thread by a friend of Thomas’ and shows off his excellent debating skills when one of the commentators literally quotes his own Holocaust denial.

See, at this point in a conversation where someone is accusing you of denying the Holocaust most people would probably just affirm that the Holocaust happened. But Austin Gillespie is too great a debater for such an easy route. Instead, he invokes the supreme debate strategy of “people who think different things than me, their opinions don’t matter.”

But if a regular old racist, sexist, holocaust-denying capitalist isn’t proof positive enough, leave it to New Jersey Neo- Nazi Frank Marlowe (check out the public content for plenty of evidence of Marlow’s nazi views) to bomb into the thread to recommend to Jeff that he just lean into it and become a Fascist:

But how do we even know Marlow is a Fasc-

Nvm

It really is a hilarious thread we recommend reading for as long as he keeps it public.  Just keep in mind Thomas is friends with many far right and White Nationalist figures who may be monitoring the thread so use good security should you decide to comment.

Thomas launches the same old “who, me?” routine while well-meaning friends try and talk sense into him about what it means to participate in a movement regardless of your alleged actual principles.  We get it Jeff: you don’t think people should have to share. What we don’t understand is why you think that is a greater principle than human equality or freedom.

Seems as though Thomas is too much of a narcissist to really self-examine his role in helping create the circumstances in which Heather Heyer died. Even if he did nothing else, had attended no rallies earlier, had not helped organize and recruit for FOAK, insulated Nazis like Daniel Reardon from Anti-Fascists, etc. and ONLY provided security for Invictus, consider this Jeff: what if the speakers had been unable to get security and been forced to cancel UTR before it began? Heather Heyer would be alive today.

Movements are the sum of individuals. Everyone that participates, whoever minor, shares some portion of the credit/blame. Throwing up your hands, pointing fingers, or hiding behind the constitution will not wash the blood off your hands.

Deborah Nemeth

Deb Nemeth at Unite the Right

Another “not Nazi” attending the largest Nazi rally in the U.S. on decades was Deborah Nemeth.

Nemeth arrived with the Kekistanis but was seperated and can be seen in this picture leaving Emancipation Park in between the Traditionalist Worker’s Party and Hammerskins contingents, both open Neo-Nazi groups, and shortly before the group of Klansmen that included Richard Preston, who was arrested for firing a gun towards protesters.

Nemeth has shown no remorse or signs of leaving the movement since UTR. She’s all over the thread on Jeff Thomas’ page mentioned above “liking” all the right wing and apologist posts and arguing with anyone expressing disgust at their involvement in the largest Neo-Nazi rally in this country in decades.

Deborah Nemeth lives in center city. She works as a paralegal and business manager for Piscitello Law as well as Project Manager for Diamond Contractors.

We would like to encourage our readers to contact Nemeth’s employers and let them know that their employee is a willing participant in White Nationalist and Neo-Nazi movements and to ask them to fire her immediately.

Justin and Colin Emerle

Justin Emerle at Unite the Right
Colin Emerle at UTR
Justin Emerle trying to blend into the Refuse Fascism rally but after Antifa started filming him he bounced.

Justin Emerle, aka “Hipster Douche Fascist” briefly attempted to infiltrate the Refuse Fascism crowd a few months back at their rally but dipped out as soon as Antifa began shadowing him around Dilworth. At the time he claimed to be “wasn’t with them” (meaning the Alt-Knights) and was just “checking things out.”

The Emerle brothers sometimes perform as the band Echo Orbiter in the Philly area, though have been on various periods of inactivity the past few years.

Justin and Colin Emerle in an older pic. Note the matching skull tattoo on Justin’s left wrist. Also the fact that these guys are aging hipster douchebags.
Emerele and Lewis discussing Charlottesville. Guess Lewis decided to go after all.

Justin Emerele is even less remorseful than Jeff Thomas, preferring to argue online about semantics or his being offended at being called racist than address the fact that he was rallying with Nazis and Klan, which btw is a pretty fucking racist thing to do.  He is repping Augustus Invictus’ website The Revolutionary Conservative as his FB profile photo.

Eh… no thanks.

Justin Emerle is listed as living on New Street in Westville, NJ.

This is our first time spotting Colin at a far right event, but that’s likely because we didn’t know to look for them, or they were hiding out, possibly as a scout.

This Nazi Kid

Nazi kid at UTR

This Nazi Kid was also trolling at the Refuse Fascism rally.   Despite adamantly pointing out that he “wasn’t white” (his mother, who appeared to be South Asian, was waiting for him nearby) this little guy claimed to support the Traditionalist Worker’s Party and claimed “Hitler did nothing wrong.”

Despite his not-so-aryan heritage, This Nazi Kid was welcomed into the Neo-Nazi contingent of UTR, marching along in a white polo shirt along with Vanguard America, the Neo-Nazi group that the murderer of Heather Heyer was also marching with.

Commando Barbie Alt-Knight

This guy was with the PA Alt-Knights contingent and seemingly very eager to fight Antifa from behind police barricades but demurred from actually backing any of it up. Anyone with information regarding this winner or any of the scum who went to UTR should send it our way.

Let’s pretend for a second we believe that PA FOAK really believe that they are not racists or fascists.  Excuse the unappetizing metaphor, but essentially what Ellsworth Lewis, Jeff Thomas and the rest of PA FOAK are doing is smearing shit on themselves, and then when someone complains about the smell, saying “But we don’t have any body odor! It’s not US, it’s the SHIT that smells!”

