Union militants denounce misogynist provocation in Portland

On Saturday November 17, a contingent of Ironworkers and other union members joined in protests against a fascist rally that targeted women who dare to speak up against sexist harassment and abuse. The heavy police presence deployed by Portland’s Democratic Party government menaced anti-sexist protesters, arresting half a dozen and shoving us off city sidewalks with riot clubs and an arsenal of lethal weapons, protecting the small band of fascists. CSWP fights in the unions to break with the bosses’ Democratic Party, and for union-based workers defense guards to lead mass worker/black/immigrant mobilization to sweep the fascist scum off the streets. We distributed the following leaflet.

 

PDX #HimToo Nov. 17 Event Is a Fascist Provocation

Mobilize the Power of Labor to Defend Women’s Rights!

On November 17th, a group calling itself #HimToo wants to use Portland as a platform to intimidate and harass women. Make no mistake: the sponsors’ talk of “men’s rights” and a “war on men” is in fact a battle cry for an attack on women by ultra-rightist, racist and outright fascist forces. Class Struggle Workers – Portland calls on labor and all defenders of democratic, union, immigrants’ and women’s rights to mobilize against this dangerous provocation.

The public face of this bogus “movement” is one Haley Adams, who is a YouTube figurehead for Joey Gibson’s fascistic “Patriot Prayer” outfit. She has been a constant presence at its rallies since it came on the scene in Portland on 29 April 2017. That same event was attended by Jeremy Christian, the Nazi who only a few weeks later murdered two men and nearly killed a third who came to the aid of two young Muslim women he was haranguing on a MAX train. These people are dangerous.

Adams was described just as a “Portland resident” in an article on #HimToo by National Public Radio, which has more than once given fascists a platform for their racist filth. In fact, she is a hard-core racist who put up a video of herself firing an automatic rifle to celebrate “white pride month.” Two weeks later she marched on June 30 with neo-Nazis while wearing a helmet with the slogan “It’s okay to be white.” The co-leader of the November 17 #HimToo event is Quincy Lee Franklin, a disciple of the white supremacist “Hell Shaking Street Preachers.” At a January 2018 march in Seattle he was spewing violent misogyny, yelling that “some women deserve rape.”

The #HimToo hashtag spread on the Internet around the Senate hearings on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. It was claimed that this all-round reactionary was supposedly the “victim” of #MeToo feminists, yet Kavanaugh’s record shows him to be a virulent anti-immigrant, anti-labor, anti-abortion bigot and sexist pig. The real aim of the #HimToo hatefest not to counter false accusations of sexual abuse, but to put women back “in their place.” Several Patriot Prayer thugs and their local Proud Boy allies have been charged with domestic violence, cyberstalking and assault against women.

Contrary to its lying propaganda, #HimToo crew is not defending free speech, due process or those unfairly accused. They are provocateurs who pose a clear and present danger to the rights of women, and a physical threat to all defenders of the oppressed. Class Struggle Workers – Portland calls to fight sexism and defend the rights of women. CSWP has mobilized labor defense of abortion rights and opposes discrimination against gays, lesbians or anyone on the basis of their sexuality. Today we call to bring out the power of labor to stop this woman-hating mob and defend women’s rights!

Union workers protest against fascist, anti-women #HimToo rally in Portland, 17 November 2018
Union workers protest against fascist, anti-women #HimToo rally in Portland, 17 November 2018
Union workers protest against fascist, anti-women #HimToo rally in Portland, 17 November 2018
Union workers protest against fascist, anti-women #HimToo rally in Portland, 17 November 2018

