“Antifa” is short for “anti-fascist.” So what are you: anti-fascist or pro-fascist? I assume it’s the former. And yet too many Portlanders are buying into the narrative of the GOP, cops, and select media that antifa is just as bad (if not worse) than extreme right-wing, homophobic, and racist groups—such as Vancouver’s Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys—who regularly visit our city to stir up shit.
Hundreds—let me repeat that—HUNDREDS of morally righteous Portlanders regularly form protests to show their distaste for an extremely small group of sad, pro-fascist right-wingers. And it’s good they do: Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys want to cause fear and unease among queers, POC, and women so they can desperately cling to a dying system of white toxic masculinity and patriarchy. Portlanders should be protesting, to let the intended victims of these bigots know that we severely outnumber these Patriot Prayer losers and will eventually prevail.
These hundreds of protesters—and presumably you (there in spirit, if nothing else)—are antifa. And yet antifa’s message has been hijacked by the GOP, local and national media, certain members of city government, and the Portland Police. Instead of trumpeting your message of righteous resistance, they focus with laser-beam accuracy on a handful of toxic dudes (seriously, maybe 20 people tops) who wrongly choose violence and inadvertently put the people they want to protect in danger.
