xenophobia, fascism, and housekeeping
author: hlc
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an attempt to open a dialogue within the community
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racism is an inescapable reality of our culture. we are all here tainted, especially with this country's deplorable history but also with the history of humanity. this is not a curse to hatefully or fearfully fight, as one can never fight reality. the horrors of racism can only be overcome with compassionate understanding and with recognizing the beauty bearing us all up for the brief moment of human life in all people (and in all life, if you want to get all hippie about it). i believe it is counterproductive and detrimental to our humanity to punish people for our proximity to evil, for simply inhabiting a world where racial, ethnic, cultural, homophobic, and sexist prejudice exists.
it's important for us to deal with these issues, within ourselves and our community. this is important, serious, and humbling work nobody can do for another so we mustn't allow it to be usurped by any person or group of questionable merit. fundamentalist ideologies attempting to commandeer thought and dialogue have cast a shadow over our indymedia site hindering respectful exchange of ideas and lowering the credibility of all of our information, motives, and communications in general. i think this problem needs addressing.
i am troubled when voices in our community attempting to open a discussion regarding the methods (let alone character) of a force like rose city antifa are met with fundamental aggression. where there is no kindness anywhere in pro-rca responses the validity of concern becomes more acute. if rose city antifa is working for the sake of the community and not some ingrown thuggish malfeasance as drives the average s.h.a.r.p., then why try to silence the community? exactly what are the inner intentions and motives of rose city antifa if it disregards questions from a forum itself posts to with such smug hostility? it is the community's burden and duty to question such organizations which operate with no other oversight.
(my interest and concern in the matter was sparked by this particular thread:  link to portland.indymedia.org)
arrogant self-assurance in one's agency when undertaking such work as antifa is dangerous, and perhaps even delusional. nothing is so sacred as to be beyond questioning. i do not mean to suggest that antifa organizations are misguided or unimportant, but i do mean to emphasize that our rose city chapter has historic standards to live up to. anyone taking part in antifa work had best be in possession of a warrior-poet's heart, intending only to bring growth and communal respect, not simply to his own self, but to humanity as a whole. we must also operate with profound understanding that, regardless of anything we accomplish, how convinced we might be in the justice of slandering another's name, we might still be wrong and must therefore hold ourselves accountable to the community, because one thing we do not need is more police dividing us as a people.
at this point some may be quick to dismiss me as a nazi provocateur incognito, so i'll here disclose that a jewish lineage precludes my membership to most hate groups. their general standards as a whole are considerably low but this is one factor upon which they remain particularly resolute. and as to the mirrored extreme, a commitment to striving for truths of the human heart over fascism bars me from engaging in groups confronting hate with yet more hate, hence my misgivings with s.h.a.r.p. affiliates and the like.
i have a similar growing unease with rose city antifa, most notably highlighted in this tim calvert debate that keeps arising ( http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2012/09/417943.shtml?discuss as noted above). i don't know the man so my understanding of this case is a bit abstract and perhaps overly simplistic, but the back story i've pieced together begins with rose city antifa's evidence of antisemitic characters being a part of the 911 truth alliance. tim calvert is suspected/accused of aiding the propagation of antisemitism ideology for organizing 911 conspiracy theory talks. rose city antifa presented its concerns about tim calvert's activities to the community as represented by citybikes, in, what i'll assume and hope was, the spirit of open dialogue seeking further perspective and resolution of the matter. citybikes, fulfilling the role of community oversight which rose city antifa asked for, resolved that concerns about tim calvert, the man himself, were unfounded.
i don't see where citybikes was at fault in this. no record in the documentation rose city antifa has presented recounts tim calvert having ever expressed antisemitic ideology. i may be old fashioned, but traditionally in this community, calling a person out publicly (for bigotry, sexual misconduct, snitching) is a serious matter to be weighed and balanced very carefully with explicit, direct, and objectively clear evidence. beyond a reasonable doubt is, i believe, the measured phrase granting retaliatory action in these situations. yet rather than accepting citybikes' resolution, rose city antifa adopted an unreasonable campaign of slandering not only tim calvert, but also the whole of citybikes. these two degrees of separation comprise an uncomfortably wide gap for accusation, and, at least in my perspective, mark a petty and obsessive streak of impropriety in rose city antifa.
these issues have corrupted portland's indymedia site into its most recent and further decline into absurdity. portland indymedia is now overrun with the backlash of 911 truthers pushing the lines of racism, zionistic sentiments in return denouncing muslims, and pro-rca fundamentalists demanding a groveling public apology from joe anybody in the shadow of the authority rose city antifa has granted to itself. i fear rose city antifa's trigger happy methods will lower its credibility to the inane levels of scientology or the conspiracy theory nonsense already cluttering this site's newswire. the work of antifa requires a high quality of disciplined character, sound and stable minds, open sagacious hearts, and the strength to transcend one's pride. with these attributes antifa organizations gain their most prominent foundation, that being the respect and support of its community. bigots are not people greatly overburdened with intelligence or restraint but that does not give us license to lower our standard of tactics, strategies, and methods when confronting anti-human ideology.
--and a side note here to the indymedia worker bees: if you're going to edit my posts, might you also correct any glaring typos i've overlooked? last minute alterations, while potentially offering a spontaneous breath of life into a comment's language, too often carry the reckless risk of an absent article or preposition. a little help with these careless omissions would be an appreciated recompense from a censor's scrutiny.
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