Staff at Portland’s Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) office Thursday were greeted with an unusual message spray-painted across their East Burnside headquarters: SMASH COMMUNISM. The phrase “ANTIFA HOUSE” marked another outer wall of the house, just underneath a freshly-smashed window.
While IWW spokesperson Jonathan Steiner was surprised to see the vandalism, it wasn’t difficult to guess who might be responsible.
“It seems to be from the same group of people who’ve been trying to interrupt our meetings,” Steiner said.
Last Thursday, members of Vancouver’s right-wing extremist group, Patriot Prayer, attempted to crash a meeting being held in the IWW building by the Portland chapter of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). According to DSA members in attendance, the visitors were told to leave. And, for the most part, they did.
A few in the Patriot Prayer group live-streamed the unwelcome visit via Facebook, broadcasting the IWW address in the process. This likely caught the attention of Portlanders who strongly oppose Patriot Prayer’s alt-right ideals. As members of Patriot Prayer walked back to their cars, a masked group allegedly attacked the out-of-towners, sending two of them to the hospital. Detectives with the Portland Police Bureau are still investigating the brawl.
Patriot Prayer has accused IWW and DSA for the attack, which both organizations say they had nothing to do with. On Saturday, Patriot Prayer staged a rally in front of the IWW building, during which members yelled anti-Muslim sentiments through a loudspeaker and mobbed a pair of people filming the spectacle from across the street.
Steiner said it’s not hard to assume the same group of people were behind Thursday’s vandalism.
“It’s concerning,” they said. “But in all honesty, we’re not going to let that deter us.”
Since the overnight attack, neighbors and other community members have been sending flowers, snacks, and words of support to IWW. Ironically, Steiner said, the incident has only reflected the strength of their safety net. The group has already collected over $1,000 in supplies to repair the window and cover up the graffiti.
“All this has done has made us more embedded in the community,” Steiner said. “[Patriot Prayer] wanted a confrontation, they wanted a way to have a really aggressive encounter, and we’re not going to give them that.”
Patriot Prayer, meanwhile, is blaming the vandalism on members of Antifa.
PP just isn’t terribly bright. Their leader has been trying to sell his house for months now, and that information is out there. Fortunately, the IWW and DSA want no part of PP’s violence, but that guy is opening himself up to some fairly simple retaliation that’s going to endanger people who have nothing to do with PP activities.
And they hit Cider Riot, too?! Really, Joey?
I’m surprised this isn’t swamped with comments from these people claiming “Antifa” or “People of Color” had done this. The Oregonion comments section looks like a runoff of Stormfront only missing people blaming “ZOG” or for their issues.
I’m curious as to where the hell the police are with this. An armed group, espousing violence, comes into the city again and again, intimidates, harasses, and threatens members of our community here and suffer zero repurcusions legally. A female friend of mine who weighs about eighty pounds was threatened by a two hundred pound redneck on their last “March?” through the eastside.
Sure, they are gullible fools but it seems like people in power are only going to take notice when they kill someone which will happen at some point as their boldness escalates. Maybe Gibson wants to be this unemployed loser Gibson is dumber than anyone thinks and fancies himself the next Metzger. More likely, like his followers, he is illiterate, shit-stupid, and thinks he can get away with this because, well, he has been allowed to.
Time will tell, but when this ends, it won’t end with a whimper, but, most likely a vicious crime and the city will have to account why they did nothing again (thirty years after Mulugata Seraw’s murder) about pseudo nazi bullies running rampant in our city. That story was shocking then, for most people ignorant of hat was happening on the streets, and the city thinks it’s somehow digressed since then…
Thank you for not linking to Patriot Prayer or the Proud Boys.
When are the Portland Police going to issue warrants and go after these fucks? It looks an awful lot like maybe we need to see if some of the Portland Police are actually in collusion. Time for an Independent investigation.