Firsts and foremost I want to thank all of the truly amazing people that have showed me love and support, I am forever indebted to you. I was bonded out of Cook County Jail late last week and I am now back amongst my beloved community in Chicago. I am happy and on way to pick up where I left off. My heart was warmed by all the letters and messages of solidarity I received and it was very awesome to have communicated with people while in custody. I am excited to be able to start playing music and support my brother Jeremy. In regards to my arrest, I am being charged with allegedly being involved in the interruption of a white supremacist and Neo-Nazi gathering in Tinley Park in May, 2012. While I am bond, I will be able to better work on the defense of my case. So again, thank you all for the support for me and my brother in these times of struggle.
With love and rage,
Jason Hammond
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Glad to see you are out Jason. Good luck in your upcoming trial.
Two members of a New Jersey white supremacist gang — who attacked several men of Egyptian descent and then boasted about the assault on a social media website – were sentenced today after being found guilty on hate crime charges. Michal Gunar, 29, a member of the Aryan Terror Brigade, admitted to his role in the beating in April when he pleaded guilty to an indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit a hate crime assault, as well as the actual commission of a hate crime assault. In U.S. District court today, Judge Joel A. Pisano sentenced Gunar to 33 months in federal prison. Kyle Powell, 24, of West Collingswood, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit a hate crime assault. Judge Pisano sentenced Powell to 15 months. According to court documents, Gunar attended a New Year’s Eve “meet and greet” for white supremacists at the home of Christopher Ising, 31, in East Brunswick on Dec. 31, 2011. Pumped up on alcohol and white supremacist music, Gunar, Powell, Ising, and up to five others drove to a Sayreville apartment complex to “hunt down some sand n——,” Gunar later wrote. The skinheads found their prey in a parking lot. Ising, carrying brass knuckles, and Gunar, brandishing a knife, pulled a man identified as M.H. out of a car. When the victim’s friend, R.M., rushed to his aid, the skinheads attacked him while shouting anti-Arab slurs, prosecutors said. The white supremacists fled to Ising’s home after the beatings. Gunar posted a picture of a bloodied pair of pants to a social media site and, about a week later, he trumpeted his involvement with the beating on that same website, according to the indictment. ” …(W)e went to hunt down some sand n——, it was me and my other bro on like 6 or eight and we whooped them…” Gunar wrote. Ising, a purported member of a white supremacist group known as the “Atlantic City Skins,” pleaded guilty to hate crime charges and will be sentenced on Aug. 9.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/White_supremacists_sentenced_for_NJ_attacks.html#Gd5pfUYvKTZQp7se.99
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While we take some small pleasure in these boneheads being given some semblance of payback, this is not a victory for anti fascism. There are, however, several lessons to be gleaned from this case.
The first is that the state has no interest in stopping fascism. If jail sentences are to be indicative of the state’s sympathies, consider this: These two boneheads were given combined sentences of 39 Months (for FEDERAL hate crime charges), of which they will serve considerably less. Compare that with The Tinley Park Five: the two SHORTEST sentences given amount to 84 months (for STATE assault charges) for smashing fascism. The longest sentence given, to Jason Sutherland, is twice the combined sentence for both Nazis. That, along with the reality that serving state time is almost always shittier than serving federal time, and the intent of those in power to repress anti-fascism while coddling Neo-Nazis and far-right nationalists becomes clear.
The second lesson is just how dishonest and cowardly these boneheads really are. Upwards of 8 of them attacked two men without provocation for being Arab, and Gunar had the nerve to reverse the numbers and claim that he and his “bro” had beaten a larger group of men “6 or 8” men. Even their fellow racists must be disgusted by them. We certainly are.
We will continue to follow this story as it develops, including the sentencing of Ising.
27th of June 2013, arrest of Irina was prolonged until 2nd of October. She was arrested 2nd of July 2012, so now Irina has already spent more than one year in prison without a court! Arrest of Irina was prolonged due to dubious claims of her alleged “victims” that they still have not acquintanced themselves with the results of the investigation.
Irina is accused of having taken part to an armed assault against a Nazi concert in Moscow club “Barrikada” the day she was arrested. She has been charged with three felonies, including “hooliganism, committed by a group and with a preliminary intent” and “involving minors to a felony hate crime”, as one of the persons arrested with her was 17 years old at the moment of the arrest.
