[Portland/Vancouver] Antifa shot down / House bombed
Portland: Antifa shot; Downtown Shooting was Likely a Neo-Nazi Ambush
Anti-Racist Action Activist’s House Bombed in Vancouver
Anti-Racist Action Activist’s House Bombed in Vancouver
Posted on April 2, 2010 by denverabc
Shortly after midnight on Saturday, March 27, a man was brutally attacked in the heart of downtown Portland. His attacker shot him and left him lying in the street. He is currently in the Intensive Care Unit in an area hospital, fighting to overcome extensive injuries.
It is no secret that this man, Luke Querner, is a long-time anti-fascist activist. He has devoted over a decade of his life to opposing the most vicious elements of our city’s white supremacist movement. Rose City Antifascists, the Portland chapter of the Anti-Racist Action Network, believe that the local neo-Nazis whom Luke has opposed for years attempted to murder him on Saturday morning.
Luke is proud to be an anti-racist skinhead. The true skinhead movement has always been anti-racist, tracing its origins to the cultural intersection of Jamaican immigrants and working class whites in England during the 1960s. After racists and the far-Right attempted to hijack the skinhead movement in the late 1970s and ’80s, a movement known as SkinHeads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP) emerged in 1987 to reaffirm the anti-racist roots of the subculture. As with many other anti-racist skins, Luke is deeply committed to racial equality and social justice. This commitment has caused Luke to be targeted in the past.
Rose City Antifa believes that the most recent attack was planned and committed by an element within Portland’s neo-Nazi underground. This is the most logical explanation for such a vicious act, for several reasons:
1. Local neo-Nazi organizations and cliques have the capability to carry out such an act. Several organizations, including the Portland-centered Volksfront International, are tightly-organized, disciplined, and command significant loyalty from adherents and sympathizers. Their members have experience committing violent acts, including murder.
2. Luke was a prime enemy of organized racists. Luke and his community have been violently targeted by Volksfront in the past. The recent shooting echoes the sentiments expressed in the song “SHARP Shooter” by the old Volksfront-affiliated rock band, Jew Slaughter.
3. Local fascist groups have spent recent months uniting despite organizational differences. Volksfront as well as National Socialist Movement affiliates hosted a series of social events that have likely emboldened individual fascists. One recent point of unity between local neo-Nazi cliques and groups—whether they be Volksfront, the Northwest Front, the National Socialist Movement or Hammerskins—has been common targeting of anti-racists and the Left.
4. Given the overall resurgence of the radical Right in recent years (see Southern Poverty Law Center report), neo-Nazis have expressed more urgency in their propaganda, expecting a race war in the near future.
Luke is an entrenched and beloved figure in the anti-racist community and well known by local fascists. Saturday’s shooting was an intentional message that those standing up for equality are in mortal danger.
Portland has a long, violent history of racist organizing that continues to this day. In the late 1980s, Portland became notorious as a hotbed of white supremacist activity. Many organizations, such as the Aryan Nations, declared the Pacific Northwest to be a future white homeland. The groups that would go on to comprise Volksfront and other formations, swelled in numbers. The 1988 murder of Ethiopian student Mulugeta Seraw and trial of the three neo-Nazi culprits represented the high water mark of Nazi terror at that point. Concerted community efforts, as well as a high-profile civil suit, drove many local neo-Nazis underground. Unfortunately some of these white supremacists are still here, always struggling to re-emerge.
The attempted killing also reminds us of the 1998 executions of Lin “Spit” Newborn and Dan Shersty–who were also anti-racist skinheads–by neo-Nazis in the desert outside of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Rose City Antifa believes that this shooting is of particular significance, representing a neo-Nazi attempt to reclaim the streets and apply their white supremacist agenda through force and terror. This seems to be tied to the larger context of a nationwide mobilization of the radical Right.
We criticize the Portland Police response to this tragic attack, which appears to be further victimizing the survivor and his community. This police approach reflects the Department’s institutional biases regarding race and racial hate, apparent in the recent police bean-bag shotgun assault on a 12-year-old African American girl, and their killing of an unarmed African American man two months ago. Despite the fact that Luke’s shooting was an unprovoked attack with a fairly obvious motive, the police appear to be treating the victim as the problem. The police released Luke’s name to the media on the Sunday after the shooting, in total disregard for his safety and security.
We feel it is extremely important to clarify the nature of this situation, given that the information released so far has generally situated this event in the same category as an unrelated shooting about 50 minutes earlier in Portland, reportedly related to violence between rival gangs. Treating Luke’s shooting as a gang related event obscures the political implications of the attack, and utterly misses the point. The racist overtones of much of the online commentary on the coverage is particularly appalling given that Luke was someone that spent his entire adult life fighting white supremacy. Portland Anti-Racist Action vigorously challenges any assumptions that the ambush was performed by people of color, which may have been suggested by prior media coverage. This was not a fight that got out of hand. There was no fight. It was an assassination attempt.