Los Angeles: Transport Workers Against Deportations

Contingent of "Transport Workers Against Deportations" at January 13 protest in Los Angeles against end of TPS (Temporary Protected Status) for 200,000 Salvadorans and threat of deportation against them Contingente de "Trabajadores del Transporte Contra las Deportaciones" en la manifestación del 13 de enero en Los Angeles contra la amenza de deportación de 200.000 salvadoreños tras el fin de su "estatus de protección temporal".
Contingent of “Transport Workers Against Deportations” at January 13 protest in Los Angeles against end of TPS (Temporary Protected Status) for 200,000 Salvadorans and threat of deportation against them. Contingente de “Trabajadores del Transporte Contra las Deportaciones” en la manifestación del 13 de enero en Los Angeles contra la amenza de deportación de 200.000 salvadoreños tras el fin de su “estatus de protección temporal”.
Contingent of "Transport Workers Against Deportations" at January 13 protest in Los Angeles against end of TPS (Temporary Protected Status) for 200,000 Salvadorans and threat of deportation against them Contingente de "Trabajadores del Transporte Contra las Deportaciones" en la manifestación del 13 de enero en Los Angeles contra la amenza de deportación de 200.000 salvadoreños tras el fin de su "estatus de protección temporal".
Contingent of “Transport Workers Against Deportations” at January 13 protest in Los Angeles against end of TPS (Temporary Protected Status) for 200,000 Salvadorans and threat of deportation against them. Contingente de “Trabajadores del Transporte Contra las Deportaciones” en la manifestación del 13 de enero en Los Angeles contra la amenza de deportación de 200.000 salvadoreños tras el fin de su “estatus de protección temporal”.

June 4: Portland Labor Mobilizes to Stop Fascist Provocation

The Internationalist website published a report on the June 4 Portland Labor Against the Fascists mobilization. Read the article here.

The June 4 rally of white-supremacist and outright fascist Trump supporters in Portland, OR was protected by triple lines of heavily armed police. However, it was surrounded by far greater numbers of furious protesters outraged by this brazen provocation barely a week after the double murder by a local Nazi. One of three protests, a mobilization called by Portland Labor Against the Fascists, brought out several hundred union members and supporters, including members of at least 14 area unions.  The labor mobilization stood its ground to the very end, with non-stop chants and speeches that reverberated throughout the area for over six hours until the last of the racist and fascist scum exited on buses protected by the police. This marks the first significant working-class action in the U.S. against white supremacists in decades. June 4 points to the potential for organizing workers defense guards that could send the fascist vermin scurrying back into their holes. It was an important first step in bringing out the power of the labor movement in defense of working people, immigrants, Muslims and all those targeted by the all-round reactionary offensive coming out of Washington. And it sharply posed the need for a workers party fighting to overthrow the capitalist system that breeds fascism, and to replace it with the liberating rule of the working class.

4 de junio: ¡Fuera fascistas de Portland!

English version here.

Sindicalistas y defensores de los derechos de los inmigrantes dicen 4 de junio: ¡Fuera fascistas de Portland! Después de las elecciones de noviembre pasado, los ataques racistas aumentaron enormemente. La lista de los que son blancos de ataques de los racistas incluye a inmigrantes, musulmanes y judíos, afroamericanos, latinoamericanos, lo mismo que a los defensores de los derechos la mujer, los gays y las lesbianas. Muchos de los ataques han sido encabezados por grupos de choque fascistas como el Ku Klux Klan y por bandas de supremacistas blancos de la “derecha alternativa” [alt-right]. A principios del mes, cientos de elementos de esta calaña realizaron un mitin frente a un monumento en Charlottesville, estado de Virginia homenajeando los estados “confederados”, defensores de la esclavitud, que fueron derrotados en la Guerra Civil norteamericana. Luego marcharon con antorchas a la manera de los nazis alemanes. Para el 10 de junio, los fascistas han anunciado que realizarán acciones ominosas contra los musulmanes en una veintena de ciudades alrededor del país. Ahora, algunas de estas bandas amenazan con montar una provocación racista en el centro de Portland, el domingo, 4 de junio. Fingen defender la libertad de expresión. ¡Mentira! Estos abusivos y asesinos racistas buscan aterrorizar a la población agrediendo a los más vulnerables. Cuando el grupo Patriot Prayer (rezo patriótico) y otros se presentaron en Portland el 29 de abril, lo hicieron blandiendo bates de béisbol y palos, mientras portaban cascos y alardeaban con la bandera de los esclavistas y de los terroristas del KKK. Ahora, un tal “Based Stickman”, así tildado por su afán de golpear salvajemente a palos a manifestantes, también va a presentarse en Portland. El veneno racista que estos desgraciados escupen desemboca en linchamientos. Hay que pararlos. Los fascistas son enemigos mortales de la clase obrera. Aplastarían a los sindicatos para imponer una dictadura ilimitada de los patrones. Por eso, sindicatos locales de Portland y de la región noroeste de Estados Unidos han decidido usar su poder para pararlos. El Local 10 del IUPAT (pintores), el Local 28 del IATSE (tramoyistas), el Local 1503 de los Carpinteros, el Local 483 de los Laborers, los docentes universitarios del Local 3544 de la AFT, el IWW de Seattle, los Roofers (techadores) de Los Angeles, junto con el Consejo Regional de Carpinteros del Noroeste y la AFT Oregon (sección estatal del sindicato magisterial) aprobaron en resoluciones su disposición a “unirse a la comunidad sindical y de lucha por la justicia social para movilizarse en contra del peligro que las provocaciones del KKK y otras organizaciones racistas y fascistas representan para todos nosotros.” Ya es hora de pasar de las palabras a la acción. Portland es de los trabajadores de todas las etnias y nacionalidades. Somos numerosos y tenemos el poder social que puede parar en seco a los racistas y fascistas. Actuemos antes de que sea demasiado tarde. ¡Todos y todas a la calle el 4 de junio! Domingo 4 de junio, 12:30 p.m. en punto Terry Schrunk Plaza SW 3rd Ave. y SW Madison St. Movilización para parar a los fascistas ¡Su provocación racista es una amenaza para todos nosotros! Sindicalistas de Portland Contra los Fascistas pdxlaboragainstfascists@gmail.com (503) 683-1894
Haz clic aquí para descargar en formato PDF.