It’s not any less disgusting and doesn’t mean you’re entitled to keep your jobs, friends, be served by local businesses, or be free of people pointing out that you smell like shit. Free association cuts both ways you fake-ass “libertarians.”

We have every intention to hold PA FOAK and every other group/individual who attended UTR on the Fascist side accountable.

Some more pics of the PA FOAK crew at UTR:

 

  

 

Love and Solidarity to all Anti-Racists injured in Charlottesville, the family and friends of Heather Heyer, and all those taking a stand against the Fascists and their allies. Rage to our enemies.

Eternal War on the Hitler Youth,

Fuck Frank Rizzo Banner

from Instagram

Fuck Frank Rizzo???? banner hanging in Center City.

Bosses, Workers, and Race in Philadelphia, Part 1

from Tubman-Brown Organization

Philadelphia and the surrounding areas are well known for their poverty, drug addiction, and violence. It is hard to get a straight answer about why this is, and when the answer is given it’s often blatantly racist or racist just under the surface. One of the more common answers, especially among White Philadelphians, is that Black and Latin people are inclined towards crime and violence — whether or not they actually claim people of color are naturally or culturally inferior only depends on if they’re comfortable being an obvious racist or not.

Of course, this explanation is ridiculous. The various Black and Latino/indigenous cultures of Philadelphia are unique in their traditions, their music, their literature, and their history — they are not unique in their inclination towards crime and violence. White Irish and Italian neighborhoods in Philadelphia have always had their share of gang violence, and currently there are majority White neighborhoods, most notably Kensington, that are notorious for drug addiction and drug trade. The Near Northeast and South Philadelphia also provide examples of White poverty easily comparable to the poverty of Black and Brown people throughout the city. Often it seems that the distinction made by White Philadelphians between the White poor and the Brown poor is based on their level of personal comfort instead of any social reality.

It is, however, true that Black and Brown people in Philadelphia are poor at a greater rate than White people in the city. Why is this? The basic answer is that racism has always been used as a tool by politicians and by bosses to divide the poor and working class people. The history of Philadelphia is a history of competition between bosses and workers, hidden by a staged conflict between races and ethnic groups for jobs and living space — both of which would be available to all peoples if not for the artificial scarcity created by bosses and politicians. Working class unity, across racial and ethnic lines, means that workers have leverage over their bosses, something a boss clearly does not want. To maintain control over their workers, an easy and successful strategy is for bosses to, first of all, hire mostly White people if possible. When required to hire Brown workers, they will treat White workers better (and as anyone who has worked for a living knows, a slight difference in the quality of employment goes a long way) so that White workers are loyal to their bosses and will side with the boss against their fellow Black and Brown workers. This produces a self-fulfilling prophecy in which Black and Brown workers will usually be poorer, and as a result are unwilling to put in as much work when they’re treated worse and are considered disposable.

In a country filled with mostly White workers, mostly White politicians, and mostly White bosses, and with a set of laws created to favor White businessmen, it is no mystery why bosses and politicians strategically choose to give White people preference over Black and Brown people. Another successful strategy to bait White people into betraying their class interests is the White police force, and this White police also goes a long way in explaining the larger amount of poverty present in Black and Brown communities.

When Whites were forced to compete both among themselves and against Black workers, they were offered a job not initially offered to people of color — that of the policeman, a new job that came around with the growth of cities in the mid 1800s. When many White immigrants, especially the Irish, took this job of the policeman, it gave their own ethnic community power to enforce their interests, a power that other communities did not have. It is often mentioned that the Irish were once discriminated against — this is true. It is also often claimed by racists that the Irish pulled themselves out of discrimination and that Black and Brown people could do the same if they really wanted to. This is simply wrong. The Irish were not discriminated against as White people — rather, they were discriminated against until they became White, and they became White by serving White interests. Also this was clearly made easier through having a physical appearance compatible with Whiteness. But consider the Russians and Ukrainians who now have their distinct communities in Philadelphia. They may be light skinned and white by a wide definition, but there is certainly a distinction made between a White person and a person from Russia. And further, a Puerto Rican person with light skin is not considered White the moment their accent reveals them as Puerto Rican. These categories we have been placed into are not inevitable.

When many police were Irish, the Irish community was able to “lift themselves up” by choosing not to arrest other Irish, and choosing to arrest those Black and Brown people they believed were competition for their own people. When many able bodied Black workers, the economic pillar of the Black community, were arrested for the same things able bodied White workers were allowed to go free for, this created a situation in which the Irish were able to improve their economic situation through undermining Blacks.

There’s More Than 1 Symbol of White Supremacy

Submission

At Front St and Master St.

Steven Wiegand Claims to be Shutting Down Micetrap Records!

from Philly Antifa

We win, fucker.

Neo-Nazi record label and distro house Micetrap Records is closing up shop, according to it’s owner.

For over 20 years, Micetrap Records has been distributing Neo-Nazi, White Nationalist, Neo-Confederate and other Fascist music, writings and clothing using a P.O. box in Maple Shade, N.J..

Micetrap was (to the best of our knowledge) a one-man operation for it’s entire run.  Stephen Wiegand of Cherry Hill, NJ would distribute bands such as Skrewdriver and Bound for Glory as well as old issues of National Vanguard magazines and writings by Nazi Terrorist David Lane. Basically all manner of Fascist paraphernalia.