Luke is currently looking at a mountain of medical bills. The Anti-Racist Action Network is currently hosting benefits from coast to coast to raise funds. In addition, the ARA network has set up a PayPal account to send Luke donations.
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Anti-Racist Action Activist’s House Bombed in Vancouver
Corporate media report via the Vancouver Sun:
Abbotsford police are reporting that accelerant used in a fire that damaged a home in the 33900 block of Old Yale Road at 2 a.m. Monday had a fused device connected to it.
The presence of the device caused police investigators to request outside assistance, said APD spokesperson Const. Ian MacDonald.
“We didn’t relinquish the investigation, we asked for some expertise from the [RCMP] bomb squad,” he said.
A resident of the house in question, Maitland Cassia, identified himself as a member of Anti-Racist Action, and said he was jolted out of bed by what he described as a loud “blast.”
Cassia fears the blast that started the fire was in retaliation for an anti-Nazi rally he helped organize that took place at New Westminster’s Braid SkyTrain Station on March 21.
The rally generated media coverage and subsequent photos from the event splashed Cassia’s name and face across several Lower Mainland newspaper websites, making him a target, he said.
He said he is fearful of further retaliation, and planned on moving out of the house immediately.
Members of the bomb squad were on scene Monday, said MacDonald, and collected several items of interest in evidence bags and containers.
Heavy black scorching, and damage to the home’s exterior could be seen adjacent to a door situated at the side of the home.
Debris was blown across the yard for several metres in an outward pattern from the door.
Police suspect the device was used as a way to create distance when the accelerant was set off, and are treating the incident as arson.
The Braid rally in March drew hundreds of anti-Nazi protestors, and was in response to a planned white supremacy, neo-Nazi rally that never materialized.
Online sites quoted Cassia declaring the rally a “victory” for those opposed to racial discrimination.
MacDonald said police have no prior interaction with the residents, or the address in question, and are trying to determine what potential motives for the incident might exist.
“We would obviously investigate any suggestions that the [residents] may have for potential reasons for [the incident], but I couldn’t comment further on what has transpired here,” said MacDonald.
Shortly after midnight on Saturday, March 27, a man was brutally attacked in the heart of downtown Portland. His attacker shot him and left him lying in the street. He is currently in the Intensive Care Unit in an area hospital, fighting to overcome extensive injuries.
It is no secret that this man, Luke Querner, is a long-time anti-fascist activist. He has devoted over a decade of his life to opposing the most vicious elements of our city’s white supremacist movement. Rose City Antifascists, the Portland chapter of the Anti-Racist Action Network, believe that the local neo-Nazis whom Luke has opposed for years attempted to murder him on Saturday morning.
Luke is proud to be an anti-racist skinhead. The true skinhead movement has always been anti-racist, tracing its origins to the cultural intersection of Jamaican immigrants and working class whites in England during the 1960s. After racists and the far-Right attempted to hijack the skinhead movement in the late 1970s and ’80s, a movement known as SkinHeads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP) emerged in 1987 to reaffirm the anti-racist roots of the subculture. As with many other anti-racist skins, Luke is deeply committed to racial equality and social justice. This commitment has caused Luke to be targeted in the past.
Rose City Antifa believes that the most recent attack was planned and committed by an element within Portland’s neo-Nazi underground. This is the most logical explanation for such a vicious act, for several reasons:
1. Local neo-Nazi organizations and cliques have the capability to carry out such an act. Several organizations, including the Portland-centered Volksfront International, are tightly-organized, disciplined, and command significant loyalty from adherents and sympathizers. Their members have experience committing violent acts, including murder.
2. Luke was a prime enemy of organized racists. Luke and his community have been violently targeted by Volksfront in the past. The recent shooting echoes the sentiments expressed in the song “SHARP Shooter” by the old Volksfront-affiliated rock band, Jew Slaughter.
3. Local fascist groups have spent recent months uniting despite organizational differences. Volksfront as well as National Socialist Movement affiliates hosted a series of social events that have likely emboldened individual fascists. One recent point of unity between local neo-Nazi cliques and groups—whether they be Volksfront, the Northwest Front, the National Socialist Movement or Hammerskins—has been common targeting of anti-racists and the Left.
4. Given the overall resurgence of the radical Right in recent years (see Southern Poverty Law Center report), neo-Nazis have expressed more urgency in their propaganda, expecting a race war in the near future.