Sindicalistas y defensores de los derechos de los inmigrantes dicen

4 de junio: ¡Fuera fascistas de Portland!

Después de las elecciones de noviembre pasado, los ataques racistas aumentaron enormemente. La lista de los que son blancos de ataques de los racistas incluye a inmigrantes, musulmanes y judíos, afroamericanos, latinoamericanos, lo mismo que a los defensores de los derechos la mujer, los gays y las lesbianas. Muchos de los ataques han sido encabezados por grupos de choque fascistas como el Ku Klux Klan y por bandas de supremacistas blancos de la “derecha alternativa” [alt-right]. A principios del mes, cientos de elementos de esta calaña realizaron un mitin frente a un monumento en Charlottesville, estado de Virginia homenajeando los estados “confederados”, defensores de la esclavitud, que fueron derrotados en la Guerra Civil norteamericana. Luego marcharon con antorchas a la manera de los nazis alemanes. Para el 10 de junio, los fascistas han anunciado que realizarán acciones ominosas contra los musulmanes en una veintena de ciudades alrededor del país.

Ahora, algunas de estas bandas amenazan con montar una provocación racista en el centro de Portland, el domingo, 4 de junio. Fingen defender la libertad de expresión. ¡Mentira! Estos abusivos y asesinos racistas buscan aterrorizar a la población agrediendo a los más vulnerables. Cuando el grupo Patriot Prayer (rezo patriótico) y otros se presentaron en Portland el 29 de abril, lo hicieron blandiendo bates de béisbol y palos, mientras portaban cascos y alardeaban con la bandera de los esclavistas y de los terroristas del KKK. Ahora, un tal “Based Stickman”, así tildado por su afán de golpear salvajemente a palos a manifestantes, también va a presentarse en Portland. El veneno racista que estos desgraciados escupen desemboca en linchamientos. Hay que pararlos.

Los fascistas son enemigos mortales de la clase obrera. Aplastarían a los sindicatos para imponer una dictadura ilimitada de los patrones. Por eso, sindicatos locales de Portland y de la región noroeste de Estados Unidos han decidido usar su poder para pararlos. El Local 10 del IUPAT (pintores), el Local 28 del IATSE (tramoyistas), el Local 1503 de los Carpinteros, el Local 483 de los Laborers, los docentes universitarios del Local 3544 de la AFT, el IWW de Seattle, los Roofers (techadores) de Los Angeles, junto con el Consejo Regional de Carpinteros del Noroeste y la AFT Oregon (sección estatal del sindicato magisterial) aprobaron en resoluciones su disposición a “unirse a la comunidad sindical y de lucha por la justicia social para movilizarse en contra del peligro que las provocaciones del KKK y otras organizaciones racistas y fascistas representan para todos nosotros.”