Despite the immeasurable damage done by Weigand over the years, he flew under the radar for much of his career due to his insistence that he was no ideologically motivated, his willingness to make ridiculous legal threats when he was exposed and other more pressing concerns demanding the time and energy of Anti-Racists and Anti-Fascists in the area.

This changed a few years ago with Antifa Philadelphia exposed Wiegand’s home address and description of his cars and posted them on our site.  This eventually led to Weigand’s lawyers threatening WordPress and them caving into pressure and shutting down our old blog.  We rebounded nicely, though, launching on noblogs and then eventually our own current site and keeping the Wiegand info up the entire time.

So in the wake of Charlottesville, with a huge upsurge in Anti-Fascist sentiment among people in the U.S., and his info already being made public by Antifa, and Philly Inquirer reporters showing up at his doorstep, Wiegand (allegedly) decided to call it quits.

From a statement on the Micetrap site:


 

“8/20/2017 – Micetrap Distribution will be soon closing down.

After many years of struggling to figure out the best way to shut down this business, it is with a very heavy heart that I have decided that the time has now come for Micetrap Distribution LLC. to close.

I am proud to say that I built this business from practically nothing and formed a company that I believed stood for everything our 1st Amendment was established for. But in doing this, I have endured personal issues and sacrifices that very few would have been strong enough to endure. But, I can no longer continue on with the passion and enthusiasm that made the business the success that it became. I have always been attacked from all sides of the spectrum and this is not a retreat or surrender, instead it is my attempt at finding my own self peace again. When my business is gone, the violence will still continue between the left and the right, but I will know in my heart that I am not associated with it in any way. I am going out on my own terms while sales are increasing at a rapid pace, simply to pursue a happier, less stressful life that also spares my friends and the neighborhood I love.

After the recent issues in Charlottesville, Virginia, it has forced me to take a long, deep look into myself. And after speaking with friends and neighbors, I can no longer be aligned with the violence (from all sides) that I have always been against.

I will continue processing all orders as I am going through the closing down process. No customers need to worry, if you are able to place an order, it will be completed. But once the shutting down process is complete, I will be completely taking down all websites and domains. I have already removed all social media pages and the streaming radio website. I don’t have any idea where the inventory will go or what will happen with the countless domain names, but over the 20 years, I feel I have done everything possible to fight for the freedom of speech that means everything to me. But now it’s time for me to focus on my own spiritual peace.

I pray that this country I love with all of my heart can heal it’s divides.”


 

It is worth noting the Wiegand is still taking orders of his repulsive merchandise, despite claiming to have had some vague change of heart. Wiegand also parrots the ridiculous assertions by Donald Trump that Neo-Nazi demonstrators and Anti-Racists in Charlottesville were somehow morally equivalent.

We have no intention of removing Wiegand’s information from our site as it stands. Wiegand is running or involved in running several “Anti-Antifa” blogs and SM accounts that have engaged in doxxing of real or presumed Antifa and has not engaged in any of the behaviors we would classify as evidence of a legitimate change of heart. Stephen Wiegand has been nothing if not duplicitous for the entirety that he’s been around WP scenes.  There is no guarantee that this is a legitimate shutdown or that it will last.

For the moment though, we celebrate what seems like a victory in one of our longest running campaigns and recommit ourselves to go harder to ensure that no one can operate a business like Micetrap for 20 years with nearly no consequences and total anonymity.

Eternal War on the Hitler Youth and their Shitty Record Salesmen…

The Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement Announces RAM Philly

from It’s Going Down

The Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement has sought since its inception to spread nationwide, and create international connections to further the cause of abolitionism and revolutionary anarchism. Today, August 20, 2017, we are proud to announce the formation of the Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement – Philadelphia Branch (RAM Philly). With the growth of each new branch we inch ever closer to the day when we can realize our revolutionary aspirations, live in a world of true freedom, and decisively eradicate the abhorrence of 21st century slavery.

The struggle in the US seems like an unrelenting weight being pushed down on revolutionary forces, but that same force has been bearing down on criminalized communities for decades with no reprieve. Mosques are being ruthlessly bombed, state agencies and vigilante groups are deporting Latino people with relentless vigor, LGBTQ people are being battered, and the destruction of black life continues unabated as millions languish in the plantations of the modern day slave system.

Immersed in these struggles, against the state and its white supremacist militias, we are developing the capacity to liberate ourselves and others. We fight side by side with those facing state and reactionary violence and with each person we free from captivity the stronger we grow. As demonstrated by our resistance in Charlottesville, we will not cede one inch of ground to racists. As each new collective forms, we begin to create new political realities and continue the march together against white supremacy and for a dignified world.

We continue in the legacy of Philadelphia’s rich revolutionary tradition, demonstrated by Mumia Abu Jamal, Russell Maroon Shoatz, and the MOVE organization.

We are now establishing a revolutionary political movement that can confront the challenges ahead of us, and together with Philadelphia based comrades, we are taking one step closer.

Victory to Those Behind the Barricades!
Victory to Those Behind Prison Walls!
Victory to Revolutionary Forces!

Long live RAM Philly!