Irina was arrested just few days after her graduation from the Journalist Faculty of the Moscow State University. She needs a medical care for her hand, as she was stabbed by Nazis during a fight in 1st of May of 2011, but in remand prison she may not receive proper medical care.
During the remand court session of 27th of June, Irina was strong and showed that system is not about to crush her. She is also not in a need of material support. However moral support is necessary, full year of remand prison is hard for anyone and during the investigation she has been betrayed by some of her former comrades.
You may write to Irina to address
Irina Antonovna Lipskaya, k. 308
SIZO-6 “Pechatniki”
ul. Shosseynaya 92
109383 Moscow Russia
But note that letters in English are seldom accepted in Russian prisons, so if you do not have a chance to write in Russiam (f.e. by using simply phrases and translating them by google translation program), just send photos and postcards.
Dear friends, As you may have heard, a valued member of our community has been taken away from us. Jason Hammond was arrested July 11 for allegedly being involved in an altercation between an anti-racist group and white supremacists in Tinley Park, IL over a year ago.
We are asking for your support so Jason can have a fair chance to fight this case from outside prison. Jason is an active member of our community who is committed to helping people through music, teaching and social justice activism.He is currently being held at Cook County Jail with an unreasonably high bail of $100,000 cash. This means that 100% of the bail amount must be paid for Jason’s freedom.
Every donation counts! Small donations are currently being used for his commissary and legal fees. If you are considering pledging a large amount of money, you should know that this will be a loan and that it will be returned upon sentencing. Please forward this message widely and rapidly so that we can return Jason to his loved ones as soon as possible.
For Pledges Contact: jasonhammonddefensecommittee@gmail.com
-Jason Hammond Defense Committee
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On a personal note, we at Philly Antifa are saddened and outraged to hear about this ridiculous persecution of Jason. For us his “guilt” of being involved in shutting down a major meeting of individuals representing several Neo-Nazi organizations (which we doubt seriously) is not the issue. Maybe Jason is an innocent victim of targeting by law enforcement because of his and/or his brother’s activism. Maybe he is one of the courageous antifascists who stormed that restaurant. Either way he deserves our support.
The campaign against Boyd Rice continues. His show was cancelled in Cambridge after the venue owners found out about his fucked up behavior and leanings, and now NYC Antifa are fixing to shut down his show in Brooklyn.
Rape T-shirt and Swastika Pendant? Stay Classy, Boyd
UPDATED 6/27/2013: So according to South Side Chicago ARA, the show did eventually go on after the venue was evacuated for a period of time. We apologize for the inaccuracy of the original post, and were basing it off of a post on Chicago Indymedia.
As a side note, people who comment on these stories really should realize two things:
1) We live in Philly. This happened in Chicago. Do you really think we were claiming responsibility?
2) Comments are default disabled on posts. So when you post a comment and then check back 30 seconds later and don’t see it, it’s not censorship. It’s us not wanting to wade through the endless racist trolling that accompanies most of what we post. This is not a message board. Furthermore, when you comment “get a life” and then check back 30 seconds later… maybe it is you who needs to get a life.
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Apparently last night, while the Blackhawks were winning the Stanley Cup, some Chi-Town Antifascists took it upon themselves to attempt to shut down a show by Racist, Sexist, overall shitbag Boyd Rice in their town.
Click above link for more info on this and some background on just why so many people are opposed to Boyd Rice playing in their cities.
Rice is touring as NON in support of Cold Cave. They were originally booked to play Philly but after some complaints Rice was pulled from the show, and Cold Cave decided not to play in the city at all. We can live without them.
Philly.com is reporting that Honey’s Sit N Eat restaurant in Northern liberties has been vandalized with what includes a Swastika. The graffiti was sprayed sometime between Friday evening and Saturday morning.
It is unknown yet whether this was the work of someone trying to be shocking or a targeted attempt at intimidation. This comes a few weeks after some more explicitly Neo-Nazi graffiti was covered up by Antifa in Kensington and Port Richmond.
Neo-Nazi Graffiti Covered Up in Port RichmondIt originally read “Your Folk Need You” and included two life runes, which is a nordic symbol appropriated by Neo-Nazis.Now it reads “Antifa Philly” and has two sets of Antifascist Arrows
Antifascists recently covered up Neo-Nazi Graffiti that had appeared in the Port Richmond (above) and Kensington (below) neighborhoods in North Philly.
