On September 6^th, Antifa Philadelphia held a small demonstration and March in the Tacony section of North Philly. The motivation and call can be read here.

When we arrived, we were greeted by some opposition. “Wait,” you say… “How could anyone oppose something called ‘The March Against Racists and Rapists?’”

Enter Keystone United, also known as the Keystone State “Skinheads.”

KSS was so terrified of this event that they called every person they could to get them to come back them up. All in all, they called out about 10-20 boneheads who proceeded to threaten and harass protestors as they arrived. They were joined by one family, who has produced to date at least 2 Neo-Nazi scum spawn, and the head of the Tacony town watch, who was mad about being trolled by an Antifa Philadelphia member online after calling on us to cancel our march in the name of “maintaining the peace.” A member who told him exactly how we feel about groups like his. He had also alerted the police and must have told him something pretty wild because they were out in force that day.

A few days ago, KSS released their take on the events on their blog. Typical for Fascists, it was laughably inaccurate.

First, they referenced an incident a week earlier when a 9 year old boy was grazed by a bullet at the same intersection, and criticized Antifascists for not being out there to protest against gun violence; members of a Neo-Nazi gang of assaulters, rapists and murderers.

The Nazis claimed that the only people at the march were a handful of Antifa Philadelphia members while they received community support from “many locals of every race and color.”

In sum, KSS’ report back was another example of KSS tying to paint adversaries as “outside agitators.”

Forgetting even for a moment that we don’t need anyone’s permission to protest against Nazis and Rapists, KSS is just lying.

Here is the entire opposition to the March Against Racists and Rapists, minus at most 1-3 people.

We know these faces. They came from Harrisburg. Scranton. Mechanicsburg. Altoona. New Jersey. KSS was so scared by this march they rang the alarm to their entire network of members and supporters. Those are the people who came out in Tacony against us to accuse us of being “outside agitators.”

This is what KSS means when it says “community.” It means their community of White Fascists. That’s who counts in their mind. The people that came out to support Antifa Philadelphia, the people who we spoke with while flyering that neighborhood during the lead up for the march who expressed sympathy for our goals, the people of color and GLBT and anti-racists could never be from “their” community.

Here are some of the Nazis who opposed Antifa Philadelphia and our supporters.

Our crowd was almost entirely Philadelphia residents, with the majority being from Tacony. And not only Philly residents, but ones willing to stand out in the pouring rain surrounded by police while Neo-Nazis snarled and screamed at them. And give it back to them. A crowd of people who feel that a situation where Klansman and Nazis are recruiting youth and assaulting women in the street is unacceptable. People interested in little things like freedom and equality. That’s a community. Not a bunch of guys on a phone tree who live hours away from you.

It was inevitable that KSS would try and claim this as a victory. We see it more as the beginning of the end for them in the last neighborhood in Philly they felt safe.

Antifa Philadelphia

P.S. – Daryle at OPP was in attendance and has his take as well.

Another Antifascist POW is due for release soon. Philly Antifa would like to encourage all our friends and supporters to donate as much as they can to help Cody.

According to their blog, KSS (now going by Keystone United after their embarrassing defeat at Leif Ericson Day) members were present at a recent rally against Russian intervention in Ukraine.

It is worth noting that the rally was not organized by Nazis and many of the speakers were Jewish.

http://articles.philly.com/2014-03-04/news/47863644_1_russian-troops-ukrainian-ukraine-president-viktor-yanukovych

KSS has attempted this type of infiltration in the past, attending anything remotely nationalistic or conservative and attempting to network and pose for pictures. While the organizers and most of the attendees were almost certainly unaware of the presence of KSS members and supporters in their midst, we do now call on them to make a definitive split between themselves and Keystone United/KSS.

If you spot members of KSS around the city at events like this, shows or even just on the street, e-mail us at Phillyantifascists@gmail.com.  Or you can tweet us here, maybe even with a picture of the bonehead if you want to really make us swoon. Just be safe, of course.