Ya es hora de pasar de las palabras a la acción. Portland es de los trabajadores de todas las etnias y nacionalidades. Somos numerosos y tenemos el poder social que puede parar en seco a los racistas y fascistas. Actuemos antes de que sea demasiado tarde. ¡Todos y todas a la calle el 4 de junio!

Domingo 4 de junio, 12:30 p.m. en punto
Terry Schrunk Plaza
SW 3rd Ave. y SW Madison St.

Movilización para parar a los fascistas
¡Su provocación racista es una amenaza para todos nosotros!

Sindicalistas de Portland Contra los Fascistas
pdxlaboragainstfascists@gmail.com (503) 683-1894

página de Facebook

Hideous Double Murder by Muslim-Hating Nazi: All Out on June 4!

en español aquí

Mobilize Labor: Fascists Out of Portland

It’s A Matter of Life and Death

Take a Stand: Come Out on June 4

Statement by Portland Labor Against the Fascists

Less than a month after a race-hate rally was held in East Portland, and nine days before they plan to stage a fascist provocation downtown, murderous racist terror has struck in Portland. The murderer was prominently present at the April 29 racist rally. Now two brave men who stood up to him are dead, and a third was seriously wounded. Muslims and Jews, African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, along with defenders of women’s, gay and lesbian rights: all are targeted by the murderous bigots. As we have emphasized: fascist rallies are a staging ground for hideous racist terror. It’s up to us, the working people, to stop the fascists now.

A mobilization of unionists and opponents of racist terror has been called for Sunday, June 4 to bring out labor’s power behind the call: Fascists Out of Portland!

On Friday afternoon, May 26, Jeremy Joseph Christian, a 35-year-old white man, began screaming racist insults and death threats at two young women he encountered on an MAX light rail train eastbound out of downtown Portland. One of the women is black and the other is a Muslim who was wearing a head scarf (hijab).

When three fellow passengers heroically sought to protect them, Christian drew a knife, slashed their throats, and escaped at the Hollywood transit stop. Two of the men died of their wounds, while a third required surgery for serious injuries. The attacker was taken into custody by police shortly after, and is charged with aggravated murder.

Christian is a well-known local fascist. Multiple videos show him menacing counter-demonstrators at a racist hate-fest in Montavilla Park in East Portland on April 29. Now the same outfit he was with then says it intends to stage a provocative rally in the center of downtown Portland at 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 4. They’re even bringing in a notoriously violent fascist provocateur to make the threat clear.

Earlier this week, before the latest attack, Portland-area union activists issued an urgent call to “Mobilize to Stop the Fascists: Their Racist Provocation Is a Danger to Us All!” Organizers emphasized: “They pretend to defend ‘free speech.’ This is a lie… The poisonous race-hatred they spew out spawns lynchings. They must be stopped.

In the coming days much will be made of the killer’s apparently deranged mental state. But what possessed him to lash out against African American and Muslim young women, yelling “Get off the bus and get out of the country because you don’t pay taxes here”? This is clearly a reflection of the deadly racism coming out of Washington and escalating across the country.

A month ago, the police shepherded fascist Christian around the park as he gave Nazi salutes and threatened protesters. The Portland Mercury (27 May) reports: “A few Portland police officers on April 29 appeared to be familiar with Christian, but not threatened by him.” At the end of the racists’ march, the city provided a bus to take them back.

The same Portland police attacked the annual May Day immigrants’ rights march with tear gas and flash-bang grenades, blaming “anarchists” when it was the police who were terrorizing the marchers, arresting 25. Despite the talk of “diversity” and “unity” from the mayor and politicians of the bosses’ parties, the fact is they and their police are protecting the fascists.

The Portland area is home to a powerful labor movement built on the principle that “An injury to one is an injury to all.” The fascists are shock troops in the drive to divide, conquer and defeat the working class and destroy the rights of us all. To stop the deadly racist and fascist terror it is necessary – now, not at some indefinite future time – to mobilize the power of the working class.

The day before the Portland killings, ILWU longshoremen at the Port of Oakland, California walked off the job, paralyzing the docks to protest nooses, a threat of lynching, that were found at one of the largest terminals. On May Day 2015, ILWU Local 10 shut down the port and marched on Oakland city hall to demand an end to police terror. That same day Portland-area unionists marched behind a banner saying “Labor Against Racist Police Murder.”

