Planned Right-Wing Protest Likely to Trigger ANTIFA Violence

In a move defying Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler’s request for right-wing groups to stay away from Portland during a prolonged period of unrest, the controversial men’s organization ‘the Proud Boys’ have announced they plan on staging a major rally event in that city on Sept. 26th. 

One of the reasons the Proud Boys are hosting this event is in remembrance of a member of the organization Patriot Prayer who was shot and murdered in Portland on Saturday, Aug. 29, ‘Jay’ Danielson, apparently by Antifa member and Black Lives Matter supporter Michael Rieneohl, who was shot and killed by police on Friday, Sept. 4th while he was under investigation. 

Some murkiness remains in the case, however before Rieneohl died he admitted to killing Danielson in an interview with Vice News. In the Vice interview, Rieneohl also claims he shot Danielson in defence of another individual, however his description of the event is not consistent with video evidence of the incident. 

The Portland rally is also to show solidarity with Kyle Rittenhouse, who has been imprisoned in Antioch, Il, following his self-defence shooting and killing of two rioters and injury of a third during civil unrest in Kenosha, WI, late last month. 

Additionally, the planned  Sept. 26th rally is in general intended to be an expression of free speech, which the Proud Boys have criticized city government of Portland and State government of Oregon as not extending to right-wing leaning citizens. 

The Proud Boys are a fraternal organization, self described as ‘Western Chauvinist,’ standing for ostensibly conservative values such as freedom of speech, protection of the nuclear family, libertarian leaning on issues of government powers and economics, among other things. 

The Proud Boys organization has also been open in their opposition to Antifa, which is an umbrella term used to refer to a coalition of blackbloc leftwing groups, often associated with authoritarian communism, anti-capitalism, as well as other left-wing causes and beliefs. 

Since 2016, the Proud Boys organization and Antifa groups have drawn criticism for engaging in street fights, the Proud Boys drawing especially heavy criticism in 2019 after two of their members were sentenced to 15 years in prison following an especially vicious street brawl in New York City.

While it is fair to criticize the Proud Boys over unnecessarily violent behaviour, it is also important to point out some criticisms levelled at the organization are patently false, for example Antifa groups have claimed the Proud Boys are fascists and racists. 

This is an easily disproven claim; the Proud Boys are also avowed anti-racist, and the group has numerous non-white members, including the current chairman Enrique Tarrio, who is of Cuban descent.

All that said, the disturbances caused by the Proud Boys cannot be honestly compared to the extreme, anti-social acts committed by Antifa, which sometimes verge on low-level terrorism and have become more and more brazen as time goes on. For example, in 2019 we witnessed an attempted firebomb attack on an ICE immigration facility in Tacoma, WA by an avowed Antifa member. 

Shockingly, Antifa groups have seemingly only become more militant in 2020, as waves of destructive rioting have swept over many U.S. cities, as well as in other countries. Many of the most destructive riots are believed to have been at least partially instigated by Antifa groups. 

It is worthwhile pointing out while many U.S. cities have suffered massive social unrest recently, Portland has quite possibly seen the most consistent unrest. Since the mass riots and civil unrest began in May, Portland has seen more than 100 nights of protesting, the majority of those protests eventually being declared riots by police, so a concern by commentators is the Sept. 26th Proud Boys will result in another massive street brawl-type event between Proud Boys and Antifa.

Sept. 26th is shortly before the U.S. election, so while everyone’s freedom of speech is protected for everyone, it is conceivable that a massive street fight between Proud Boys and Antifa groups could have an irreversible effect on the election, although who’s to say what will happen.

For this reason, though, all eyes should be on Portland for the 26th. Whatever happens there on that day, may shake things up.