Taken from South Side Chicago ARA’s Blog:

It is with both great excitement and some sadness that we introduce TORCH, an anti-fa network. Out of the old Anti-Racist Action Network rises a new, militant anti-fascist network. This isn’t a fracture or schism coming from internal strife but the result of the realization that the blueprint laid out in a time before the internet no longer serves as a sufficient model for combating fascism. We acknowledge that many of our comrades have lost much, some their lives, under the banner of ARA. Their sacrifices will not be forgotten and their fight is still our fight. Because of changes in the current political climate as well as our own political development, our understanding of what fascism is and how it relates to other political entities such as the working class, capital, and the state has evolved. We wanted to build a new network that fit our needs and politics. One that is more relevant and appealing to a new generation of anti-fascists.

We are still on the prowl. We will still continue to expose, confront, and act. Fascist beware… we are TORCH.

TORCH Points of Unity:

1. We disrupt fascist and far right organizing and activity.

2. We don’t rely on the cops or courts to do our work for us. This doesn’t mean we never go to court, but the cops uphold white supremacy and the status quo. They attack us and everyone who resists oppression. We must rely on ourselves to protect ourselves and stop the fascists.

3. We oppose all forms of oppression and exploitation. We intend to do the hard work necessary to build a broad, strong movement of oppressed people centered on the working class against racism, sexism, nativism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia, and discrimination against the disabled, the oldest, the youngest, and the most oppressed people. We support abortion rights and reproductive freedom. We want a classless, free society. We intend to win!

4. We hold ourselves accountable personally and collectively to live up to our ideals and values.

5. We not only support each other within the network, but we also support people outside the network who we believe have similar aims or principles. An attack against one is an attack against all.

torchantifa.org

taken from One Peoples Project:

WILLIAMSPORT, PA – A neo-Nazi associate of the Keystone State “Skinheads” (KSS) that attended the last two annual events sponsored by the organization to observe Leif Erickson Day in Philadelphia is in jail after a weekend arrest on charges of assault and endangering the welfare of children.

According to reports, Patrick Rogers, 33 of Williamsport is being held in Lycoming County, Pa. Prison in lieu of the total amount of a $5000 bail, as opposed to the commonplace 10 percent, after police arrested him and charged him with one count each of simple assault and the endangerment charge. A detainer on a probation violation is keeping him incarcerated pending trial, however. He has two children with his live-in girlfriend Heidi McCarty, but neither the children or McCarty were harmed in the incident. At press time information surrounding the circumstances of the arrest were not available.

Rogers and McCarty both attended the “Leif Erickson Day Celebration” in 2012 and 2013 on what is referred to as Boathouse Row in Philadelphia. The annual event is sponsored by KSS and has brought out varied number of neo-Nazis as well as antifa opposing them. This year saw it’s largest event as 30 neo-Nazis from a number of different states came out with over 200 persons in opposition. Rogers regularly trolled the Facebook pages of those working to oppose them, often taunting them with racist remarks and threats. Despite this, he has attempted to downplay his racism as well.

“I’m not a fucking Nazi nor ever have been and focus on preserving my Ancestral Lineage, not whoop on someone!” He once wrote in a message to Daryle Lamont Jenkins of One People’s Project. “I’m a White Nationalist/Constitutionalist with the best interests of Europeans in mind along with upholding all Americans rights, not worry about any other race and their actions or progress. That’s for their leaders and community activists to bare the burden as do I for my own! I interact with all races and NEVER have I once did ill to anyone for that reason alone nor ever will! Rednecks in the fucking hills that cook meth around their children all day pisses me off just as much as gangsters from North Philly bringing in Heroin to Williamsport!”

Rogers has had several run-in with the law since 2002, when he was arrested for providing alcohol to minors. He also was arrested in 2010 on charges of assault, reckless endangerment and making terroristic threats.

Hey everyone,

We had a lot of fun today. We will have a full report back with more pictures coming, but for now we are going to let the faces of the Nazis that attempted to rally in Philly today speak for themselves.

Love,

Philly Antifa