This is the power we must bring out to stop the fascists in Portland. We urge one and all to take a stand and join the labor/black/immigrant mobilization at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 4 in Terry Schrunk Plaza (SW 3rd Ave. & SW Madison St.) to stop the would-be Hitlers from organizing more deadly terror. All out on June 4! Fascists out of Portland!

–May 27, 2017

Portland Labor Against the Fascists
pdxlaboragainstfascists@gmail.com (503) 683-1894

printable PDF version

All Out on June 4: Fascists Out of Portland!

en español aquí

Labor, Immigrant Rights Defenders Say June 4: Fascists Out of Portland! Since the November election there has been huge rise in racist attacks. Immigrants, Muslims and Jews, African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, as well as defenders of women’s, gay and lesbian rights and others on the bigots’ hit list have been targeted. Many of these assaults have been spearheaded by fascist action groups including the Ku Klux Klan and “alt-right” white supremacist gangs. Earlier this month, several hundred of them staged a racist rally at a Confederate statue in Charlottesville, Virginia, imitating the German Nazis’ parades with flaming torches. On June 10, fascists have announced ominous anti-Muslim actions in more than 20 cities around the country. Now some of these outfits are threatening to stage a racist provocation in downtown Portland on Sunday, June 4. They pretend to defend “free speech.” This is a lie. These racist bullies and killers seek to terrorize the population by going after the most vulnerable. When “Patriot Prayer” and others showed up in Portland on April 29, they were brandishing baseball bats and heavy sticks, wearing helmets and flaunting the Confederate battle flag of the slave owners and KKK night riders. Now “Based Stickman”, who gets his name from swinging his stick at people plans to make an appearance as well. The poisonous race-hatred they spew out spawns lynchings. They must be stopped. Fascists are the deadly enemies of the working class. They would smash the unions and pave the way for an unfettered corporate dictatorship. That is why Portland-area labor has resolved to use our power to stop them. Painters (IUPAT) Local 10, IATSE Local 28, Carpenters 1503, Laborers Local 483, AFT Local 3544 (graduate teaching fellows) as well as Carpenters NW Regional Council and AFT Oregon have passed resolutions declaring their readiness to “join with the broader labor and social justice community in mobilizing against the clear and present danger that the provocations of racist and fascist organizations pose to us all.” Now is the time to put these resolutions into action. Portland belongs to the working people of all races and nationalities. We have the numbers and the power to stop the racists and fascists in their tracks: we must act before it’s too late. All out on June 4! Sunday June 4, 12:30 p.m. sharp Terry Schrunk Plaza SW 3rd Ave. & SW Madison St. Mobilize to Stop the Fascists Their Racist Provocation Is a Danger to Us All Portland Labor Against the Fascists pdxlaboragainstfascists@gmail.com (503) 303-8278
Click for a printable file.

Labor, Immigrant Rights Defenders Say

June 4: Fascists Out of Portland!

Since the November election there has been huge rise in racist attacks. Immigrants, Muslims and Jews, African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, as well as defenders of women’s, gay and lesbian rights and others on the bigots’ hit list have been targeted. Many of these assaults have been spearheaded by fascist action groups including the Ku Klux Klan and “alt-right” white supremacist gangs. Earlier this month, several hundred of them staged a racist rally at a Confederate statue in Charlottesville, Virginia, imitating the German Nazis’ parades with flaming torches. On June 10, fascists have announced ominous anti-Muslim actions in more than 20 cities around the country.

Now some of these outfits are threatening to stage a racist provocation in downtown Portland on Sunday, June 4. They pretend to defend “free speech.” This is a lie. These racist bullies and killers seek to terrorize the population by going after the most vulnerable. When “Patriot Prayer” and others showed up in Portland on April 29, they were brandishing baseball bats and heavy sticks, wearing helmets and flaunting the Confederate battle flag of the slave owners and KKK night riders. Now “Based Stickman”, who gets his name from swinging his stick at people plans to make an appearance as well. The poisonous race-hatred they spew out spawns lynchings. They must be stopped.