Help get things rolling: https://www.gofundme.com/expanding-ram-to-philadelphia

Hit us up to join the Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement in Philly:

Twitter: @RAM_Philly
Instagram: @RAM_Philly

Help bail out our friend arrested in Philly!

from Philadelphia Anti-Repression Fund

[Contribute]

This morning, Philadelphia police arrested a dear friend and anti-racist organizer, allegedly in connection with the most recent defacement of the Frank Rizzo mural in South Philly. Frank Rizzo, former mayor and police commissioner of Philadelphia, was a notorious white supremacist whose legacy the city continues to celebrate. Active campaigns to take down the statue of Rizzo outside City Hall are ongoing.

Please DONATE and SHARE this fundraiser to support action against systemic racism and white supremacy in Philly! Any funds you can give would be deeply appreciated and will help get our friend out of jail as soon as possible!!! Any additional funds will go to the PHL Anti-Repression Fund to help support future arrestees.

Philadelphia, USA: Banner Action in Solidarity with #DefendCville

from Insurrection News
a b c
On Sunday in Philly a banner was hung from the Reading Viaduct and pamphlets were thrown into the street in solidarity with the anti-fascists who fought in Charlottesville.

Tell Taylor Hospital to Fire PA Alt-Knights Leader Ellsworth George Lewis III

From Philly Antifa

Ellsworth George Lewis III

We’ve written about Ellsworth George Lewis on the site before, but we’ve learned he was recently appointed as the leader of the Pennsylvania Alt-Knights.

In response, Anti-Fascists around the state and region are launching a push to get Lewis fired from his job at Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park, PA.

Take a few minutes and call the hospital at (610) 595-6000 and let them know what you think about them employing racist misogynists like Ellsworth George Lewis.

Here’s a good example of what might want to say when you call.

Hello,

You are currently employing  Ellsworth George Lewis III, who was recently appointed to be the Pennsylvania Commander and State Point of Contact of the Pennsylvania Alt-Knights.  Alt-Knights are a group of alt-right fighting squads and has been featured in Hate Watch by The Southern Poverty Law Center.

Lewis has been in the news several times in the last few months for his involvement with the “Kekistani Movement,” which has involved Lewis carrying a modified version of a Nazi battle flag around the country and participating in various far right and fascist rallies while looking for confrontation with protesters.  The “Kek” flag also has added elements from 3%er militia groups and Ku Klax Klan imagery.  Lewis intends to be in Charlottesville this coming weekend to participate in the “Unite the Right” rally being organized by Neo-Nazi and other far right groups including the National Socialist Movement and American Vanguard. Lewis’ activities should be cause of grave concern for you and represent a threat to your staff and patients, and do to his recent move to a leadership position within the Alt-Knights I would like to see him terminated immediately.

 

 

Lewis announcing his leadership of Alt-Knights

 

 

Ellsworth George Lewis III with Kek Flag at Inauguration
Ellsworth (left) with other PA Alt Knights demonstrating against an Anti-Trump rally in Philadelphia. Lewis is speaking with Daniel Reardon, aka “Illegal Aryan,” the Neo-Nazi who has been posting vile racist flyers in West Philly.

Billboard Graffiti for David Jones

Submission


Seen this in South West Philly

Alt-Right Tries and Fails – Again – In Philly

from Philly Antifa

“Lol only half of us are actually Nazis and the others are being ironic. We’re so funny.”

On Saturday July 15th Refuse Fascism (an anti-Trump/Pence coalition with no affiliation to our crew) held several “Drive our the Trump/Pence Regime” demonstrations around the country.

Having been thoroughly embarrassed over and over in the past few months, one might think that the racist right might have taken the hint and left these nice communists alone. And for the most part, you would be right. Gone were the throngs of suburban MAGAts, Bikers for Trump, and crews of White Nationalists we saw back in May during the failed “Make America Great Again” march. Even the pathetic turnout on July 2nd could not be repeated. (See links if you are not a regular reader)

No, what turned out this past Saturday with some vague notion of disrupting or trolling the Refuse Fascism march represented the dregs of the Pennsylvania Alt-Right. Less than a dozen individuals brought together through social media and shared stories of catching beat downs for having bad situational awareness and worse politics, “rallied” on the corner of 15th and JFK.

We say “rallied” because they were basically silent the entire time, preferring to talk among themselves or occasionally argue with the Anti-Racists and Anti-Fascists that walked by on their way to the Refuse rally, which went off without a hitch across the plaza. They handed out two different fliers. The first was as vague as it was pathetic, listing a bunch of “posi” slogans about how “We can be great again” though refraining from using Trump’s name, and a bunch of masked pleading about how the alt-right are poor victims of Leftist violence. The 2nd flyer was largely a cut and paste job of that idiotic article put out by the NJ DHS claiming the Antifa are an “extremist group.” The article, riddled with inaccuracies and bias, was followed by an article detailing the far right’s acts of violence, including ACTUAL murders, but these lovers of informed discourse declined to distribute any information about THAT article. Instead, they preferred to (incorrectly) assert that an article online means that all Antifa are now “classified as terrorists,” when in reality none are.

After the Refuse march departed from their rally, barely even noting the MAGAts, they (along with their police escort and a handful of Anti-Fascists and media) walked over the the Fox and Hound on 15th street. The right wingers ordered food and drank for several hours.