Luke is an entrenched and beloved figure in the anti-racist community and well known by local fascists. Saturday’s shooting was an intentional message that those standing up for equality are in mortal danger.
Portland has a long, violent history of racist organizing that continues to this day. In the late 1980s, Portland became notorious as a hotbed of white supremacist activity. Many organizations, such as the Aryan Nations, declared the Pacific Northwest to be a future white homeland. The groups that would go on to comprise Volksfront and other formations, swelled in numbers. The 1988 murder of Ethiopian student Mulugeta Seraw and trial of the three neo-Nazi culprits represented the high water mark of Nazi terror at that point. Concerted community efforts, as well as a high-profile civil suit, drove many local neo-Nazis underground. Unfortunately some of these white supremacists are still here, always struggling to re-emerge.
The attempted killing also reminds us of the 1998 executions of Lin “Spit” Newborn and Dan Shersty–who were also anti-racist skinheads–by neo-Nazis in the desert outside of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Rose City Antifa believes that this shooting is of particular significance, representing a neo-Nazi attempt to reclaim the streets and apply their white supremacist agenda through force and terror. This seems to be tied to the larger context of a nationwide mobilization of the radical Right.
We criticize the Portland Police response to this tragic attack, which appears to be further victimizing the survivor and his community. This police approach reflects the Department’s institutional biases regarding race and racial hate, apparent in the recent police bean-bag shotgun assault on a 12-year-old African American girl, and their killing of an unarmed African American man two months ago. Despite the fact that Luke’s shooting was an unprovoked attack with a fairly obvious motive, the police appear to be treating the victim as the problem. The police released Luke’s name to the media on the Sunday after the shooting, in total disregard for his safety and security.
We feel it is extremely important to clarify the nature of this situation, given that the information released so far has generally situated this event in the same category as an unrelated shooting about 50 minutes earlier in Portland, reportedly related to violence between rival gangs. Treating Luke’s shooting as a gang related event obscures the political implications of the attack, and utterly misses the point. The racist overtones of much of the online commentary on the coverage is particularly appalling given that Luke was someone that spent his entire adult life fighting white supremacy. Portland Anti-Racist Action vigorously challenges any assumptions that the ambush was performed by people of color, which may have been suggested by prior media coverage. This was not a fight that got out of hand. There was no fight. It was an assassination attempt.
Luke is currently looking at a mountain of medical bills. The Anti-Racist Action Network is currently hosting benefits from coast to coast to raise funds. In addition, the ARA network has set up a PayPal account to send Luke donations.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anti-Racist Action Activist’s House Bombed in Vancouver
Corporate media report via the Vancouver Sun:
Abbotsford police are reporting that accelerant used in a fire that damaged a home in the 33900 block of Old Yale Road at 2 a.m. Monday had a fused device connected to it.
The presence of the device caused police investigators to request outside assistance, said APD spokesperson Const. Ian MacDonald.
“We didn’t relinquish the investigation, we asked for some expertise from the [RCMP] bomb squad,” he said.
A resident of the house in question, Maitland Cassia, identified himself as a member of Anti-Racist Action, and said he was jolted out of bed by what he described as a loud “blast.”
Cassia fears the blast that started the fire was in retaliation for an anti-Nazi rally he helped organize that took place at New Westminster’s Braid SkyTrain Station on March 21.
The rally generated media coverage and subsequent photos from the event splashed Cassia’s name and face across several Lower Mainland newspaper websites, making him a target, he said.
He said he is fearful of further retaliation, and planned on moving out of the house immediately.
Members of the bomb squad were on scene Monday, said MacDonald, and collected several items of interest in evidence bags and containers.
Heavy black scorching, and damage to the home’s exterior could be seen adjacent to a door situated at the side of the home.
Debris was blown across the yard for several metres in an outward pattern from the door.
Police suspect the device was used as a way to create distance when the accelerant was set off, and are treating the incident as arson.
The Braid rally in March drew hundreds of anti-Nazi protestors, and was in response to a planned white supremacy, neo-Nazi rally that never materialized.
Online sites quoted Cassia declaring the rally a “victory” for those opposed to racial discrimination.
MacDonald said police have no prior interaction with the residents, or the address in question, and are trying to determine what potential motives for the incident might exist.
“We would obviously investigate any suggestions that the [residents] may have for potential reasons for [the incident], but I couldn’t comment further on what has transpired here,” said MacDonald.
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Ergänzungen
Übersetzung Teil 1
Es ist kein Geheimnis dass dieser Mann, Luke Querner, seit langem ein antifaschistischer Aktivist ist. Er hat hingebungsvoll über ein Jahrzehnt seines Lebens gegen beschissene Elemente unserer Städte, der weißen rassistische Bewegung, angekämpft. Rose City Antifaschisten, der Portländische Teil des Anti-Racist-Action-Network, meinen das lokale Neonazi´s versuchten Luke am samstag Morgen zu töten.