This originally read “National Socialist” and had a celtic cross, a celtic symbol appropriated by Neo-NazisIt Now Reads “Antifa Philly” and “Die Nazis” and has another set of Antifascist Arrows
The terminology and symbols being used indicate that this was not the act of random racists but active Neo-Nazis attempting to gain a presence in Philadelphia.
If you see racist/fascist graffiti in your neighborhood, feel free to send us an e-mail at Phillyantifascists@gmail.com. If you want to send us some pics of it covered up, even better.
Check out the NYC Antifa blog for ongoing updates about the upsurge in activity my the neo-fascist National Anarchist Tribal Alliance (NATA) and the response from real anarchists and Antifa there.
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Philly Antifa
Posted on
This is an excellent article about some of the realities of Anti-fascism in the United States. If you’ve ever had someone accuse you of being “the same” or “just as bad” as Nazis for your willingness to use violent tactics against them, have them read this article.
Kyle Powell (l) and Josh Steever (r) of Aryan Terror Brigade
Part One: Background
The past 6-8 weeks has seen an unusually large amount of police attention on White Power boneheads in the Garden State, and the boneheads are starting to ask questions as to why.
One People’s Project reports that Josh Steever (75A Kuhl Road, Flemington NJ) and Kyle Powell, the numbers one and two in Aryan Terror Brigade (ATB) are both facing legal troubles. Steever is (or was) being held in Middlesex County jail on charge of terroristic threats (more on that later). Powell has already plead guilty to his role in a hate crime committed on New Year’s eve 2011 in New Jersey that may spell the end of ATB, who may also be trying to take another older, more established NJ bonehead crew with them.
It is not known when exactly Powell was arrested for his role in the attack, but the fact that he has already pled guilty makes it very likely that he was arrested before any of the other boneheads discussed in this article.
Then, in mid-December, a member of the Atlantic City Skins (AC Skins) Chris Ising and a member of ATB Michael Gunar were arrested on federal hate crimes charges stemming from their alleged involvement in the same attack that Powell just pled guilty to.
Chris Ising, member of ACS
According to the cops, all of these boys were in attendance at a “White Power Meet-and-Greet” held at Ising’s former home in East Brunswick. Following the event, several boneheads went out and randomly attacked a group of residents of a nearby housing development for being Arab, injuring them.
Unfortunately, these sorts of attacks are commonplace when boneheads congregate together and present a sobering reminder as to why ALL attempts to organize by Neo-Nazi and far-right groups need to be opposed, even their “social events.”
The police have not released any information as to how they ascertained who was involved in the attack, which again had occurred almost a year earlier. Another interesting thing to note is that this event shows a relationship between ACS and ATB has been developing for some time. It is unknown whether or not Josh Steever was in attendance at the meet-and-greet or the attack afterwards.
As a side note, during this period two other boneheads from ACS were arrested for Domestic Violence and Assault charges, as of now there seems to be no connection the arrests of Gunar, Ising and Powell.
Part Two: Fallout
Gunar and Ising (who has a long criminal record) remain under indictment. Powell is out of jail pending sentencing, with a maximum possible sentence of 5 years.
Since the arrests of Steevers, Powell, Gunar and Ising, some of the (relatively) smarter boneheads in NJ have begun questioning who can be trusted in ATB.
A commenter on the One People’s Project article about Steever and Powell’s arrests claiming to be “Josh Long” of ATB alleges that Steever snitched on Powell, Ising and Gunar and claims that he is no longer a member of ATB, the group he founded.
While this is hardly proof-positive of Steever (and Powell) being a snitch, it does fit in with what Antifa in NJ and Philly have been suspecting ever since Josh Steever returned to NJ: that he is a police informant, and that Aryan Terror Brigade might have been created with the express purpose of attracting some of the more reckless and unstable elements of the White Power scene in the US.
Part Three: Filling in the Blanks
So what has led us to believe that Steever was a snitch since day one of ATB? The answer goes back several years.
Josh Steever is originally from the New Jersey, but first drew attention in Texas in 2005 for attacking someone with an axe handle, earning the nickname “Hatchet.” Steever managed to plead down from Felony to misdemeanor assault.