Undercover police and surveillance made for a calm scene, but Antifa did inform the management of the identities of the alt-rightists, including the fact that one of them was non other than Mark Daniel Reardon, aka “Illegal Aryan,” the Neo-Nazi troll who has been putting up Neo-Nazi flyers in West Philly (more on that below). Reardon hopped into an Uber not long after. A few more of them would make similar exits until a core group headed back towards city hall to distribute more of their Anti-Antifa fliers. It did not take long for them to realize their folly and they were soon calling the cops for protection again.

So who were this patchwork crew of Alt-Knights, “Classical (racist) Liberals,” MAGAts and outright Neo-Nazis who struggled to even exist in Philadelphia while under constant police protection? Here’s some of what we know about them:

Jeff Thomas

Jeff Thomas

Jeff Thomas is a member of Greater Philadelphia Alt-Knights. He is “not a Nazi or White Supremacist.” He tries (repeatedly) to make that clear to Anti-Racists that object to his organizing events for Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists to attend. Thomas claims that he is an anarcho-capitalist or right libertarian, both nonsense terms invented to hijack leftist language about individual liberty to serve the rich. When confronted with the fact that everything he organizes (including this past Saturday) is at least 50% comprised of Neo-Nazis, Fascists or other White Supremacists, Thomas only shrugs his shoulders and mutters some absolution of responsibility based on his inability to control others. When you’re full of shit you’re gonna attract flies, Jeff.

Jeff claims on social media to be living in Collegeville but has a partner who lives in Philly and he’s still listed at his parents’ house on S. Mountain Drive in Reading. He loves to debate, which we caution against as a waste of time, but if the mood strikes you he can be reached at 610-207-2223.

Thomas is working on a book on right and left politics. We imagine that when he wants to call it quits, he will claim this was all just research. Anyone remember Jacques Pluss? Anyway, time will tell. It’s irrelevant because when you help organize and protect Neo-Nazis, your own personal politics are moot.

There’s no shortage of con-men or short-sighted demagogues on the right who may not consider themselves racist (again, completely irrelevant and laughable considering the circumstances). This is true for Jeff Thomas, and this is true for Gaving McInness, Donald Trump, or any other not-textbook-fascist who associates with, enables and emboldens Neo-Nazis and other racists and/or Fascists.

Mark Reardon

Mark Daniel Reardon, aka “Illegal Aryan”

Regular readers of this site will remember Mark Daniel Reardon, aka “Illegal Aryan,” a The Daily Stormer poster who we exposed after he anonymously claimed responsibility for putting up Neo-Nazi flyers along Locust Walk a few months ago. According to a man who was at the rally Saturday and lives in West Philly, Reardon has been spotted putting up more flyers, including one at 36th and Chestnut. Reardon is a Neo-Nazi who attended the Traditionalist Worker’s Party rally in Pikevilly, KY in May and returned to find out he was no longer anonymous.

Reardon attending the private conference portion of the Traditionalist Workers Party’s event in Kentucky.

Since then he was kicked out of his apartment but is still staying somewhere in Philadelphia and recently stopped by a Food Not Bombs serving at an anarchist space then took to twitter to gloat about how he had visited our “headquarters” (lol) and escaped detection.

However this past Saturday he was just a shook one who feebly refused to answer an elder’s question as to whether the Holocaust happened (though he stuck out his tongue and smiled when Jeff Thomas and others acknowledged the Holocaust happened).

Reardon pretty much refrained from talking with anyone other than the other Alt-Rightists, and was generally about as craven as we all expected. He did post a boasting report back afterwards about his ability to survive a day out in Philadelphia with police and sympathizer protection, in which Reardon also speaks highly of just how sympathetic the others there were to his politics and activities.

Ellsworth Lewis

Ellsworth George Lewis III

Ellsworth George Lewis III is a far-right wing racist troll who is a member of Greater Philadelphia Alt-Knights. He is 31 and lives on Lincoln Ave in Prospect Park, PA. He works at Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park PA.

Here is a screengrab of Lewis discussing the “Unite the Right” rally being held in Charlottesville in August with the explicit aim of merging the outright racist elements of the right such as National Socialists and White Nationalists and the so-called “non-racist right” like Ancaps and various so-called “sovereign citizens.”

Deborah Nemeth

Deborah Nemeth

Deborah Nemeth lives in center city. She works as a paralegal and business manager for Piscitello Law as well as Project Manager for Diamond Contractors. Her bigotry of choice seems to be Islamophobia. This is only her second appearance with this crowd by our count, and is another one of this crew that claimed to not be a Nazi or White Supremacist. For our feelings on that argument, see Jeff Thomas.

Howard Caplan

Howard Caplan, aka “Pizzagate Howie”

Howard Caplan, also known as “Pizzagate Howie” or by his (now suspended) twitter handle @pghowie1, is a local wingnut and the seemingly the last man on earth (or at least in Philadelphia) willing to publicly claim that the endlessly debunked Pizzagate conspiracy is a real thing. Caplan also burst into Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul during midnight mass on Christmas eve to deliver a tirade alleging a link between Pizzagate and The Catholic Church’s (very real) scandals regarding sexual abuse. Before he was on Pizzagate, Caplan was the “Hillary 4 Prison sign guy” for flying said sign along Roosevelt Boulevard near where he lives in NE Philly.