Fascists are the deadly enemies of the working class. They would smash the unions and pave the way for an unfettered corporate dictatorship. That is why Portland-area labor has resolved to use our power to stop them. Painters (IUPAT) Local 10, IATSE Local 28, Carpenters 1503, Laborers Local 483, AFT Local 3544 (graduate teaching fellows) as well as Carpenters NW Regional Council and AFT Oregon have passed resolutions declaring their readiness to “join with the broader labor and social justice community in mobilizing against the clear and present danger that the provocations of racist and fascist organizations pose to us all.”

Now is the time to put these resolutions into action. Portland belongs to the working people of all races and nationalities. We have the numbers and the power to stop the racists and fascists in their tracks: we must act before it’s too late. All out on June 4!

Sunday June 4, 12:30 p.m. sharp

Terry Schrunk Plaza, SW 3rd Ave. & SW Madison St.

Mobilize to Stop the Fascists
Their Racist Provocation Is a Danger to Us All!

Portland Labor Against the Fascists

pdxlaboragainstfascists@gmail.com (503) 683-1894

Facebook event page

Join the Class Struggle Contingent on May Day!

Join the Class Struggle Contingent on May Day! Workers of the World, Unite! 12:00 Noon Monday May 1 2017 SW Park Avenue & SW Montgomery St (PSU) in Downtown Portland. Info: 971-282-7903 csw-pdx.org/mayday2017 May Day is the international workers day. It should be a day of workers struggle against capitalism. Join with Class Struggle Workers – Portland and the Internationalist Group to demonstrate for a revolutionary, working-class answer to the bosses’ racist system of poverty and war. The Class Struggle Contingent stands for: Full Citizenship Rights for All Immigrants! Mobilize Workers Power: Strike Against Deportations! No to Democrats, Republicans, Working Families Party or Greens! Defeat U.S. Imperialism! Drive U.S. Out of Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan! For A Class-Struggle Workers Party, for a Workers Government!

Join the Class Struggle Contingent on May Day!

Workers of the World, Unite!

12:00 Noon, Monday May 1 2017

SW Park Avenue & SW Montgomery St (PSU) in Downtown Portland.

Info: 971-282-7903 csw-pdx.org/mayday2017

May Day is the international workers day. It should be a day of workers struggle against capitalism. Join with Class Struggle Workers – Portland and the Internationalist Group to demonstrate for a revolutionary, working-class answer to the bosses’ racist system of poverty and war.

The Class Struggle Contingent stands for:

  • Full Citizenship Rights for All Immigrants!
  • Mobilize Workers Power: Strike Against Deportations!
  • No to Democrats, Republicans, Working Families Party or Greens!
  • Defeat U.S. Imperialism! Drive U.S. Out of Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan!
  • For A Class-Struggle Workers Party, for a Workers Government!

Monday March 20 “ICE Out of Woodburn” protest: be there!

CSWP urges all defenders of the rights of working people and immigrants to participate in the “ICE Out of Woodburn” protest scheduled for Monday, March 20, 4:30 p.m. at 2883 Newberg Highway in Woodburn, OR. For more information visit the Facebook event page for the protest.

This article from the London Guardian gives a vivid description of the cruel terror inflicted by the ICE Gestapo on our fellow workers.

CSWP at ICE Out of Oregon Protest

CSWP and IUPAT Local 10 banners at ICE Out of Oregon protest, 6 Mar 2017
CSWP and IUPAT Local 10 banners at ICE Out of Oregon protest, 6 Mar 2017

Class Struggle Workers – Portland participated in the “ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the deportation gestapo) Out of Oregon” protest on Monday. We were joined by a contingent from Painters & Drywall Finishers Local 10.

CSWP says it is urgent for the unions to take action now to defend immigrants from deportation. The Trump regime is hated and unstable, but the bipartisan attack on immigrants won’t be ended by appeals to the Democratic Party or liberal platitudes about allegedly American values (this country was founded on slavery and genocide, not democracy, love and rainbows). The multi-racial, multinational working class has the power to drive the ICE gestapo out of Portland and other cities with mass protests backed by strike action.

IUPAT Local 10 at the March 6 “ICE Out of Oregon” protest.
IUPAT Local 10 at the March 6 “ICE Out of Oregon” protest.