The Violent Clashes In Berkeley Weren't 'Pro-Trump' Versus 'Anti-Trump' By Natasha Lennard Apr 16, 2017 3.6k Militias, alt-right, nazis etc won today in Berkeley. They outnumbered the opposition, pushed it back, and held downtown. Today's America. pic.twitter.com/0l0lcOn822
— Shane Bauer (@shane_bauer) April 15, 2017
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The Proud Boys, an alt-right subset boasting a philosophy of "Western Chauvinism," handed out recruitment fliers and posed for pictures with members and leaders from the white supremacist group Identity Evropa, which preaches that America belongs to the white race.
The group's leader, Nathan Damigo, who was convicted in 2007 for pointing a gun at and and robbing a Muslim cab driver he believed to be Iraqi, made his presence known on Saturday. He was caught on video sucker punching a small, female-presenting anti-fascist protester in the face. Damigo has stated that, "black people are inferior to whites, genetically."
"The far right is holding it down in Berkeley right now," tweeted Mother Jones reporter Shane Bauer, who was at the scene, posting an image of demonstrators swaddled in Trumpist, patriotic and explicitly far right symbolism. "Hail Victory!" tweeted neo-Nazi Richard Spencer in response.
Bauer also noted that a number of Trump supporters expressed discomfort at their co-protesters' racist and anti-semitic views and demonstrations. But it was not for these more moderate Trump supporters that the anti-fascist and anarchist groups came. As was the case in two previous instances in Berkeley since Trump's inauguration, anti-fascists were responding specifically to the presence of white nationalists and neo-Nazis. First, militant protests shut down a talk planned by far right troll Milo Yiannopolous, and then anti-fascists disrupted a March 4 rally organized by the alt-right Proud Boys.
In advance of the "Patriots Day" demonstration, anti-fascist news and watchdog site It's Going Down published a story detailing the connections between the organizers of Saturday's rally and the right's racist (not-so-)fringe. A group going by the name Liberty Revival Alliance called for the event in a YouTube video, and chose the venue—MLK Civic Center Park (of all places to beckon the far right). The group claimed to be non-violent but prepared to "defend" patriots. In a promotional flier, the group named a series of planned speakers, most of whom, according to research firm It's Going Down have strong alt-right affiliations and have espoused white nationalist views.
Brittany Pettibone, for example, is a contributor to AltRight.com, a white nationalist hub. Another, Tim Treadstone, who goes by the pseudonym Baked Alaska, once tweeted "Me: Upon research, I noticed Jewish people run 95% of American media that is very interesting; Internet: Why do you want to gas the Jews?" and has even been deemed too much of an explicit neo-Nazi for far right conspiracist Mike Cernovich. The white nationalist figure known as Based Stick Man, real name Kyle Chapman, was arrested at the event. It's Going Down noted that Identity Evropa and the Proud Boys were planning to join the rally.
It's Going Down, a relied-upon source for anti-fascists around the country, warned that the event—which was not the first and will not be the last iteration of such tensions—would be a "crucible for a new fascist movement" hidden in the "smokescreen" of a diverse Trump support base. The issue is not whether the rally crowd also drew Trump supporters of color, or many Trump fans who claim to despise white nationalism. A media narrative that overlooks significant white supremacist presence de facto demonizes the counter-protesters who came to confront it.