Kevin Nally

Kevin Nally, JR

Kevin Nally Jr. is fucking gross. He is otherwise known as “pill eater” and he runs a website asianaryanism(dot)com (NSFW. Disgusting misogynist and racist content), the crux of which is advocate for a home for racist alt-right white men who fetishize east Asian women as submissive sex objects. When we say home we are being literal; the site claims to advocate for “a new ideology called ‘Asian Aryanism’ where a new white male-asian female ethnostate is established right next to the white ethnostate that Richard Spencer proposes…” Nally’s website features his writings and music, including an album called “Rape is Love” with a disgusting cover featuring battered women.

Nally lives at 606 Nantucket Court in King of Prussia. He was with a woman, who people were calling “Molly”.

So so far we got an Ancap who is either playing dumb or is just really dumb, a far-right LARPer, an Islamophobic nazi sympathizer, an actual Neo-Nazi, a racist misogynist, and fucking “Pizzagate Howie.” This is a wonderfully diverse collection of unique fashy snowflakes.

Also spotted with the Alt-Right contingent included:

This douche had stars and stripes socks.
This guy was with them. He seemed to be trying to blend into the Refuse Fascism rally but after Antifa started filming him he bounced.

There was also a 15 year old boy who expressed sympathy for the Traditionalist Worker’s Party and claimed “Hitler did nothing wrong,” though they quickly backtracked and said “some things.” His (hopefully ashamed) mother was literally waiting a few yards away behind a row of police. Daniel Reardon beamed about the little Nazi in his report back, claiming he had a “bright future.” Sounds like wishful thinking coming from a guy with a lot of hard times on the horizon .

And that was pretty much all of them, except for one or two who kept more or less silent.

Oh and there were some total P.O.S. Anti-Gay preachers there with their kids. Something about everyone going to hell. It was stupid. Later they went to Clark Park during a Dead Milkmen show and some of the attendees confronted them. Maybe there’s room for them with Jeff and Howie and Deb’s crew of people who are safe nowhere in Philadelphia.

Takeaways from this rather uneventful event are some classics (cops protect Fashies/the alt right is a bunch of rich kids and wingnuts getting duped by White Supremacists) as well as some disturbing new ones (Reardons report back, which we won’t link for obvious reasons, makes it very clear there is no limit to who this crowd associates with) as well as the always worthwhile goal of taking some time to let racists, sexists, homophobes and other assorted fascists know they are (still) not welcome in Philadelphia.

Eternal War on the Hitler Youth,

Bury Me Not in A Land of Slaves: A Short History of Immediatist Abolitionism in Philadelphia, 1830s-1860s

from The Tubman-Brown Organization 

[The above image is a depiction of the 1851 Christiana Riot, near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where a slave-owner was shot and killed when attempting to retrieve an alleged “fugitive slave.” The subsequent trial took place in Philadelphia.]

 

By Arturo Castillon

Edited by Madeleine Salvatore

 

I ask no monuments, proud and high,

To arrest the gaze of the passers-by;

All that my yearning spirit craves,

Is bury me not in a land of slaves.

“Bury Me in a Free Land,” Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

 

In the 1850s, the author of the above poem, Frances Harper, was part of a network of revolutionaries who made it their mission to abolish slavery in the United States. Known as Abolitionists, these partisans of freedom fought for the immediate emancipation of slaves, and developed a specific approach to Abolitionism known at as “immediatism.”[1] In the 1820s, the most radical Abolitionists in England and the United States began using this term, “immediatism,” to distinguish their strategy for abolition from the predominant, gradualist one.[2]

The Abolitionists that we are most familiar with today—Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and John Brown—all fought for the immediate emancipation of slaves, a prospect that most people at the time, even most abolitionists, considered extreme and impractical. Yet, in the long term, the immediatist tendency proved to be the most practical and strategic. Instead of miring themselves in legislative strategies or insular sects, the immediatists built organizations to secretly assist thousands of people fleeing from slavery, who in taking the risk of freedom, deprived the southern planters of their primary source of labor—slave labor.

In Philadelphia, black abolitionists like Frances Harper, William Still, and Robert Purvis would rise to the forefront of the immediatist struggle against slavery. Because of the city’s proximity to the South, it was a crucial junction point on the Underground Railroad, a secret network of routes and safe houses that people followed northward when fleeing from slavery. Undeterred by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, which legally guaranteed a slaveholder’s right to recover an escaped slave, hundreds of escapees made their way to Philadelphia every year, most coming from nearby Virginia and Maryland. With the Compromise of 1850, the Southern slaveholders strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act, which now required the governments and citizens of free states, like Pennsylvania, to enforce the capture and return of “fugitive slaves.” This compromise between the Southern slaveholders and the Northern free states defused a four-year political crisis over the status of territories colonized during the Mexican-American war (1846-1848). For the immediatist wing of the Abolitionist movement in Philadelphia, the implications of the new Fugitive Slave Law were clear: it had to be disobeyed and disrupted, even if that meant engaging in illegal activities to assist fugitives.[3]

By the early 1830s, the Abolitionist movement in Pennsylvania was starting to radicalize, reflecting developments on the national scene, such as David Walker’s 1829 Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World, and the 1831 Nat Turner slave insurrection. The older, mostly white Quakers, who had led the movement for decades, favored legal, non-violent measures for gradually abolishing slavery, while a growing tendency of mostly black abolitionists demanded the immediate abolition of slavery.[4] This growing dichotomy, between the gradualists and the immediatists, reflected the essential difference between reformist and revolutionary politics in the Abolitionist movement.

