About

Fascism is a belief system that can be described by a set of traits - it doesn't have to have everything on the list, and in fact most versions in the world won't have everything on the list. We would say most versions will be Ultranationalist, Authoritarian, and Xenophobic. We can can also say for sure that the danger that fascist organizing poses is real and immediate because violence is essential to achieve their goals.

Fascism can be hard to define because every fascist movement is different, and the ideology itself contains many contradictory ideas. The term has also come to be used to label any idea that is authoritarian, right-wing, or even just disliked. This poses a problem for us because we think it is important to describe each movement accurately. To that end, we use a definition of fascism that is based on a cluster of traits. While each movement may not contain all these traits, we call it 'fascist' if it has a majority of these characteristics:

• Ultra-nationalism, which defines the "nation" around a shared racial, ethnic, cultural, or historical identity. This excludes some members of society, and people are expected to place their allegience to the "nation" over all other identities.
• Belief in, and a desire to return to, a past utopian vision of society. This may or may not have existed historically, and they believe it has been lost due to "corruption" or "degeneracy".
• Scapegoating of marginalized/oppressed groups, who are blamed for causing society's problems and preventing a return to this ultra-nationalist utopia.
• Advocating for, or enacting, the removal of these scapegoated groups, including by violence, genocide, and/or ethnic cleansing.
• White supremacy and belief in racist, patriarchal hierarchies that place the nation over other groups, men above women, straight people over gay people, etc.
• Authoritarianism, often centered around a single, charismatic leader.
• Antisemitism. Antisemitism is central to many fascist ideologies, and this conspiritorial thinking about Jewish people provides the corner stone that supports many other racist ideas.
• Anti-communist, anti-liberal, and anti-conservative rhetoric.
• Opposition to Unions and other Organized Labor groups.
• Aspiring to the complete militarization of society. This includes Paramilitary organizing and vigilantism.
• Anti-elitist, populist rhetoric to appeal to the “common man,” coupled with internal elitism and willingness to accept support from existing elites.
• Fascism posits itself as both a revolutionary and traditionalist politic.

The broadest answer to this is that antifascism is any activity that is intended to oppose and/or disrupt fascist organizing. This can range from the "everyday antifascist" who participates in call-in campaigns, sends in tips and helps build an antifascist culture that is resistant to fascism, or militant antifascists like Rose City Antifa who work to ensure that there are consequences for fascists who spread their hate and violence in our city.

There are a number of reasons, but the most important to highlight is that fascists will use any opportunity they can to recruit and indoctrinate new people into their ideologies. Over our 13 years of organizing we've found that the most effective way to prevent the indoctrination of new fascists is to confront fascist organizing at every opportunity. Militant opposition to fascism creates the social consequences that make becoming a fascist in the first place a lot less appealing.

The ultimate goal of our organizing is to create a world without fascism and one where fascist ideology is completely intolerable.

Black bloc is a tactic where large groups of people wear all black to conceal their features. This helps us stay anonymous, reduce the risk of state repression, and demonstrate group solidarity. You can read more about black bloc here: https://crimethinc.com/2003/11/20/blocs-black-and-otherwise

Antifascists that do this work regularly are likely to be targeted by both the far-right and the state. Taking measures like wearing masks provides anonymity that helps us stay safe from state repression and violence.

Also, it’s very easy for movements to be reduced to the actions of a single individual. By staying anonymous, we act as a collective, and demonstrate that we are acting in unity and uninterested in gaining social capital from our work as antifascists.

Doxxing is the practice of tying a person's private and, in the case of the people we track, hateful persona to their public identity. Generally when we publish information about someone we focus on making it clear that the individual in question both: possesses ideological beliefs that makes them dangerous to those around them; and associates with other people or organizations on the far-right that we know to pose a threat to the safety of our community. We typically couple this with information about where the person lives, works and spends time.

We've found the tactic of doxxing to be an effective tool for alerting our community to the presence of dangerous individuals. Members of the far-right often know their violent beliefs are not palatable to those around them and will go to great lengths to keep those beliefs a secret. It's only when their privately held hate is made public that they face repercussions. As it turns out, a lot of people don't want to work with or live near a nazi. Go figure!

The state upholds white supremacy at every level of government and the police frequently work with far-right aggressors to brutalize people opposing state oppression and violence. We cannot count on state actors to push forward the cause of justice, equity, and community safety. It's up to us to keep us safe.

We appreciate and value our community and couldn't do this without your support. You can send us tips if you see anything, share our social media posts and articles, attend events and rallies, and participate in call-in campaigns. We are a group closed to members only, but if you are interested in joining please send us an email with a little bit of information about you and what makes you interested in joining. At this time we don't have an online store or any way to accept donations.

The best way to contact us is through our email but we also have Facebook, Twitter, Mastodon and a voicemail number. All of our contact information can be found at the bottom of this page.

Our best tips include as much of the following as possible:

• A picture if you have one (please be safe!)
• The date and time the subject matter was seen
• Exact location if possible (address, cross streets, and/or nearby landmarks)
• If reporting a car: color, type of car, make, model, license plate number, notable features like bumper stickers, etc.
• Physical descriptions of persons involved, if relevant (height, build, hair/eye/skin color, hair length, tattoos/piercings/notable physical features, clothing, etc.)
• Any other information you think might be useful!