In 2008 Steever was arrested again, this time in California. According to the Anti-Defamation League, Steever “as arrested on June 12, 2006, four days after he accompanied his girlfriend to Newark Memorial High School to pick up her yearbook. At that time, Steever allegedly made racial slurs at two African American students waiting in line for their yearbooks and then pulled out a pocket knife and threatened to stab them…”
Despite being charged with several Felonies and hate crime enhancements, Steever suspiciously served only a year in California. This led to the first allegations that Steever had informed to the police in exchange for a reduced sentence and/or an early release. Allegations coming from fellow Neo-Nazis like this stormfront poster going by the name “SWAWILL.” SWA, or Supreme White Alliance, is a Neo-Nazi group that Steever was once an associate of:
When Steever got out of jail in California he returned to NJ where he reportedly must remain as a condition of his parole. Upon his return Steever started ATB, which has been almost universally dismissed as too juvenile/shocking by other Neo-Nazis to develop public relationships with. Steever did develop a knack for attracting young internet boneheads with outlandish rhetoric and a reputation for being unapologetically unreasonable about his bigotry. Around this time Steever also became associated with Blood and Honor USA, one of two competing Neo-Nazi groups of the same name.
In addition to the situation on New Jersey, many of you may recall the recent arrest of the entirety of Florida American Front following a police informant being “patched into” their group. Coincidentally (?) one of the people arrested was Ken McClellan, who was pled a federal weapons charge down to PROBATION, despite being an ex-convict.
According to Josh Steever himself, Ken McClellan is (or was) a member of Aryan Terror Brigade before and during the arrests.
It seems that wherever Aryan Terror Brigade is found, the police are not far behind.
Police informants and undercover agents are no new phenomenon in Neo-Nazi/Far Right circles. Powerhouses in their movement such as The Order, the World Church of the Creator and the certain incarnations of the KKK have been destroyed by state infiltration and snitches.
Compared to two recent cases in New Jersey and Illinois involving Antifascists, the Pemberton 2 and the Tinley Park 5. In both cases those arrested represented a small portion of those involved in the “crimes” they were charged with. In both cases, but especially for the TP5, giving up their comrades would have certainly meant lenient treatment, if not immunity from charge altogether. But unlike the boneheads, in both cases not a single Antifascist would give up their accomplices.
Right now the Tinley Park 5 sit in prison on trumped-up charges because they were unwilling to sacrifice fellow Antifascists to save themselves, and all evidence indicates that members of Aryan Terror Brigade and the Atlantic City Skins sit in prison because their “white brothers” did just that.
Coming hot off the heels of the arrest of Atlantic City “Skinheads” (ACS) member Chris Ising and Aryan Terror Brigade member Michael Gunar for hate crimes charges, 2 more members of ACS are facing criminal charges.
On Jan. 13, James McBride, 33 of Atlantic City was arrested by police in Egg Harbor Township, NJ and charged with aggravated assault for allegedly assaulting a 22-year-old Mays Landing man at the Library Pub at McCollough’s Emerald Links Golf Course. The victim, according to news reports had injuries to his head and face, and was treated at Shore Medical Center in Somers Point, NJ. Mc Bride is currently being held at Atlantic County jail in lieu of 25,000 bail.
On Jan. 11, ACS member Owen Carr was also arrested on a domestic violence incident reportedly involving the mother of his children. Charged with simple assault and released within hours, he is reportedly scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 17.”
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ACS continues to set the bar for Asinine Dumbfuckery and general shitty personhood, abusing their partners and randomly assaulting kids ten years younger than them.
If any has any info on these scumbags feel free to leave it as a comment we won’t post it publicly.
The untimely death of a California Neo-Nazi, who is best known out here by her association with New Jersey Nazi and former National Socialist Movement Chief of Staff Jason Heicke, is creating further rifts in their movement.
One People’s Project reports that Keelan Doyle, who hosted an internet radio show with several other Neo-Nazis and participated in the National Socialist Movement along with Heicke, died of complications from Pneumonia on October 15th. Click on the link for the full story regarding conflicts between Doyle’s brother and Heicke related to the circumstances of her death.
Heicke organized the NSM’s national conference in New Jersey in 2011, but it was smashed by members of Anti-Racist Action and some unaffiliated Antifa, and he left the organization along with Doyle shortly after. Recently they had been attempting to start a new group called “Advanced White Society.”