As the abolitionist movement became more immediatist in the 1830s, the Vigilance Committee, as it came to be known, emerged as the principal organizational form for assisting fugitives as well as victims of kidnapping. After black Abolitionist David Ruggles founded the first Vigilance Committee in New York City in 1835, Robert Purvis and James Forten formed the “Vigilant Association of Philadelphia” in 1837. Abolitionists in the rural counties surrounding these cities soon followed suit, becoming part of a regional network between Philadelphia, New York City, and other nearby cities, like Boston. The Vigilance Committees raised money, and provided transportation, food, housing, clothing, medical care, legal counsel, and tactical support for people escaping from slavery.[5]

The committee in Philadelphia was a racially integrated group that also included a (predominantly black) women’s auxiliary unit, the “Female Vigilant Association.” This degree of inter-racial and inter-gender organization was unheard of at the time, even in the Abolitionist movement.[6] The committee also included ex-slaves. Amy Hester Reckless, for example, was a fugitive who went on to become a leading member of the committee in the 1840s.[7]

While providing strategic resources to fugitives, the committee also carried out bold interventions. Members of the committee orchestrated two of the most notorious slave escapes of the 1840s: 1) that of William and Ellen Craft from Georgia, who used improbable disguises to make their way to Philadelphia in 1848, and 2) that of Henry “Box” Brown from Virginia, who arranged to have himself mailed in a wooden crate to Philadelphia in 1849. These daring escapes were widely publicized in the antislavery movement, and these fugitives appeared in public lectures in order to rally support to the Abolitionist cause. [8]

However, by the early 1850s, several waves of repression had left the committee disorganized. These included a string of crippling lawsuits against those who defied the Fugitive Slave Law, including participants in the Christiana Riot of 1851, wherein a slave-owner was shot and killed after attempting to capture a “fugitive.” A new organization was needed, so in 1852 William Still and other abolitionists established a new Vigilance Committee to fill the void left by the older, scattered one.[9]

Led by William Still, who had escaped from slavery as a child with his mother, the new Vigilance Committee was even more effective than its predecessor, assisting hundreds of fugitives every year in their quests for freedom. By the mid-1850s, Abolitionists had transformed Philadelphia into a crucial nerve center of the Underground Railroad, by then a massive network that spanned the U.S. and extended into Canada. The most prominent “conductors” of the Underground Railroad, people like Harriet Tubman and Thomas Garrett, directed hundreds of fugitives to the Vigilance Committee every year.[10]

Although the original Vigilance Committee was a clandestine organization, its reincarnation operated both publicly and in secret. Some of the members of the committee were lawyers who defended fugitives in the Pennsylvania courts, while others assisted fugitives using methods that were unequivocally prohibited by those same courts. Some even published their names and addresses in the Pennsylvania Freeman newspaper and in flyers so that fugitives could easily find them. In order to generate public support for their cause, they used the antislavery press and public lecture circuit to broadcast the success of their illegal activities—without revealing specific incriminating details and only after the fugitives were safe. Carefully documenting the daily operations of the committee, William Still wrote extensively about the hidden stories of slave resistance and the inner workings of their secret network. When he finally published The Underground Railroad Records in 1872, it would be the first historical account of the Underground Railroad. [11]

This delicate balance between secret operations and public activity was dramatically demonstrated in the summer of 1855, when William Still and others organized the escape of Jane Johnson and her children from their owner, John Wheeler, as they were en route to New York, docked in Philadelphia. During the escape, Passmore Williamson, one of the only white members of the Vigilance Committee, physically held back Wheeler, a well-known southern Congressman, while Still led Johnson and her children away to a nearby safe house. [12]

In the legal proceedings that ensued, a federal judge charged Williamson with riot, forcible abduction, and assault. The judge in the case rejected an affidavit from Johnson affirming that she had left on her own free will and that there had been no abduction, and Williamson spent 100 days in Moyamensing prison. The case became a national news story, as Abolitionists used the media to trumpet the success of the Johnson rescue, and to expose the southern slaveholders’ domination of the federal court system, which the Abolitionists called a “Slave Power Conspiracy.” Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and other abolitionist leaders visited Williamson during his confinement, and wrote admirably of his actions in the antislavery press.[13]

The Philadelphia immediatists were fully aware of their strategic role in the national struggle against slavery. At a mass meeting in Philadelphia in August 1860, leader of the immediatist wing, William Still, explained that because they were “in such close proximity to slavery” and their “movements and actions” were “daily watched” by pro-slavery forces, they could do, “by wise and determined effort, what the freed colored people of no other State could possibly do to weaken slavery.”[14] By openly defying the Fugitive Slave Law in a border city, the immediatists in Philadelphia exacerbated the growing conflict between the free states of the North and the slave states of the South to a degree that few other Abolitionists could.

Through ups and downs, for nearly three decades, the Vigilance Committee acted as the organizational nucleus of the Underground Railroad in Philadelphia, a city that was publicly very hostile to Abolitionism. Most white workers opposed Abolitionism on racist ideological grounds, while the merchant elites and early industrialists of the city had close economic ties to slaveholders in the South and throughout the Atlantic. There where numerous anti-black and anti-abolitionists riots throughout the 1830s and 1840s in Philadelphia.[15] Even though they were persecuted for their cause, by subverting the Fugitive Slave Law in this border city, the immediatists—a radical minority within a minority—antagonized the slaveholders and their allies—a much larger and well-established enemy.