Luke ist stolz darauf ein antirassistischer Skinhead zu sein. Die wahre Skinhead-Bewegung ist immer antirassistisch, denn die Entstehungsgeschichte war die kulturelle Überschneidung von Immigranten aus Jamaika und der Arbeiterklasse in England während der 1960er. Nachdem Rassist_innen und rechtsoffene Menschen versuchten die Szene in den späten 1970er und 80er zu unterwandern gründete sich die SHARP-Bewegung (Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice) im Jahre 1987 um sich den antirassistischen wurzeln der Subkultur zu besinnen. Wie viele andere antirassistische Skins, ist Luke sehr engagiert gegen Rassismus und für soziale Gerechtigkeit vorgegangen..
Rose City Antifa meint das die meisten kürzlichen Angriffe geplant waren und verübt aus dem Untergrund der Neo-Nazi Bewegung in Portland. Das ist die logischste Erklärung für solch eine furchtbare Tat, aus verschiedenen Gründen:
1.lokale Neo-Nazi-Organisationen und Cliquen haben das Potenzial dazu, solch eine Tat zu begehen. Verschiedene Organisationen, wie die in Portland vorhandene „Volksfront International“, sind straff organisiert, diszipliniert und fühlen sich Anweißungen.von Anhängern und Sympathisanten untergeordnet. Ihre Mitglieder_innen haben Erfahrungen im begehen von Gewalttaten, auch im töten.
2.Luke war das Hauptziel der organisierten Rassist_innen. Luke und seine „Community“ griffen gezielt „Volksfront“ in der Vergangenheit an. Die kürzliche Schießerei spiegelte sich in den Aussagen des Liedes „SHARP-Shooter“ der Band „Jew-Slaughter“wieder, die engen Kontakt zur „International Volksfront“ haben.
3.Lokale faschistische Gruppen verbrachten Monate damit interne organisatorische Indifferenzen zu begleichen. Volksfront versuchte einzelne Faschist_innen in Gruppen einzubeziehen. Ein entscheidender Punkt ist die Vereinigung einzelner Neo-Nazi-Cliquen und Gruppen, ob bei Volksfront, Northwest Front, National Socialist Movement oder Hammerskins zu integrieren, um gemeinsame Angriffe gegen Antirassist_innen und Linke auszuführen
4.Angesichts der Wiederbelebung der Radikalen Rechten in den letzten Jahren (siehe: Southern Poverty Law Center report), propagieren die Neo-Nazis mehr Dringlichkeit, Sie erwarten in naher Zukunft einen Rassenkrieg.
Luke ist fest verwurzelt und beliebter Mensch in der Antirassistischen Community und auch die lokalen Nazis kennen Ihn deshalb nur zu gut. Die Schießerei am Samstag war eine klare Nachricht, das Menschen, die sich für Gerechtigkeit einsetzen, sich in tödlicher Gefahr befinden.
Portland hat eine lange Liste gewalttätiger, organisierter Verbrechen die sich bis heute fortsetzt.
Portland bildete sich in den späten 80ern zu einer offenbaren Brutstätte rassistischer Aktivitäten.
Viele Organisationen, wie z.B. die Aryan Nations, erklärten den pazifischen Nord-Westen für eine,
in Zukunft „weiße Heimat“. Diese Gruppen, wie auch Volksfront und andere dieser Formationen wurden immer stärker und ihre Mitgliederzahl stieg an. Der 1988 getöte Äthiopische Student Mulugeta Seraw und die Verhandlung der drei Rassistischen Täter zeigte den höchsten Punkt des Nazi-Terrors zu diesem Zeitpunkt. Bestimmte Bemühungen in der Community und Zivilcourage brachten die Nazis dazu in den Untergrund zu gehen. Bedauerlicherweise sind einige dieser Faschisten hier geblieben um für die Neuerstehung der Bewegung zu kämpfen.
Die versuchte Tötung erinnert uns an die Morde 1998 an Lin “Spit” Newborn und Dan Shersty,
beide ebenso antirassistische Skins, die von neo-Nazis in der Wüste von Las Vegas, Nevada getötet wurden.
Die Rose City Antifa denken dass die Erschießung besondere Bedeutung für die Neo-Nazis hat um sich die Straßen zurückzuerobern und bestätigen die weiße Rassisten-Agenda durch Terror und Gewalt. Dies scheint der gebundene größere Kontext einer landesweiten Mobilisierung der radikalen Rechten zu sein.
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solidarity — gugel