As the overall antislavery movement continued to grow throughout the North, the southern slaveholders went on the defensive. With the John Brown insurrection in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859, and the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln, who campaigned against the expansion of slavery, the slaveholders in the South became more entrenched and alienated from the rest of the United States. In February 1861 the Lower South region of the U.S seceded, creating a separate country called the Confederate States of America, also known as the Confederacy. The U.S. national government, known as the Union, refused to recognize the Confederacy as a legal government. The Civil War officially began in April 1861, when Confederate soldiers attacked Fort Sumter, a Union fort in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. As the war took its course, Philadelphia Abolitionists, like Octavius Catto, shifted their strategy to radicalizing the Unionist cause from within. Catto and others organized the enlistment of black troops and advocating for a coordinated military assault on slavery in the South, for which they were strongly condemned by white Philadelphians.[16]

Before the war, and during its initial years, much of white Philadelphia was sympathetic to the Southern slaveholder’s grievances. But with the deepening of the conflict between North and South, most Philadelphians came to support the Union and the war against the Confederacy. A turning point came in 1863, when the city was threatened with Confederate occupation. Entrenchments were built and people fought to defend the city, defeating the Confederate Army at the Battle of Gettysburg.[17]

However, even with the shifting of opinion against the South, most white Philadelphians still believed that the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery. Many white Americans continued to believe that the Civil War was a “white man’s war” to preserve the Union and nothing more. Abolitionists and black Philadelphians continued to be the targets of mob violence, and some white Philadelphians even blamed the Abolitionists for the war.[18]

Having proclaimed the need to end slavery from the very beginning, Abolitionists identified the structural contradictions that tore the nation apart. But rather than wait for the gradual disintegration of slavery, the immediatists worked to hasten its destruction. In a society that was for the most part hostile to their cause, the immediatist wing of the abolitionist movement performed the historic duty of following through, with long-term consistency, those revolutionary tactics that alone could save the Union and drive the Civil War to a decisive conclusion. More and more slaves escaping from plantations, the enlistment of black troops into the Union army, the immediate emancipation of slaves throughout the South—these tactics were indeed the only ways out of the difficulties into which the Civil War had descended.

The Civil War had stemmed from a breakdown of a structural compromise that developed between two distinct modes of production—one based on northern industrial wage labor, and the other southern slave labor. The development of the antislavery movement over time made this “unholy alliance” impossible to maintain in the long run. In this, the Civil War confirmed the basic lesson of every revolution: either the revolutionary movement acts to accelerate strategic contradictions over time, breaking down all barriers to the attainment of its objectives, or it soon stagnates and is suppressed by repression and counter-revolution. This lesson stands the logic of gradualism on its head: revolution doesn’t advance with small increments, with legislative preconditions, but with prompt, uncompromising actions that destabilize the structural limits of the existing system.

The will for revolution can only be satisfied in this way—with strategic, revolutionary action. Yet the masses of people can only acquire and strengthen the will for revolution in the course of the day-to-day struggle against the existing class order—in other words, within the limits of the existing system. Thus, we run into a contradiction. On the one hand, we have the masses of people in their everyday struggles within a social system; on the other, we have the goal of immediate social revolution, located outside of the existing system. Such are the paradoxical terms of the historical dialectic through which any revolutionary movement makes its way. The immediatists overcame this contradiction by adapting themselves to the mass self-activity of the slaves, who in their day-to-day resistance to the slave system offered the abolitionists a means to realize their revolutionary objectives.

For over three decades, through ebbs and flows, victories and defeats, the immediatists consistently engaged with the everyday struggles of the slave class. They constructed multi-racial, multi-gender organizations that operated both legally and illegally, in order to help people emancipate themselves from slavery, to help them stay free, and to help them gain basic democratic rights. In doing so, they fostered the development of a revolutionary movement that precipitated the U.S. Civil War and culminated in one of the greatest social revolutions of world history—the emancipation and enfranchisement of million of slaves and workers in the South during the Reconstruction Era.

By the end of the Civil War, a once persecuted minority of fanatical Abolitionists were now national leaders. Today we see them as good-hearted activists, or even as moderates. But there should be no mistake about it—all Abolitionists were considered extremists. Few people believed that the slave system would fall. The Abolitionists certainly did not believe their revolutionary goal would one day become official government policy. In the end, the Abolitionists recognized the social and historical crisis in front of them, and the immediatists adapted to it better than any other Abolitionist tendency of their time.

 

“Lines,” Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Though her cheek was pale and anxious, 

    Yet, with look and brow sublime, 

By the pale and trembling Future 

    Stood the Crisis of our time. 

 

And from many a throbbing bosom 

    Came the words in fear and gloom, 

Tell us, Oh! thou coming Crisis, 

    What shall be our country’s doom? 

 

Shall the wings of dark destruction 

    Brood and hover o’er our land, 

Till we trace the steps of ruin 

    By their blight, from strand to strand?

Posters in South Philly

From Instagram

???? some wheatpasted posters spotted in South Philly

Support Philly Anti-Fascist Arrestees!

From Fundrazr

Five people were arrested by the Philadelphia Police Department today while acting against MAGA white supremacists in center city. It is still unclear what charges they will face, but they will need financial support both to get out and afterward.

All funds will go directly to bail and legal fees for arrestees. Any additional funds will go to the PHL Anti-Repression fund to support future arrests. Please help our friends taking action against white supremacy and fascism!

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