Hat tip to Indymedia:
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2012/09/417943.shtml?discuss
City Bikes President Tim Calvert Hosts Right-Wing Bomber
This Sunday, September 9, the Portland 9/11 Truth Alliance plans to host a potluck and gathering at Sellwood Park in Oregon. In its event announcement, the 9/11 Truth Alliance mentions that this gathering will feature "an extra interesting participant." The participant in question, Fritz Springmeier, is an individual deeply connected to antisemitic, white nationalist, and militant anti-choice organizing. Springmeier is an extreme-Right activist who served a nine-year prison sentence for a bank robbery with a neo-Nazi accomplice, Forrest Bateman. Springmeier and Bateman also bombed an adult video store. This year's 9/11 Truth Alliance gathering at Sellwood Park is the second time that the Alliance has hosted Fritz Springmeier, having also featured Springmeier as a key speaker at a September 2011 "Continuing Education for Dissident Citizens" event held at Sellwood Community Center, the same year that Springmeier was released from prison.The Springmeier events fit with the overall politics of the Portland 9/11 Truth Alliance. The Alliance has previously organized support for other racist extreme-Right organizers, as our organization for example pointed out in 2009 when the 9/11 Truth Alliance hosted self-described "white separatist" Valdas Anelauskas in Portland, and when a few months later the Alliance sent a contingent to support the Portland tour stop of notorious Holocaust-denier and Naziphile, David Irving. A central organizer for the Valdas Anelauskas event in 2009, Tim Calvert, has recently stepped up his activism with the 9/11 Truth Alliance once again. Calvert's activism involves both organizing of events for far-Right speakers, and also his own spreading of antisemitic propaganda. Rose City Antifa believe that a key factor enabling Calvert's activism is the support he receives from his workplace at Citybikes Workers' Cooperative, as well as the apathy and tacit acceptance of large segments of the regional co-op movement towards Calvert's Judeophobic organizing.
Rose City Antifa aim in this report to provide some context about Fritz Springmeier and Springmeier's associations, as well as to discuss the politics of the 9/11 Truth Alliance and Tim Calvert's return to public far-Right activism. We hope that the information we provide here is used to finally take the president of Citybikes Workers' Cooperative to account, after more than three years of negligence and denial within Citybikes and the broader West Coast co-op movement about Calvert's anti-Jewish agitation.
Fritz Springmeier
Fritz Springmeier is an Oregon-based conspiracy theorist and author of such books as Bloodlines of the Illuminati. Springmeier's works attempt to draw attention to what he perceives as massive conspiracies for global domination by hidden cabals and their "Illuminati" bloodlines. Springmeier's research focuses in particular on family names such as the Rothschilds, commonly used as stand-ins for "the Jews" within antisemitic conspiracy discourse. However, Springmeier is far from shy about his beliefs concerning Jewish power, arguing for example that "the core of the conspiracy of power is Jewish" in Bloodlines.
With politics such as these, Fritiz Springmeier once fit right in within the Christian Patriot Association (CPA), a racist group once headquartered in Boring, Oregon. The CPA itself fell apart with the conviction of six of its members on fraud charges in 2002, these charges stemming from a warehouse bank operated by the CPA. In earlier times, however, the CPA was a major force on the Oregon far-Right for over a decade. Prominent members of the CPA such as Jeff Weakley of God's Remnant Church also promoted "Christian Identity" theology, arguing that white Europeans and Euro-Americans are the true chosen people of scripture, with modern Jewish people being imposters. Springmeier himself is favorable towards some varieties of Christian Identity thought, arguing that many Identity adherents operate under a "Christian perspective and place themselves under the authority of God."
Within the Christian Patriots Association, Springmeier also met Forrest Bateman. Bateman was at one point a bonehead (racist pseudo-"skinhead") who in 1989 was convicted of racially intimidating a high school student in Forest Grove. In 1997, Springmeier and Bateman both took part in a bank robbery, which they were later arrested and convicted for. The October 1997 bank robbery involved a diversionary pipe bombing of an adult video store to draw away police attention prior to the hold-up of a Key Bank branch. The Damascus, Oregon robbery netted just $6000. The choice of an adult video store as a diversionary bombing target is reminiscent of the earlier targeting of adult businesses in the Pacific Northwest by The Order/Silent Brotherhood neo-Nazi terrorist group during the 1980s.
Springmeier and Bateman were not linked by investigators to the Damascus bank robbery until several years after the incident. In February 2001, a property near Sandy, Oregon was raided, with 50 marijuana plants, grow equipment, plus a significant haul of weapons seized. Forrest Bateman and two other people were arrested following the raid. Also seized during this raid was a binder marked "Army of God, Yahweh's Warriors." The Army of God is an anti-choice terrorist group responsible for arsons, bombings and assassinations targeting abortion providers. Fritz Springmeier himself was arrested following a later raid on his Corbett residence on March 1, 2001, and both Springmeier and Bateman were indicted the following year as information surrounding the 1997 armed bank robbery came to light in the aftermath of the raids. With the end of the Bateman and Springmeier trials, additional information about the contents of the "Army of God" binder found in 2001 also surfaced--according to one report, the binder contained a list that could have been targets for terrorist actions.
Springmeier supporters complain that their hero was simply a target of sinister forces who wished to shut him up about Illuminati mind control. The Portland 9/11 Truth Alliance gave Springmeier his first public speaking event following release from federal prison; a video of Springmeier's rambling speech recorded by event attendee Joe Anybody is available online.
Tim Calvert
While another member of the 9/11 Truth Alliance with his own long history of anti-Jewish activism--Tim Titrud--used his email to announce the 2011 "Continuing Education for Dissident Citizens" event at which Fritz Springmeier gave his presentation, Citybikes president Tim Calvert was also deeply involved. Calvert himself gave a presentation early at the Sellwood Community Center event, and a phone number used by Calvert was displayed on the Portland 9/11 Truth Alliance website in promoting the 2011 Sellwood event. Rose City Antifa has also confirmed with Portland Parks & Recreation that the renter of space at Sellwood Community Center for the 9/11 Truth Alliance events in September 2011, as well as the person reserving space in Sellwood Park for the 9/11 Truth Alliance event on September 9 this year, is Tim Calvert.
Calvert has been highly public about his involvement with the Portland 9/11 Truth Alliance over the last couple of years. Earlier, in 2009, Calvert had attempted to put some distance between himself and the 9/11 Truth Alliance, after Calvert was criticized for his central role in organizing a speaking event for racist Valdas Anelauskas in Portland. Calvert issued a pseudo-apology after that event was criticized by anti-fascists. In his response to what he called a "smear campaign," Calvert made a point of acknowledging "the Holocaust" only as one of many "horrors of WWII"--a line which is itself congruent with Holocaust-denial--and also suggested that Valdas Anelauskas had "good points." Around this time, Calvert also withdrew from the Laughing Horse Books collective, where he had initially attempted to host Anelauskas and where he had also earlier supported attempts by the 9/11 Truth Alliance to host homophobic and anti-choice extremist Mary Starrett at the venue. Citybikes itself responded to news about Calvert's antisemitic activism by first issuing a statement applauding Calvert and criticizing antifascists. The Citybikes co-op subsequently issued a revised statement retracting their initial attack, stating that it had not been approved by every member of the co-op, and stating that they recognized the need for communication. That same month, the Portland 9/11 Truth Alliance sent a group to support a Portland appearance by Holocaust-denier David Irving. Calvert, in the spotlight because of his politics, did not attend the Irving event.
Calvert soon publicly joined back up with the same Portland 9/11 Truth Alliance, however. Within a few months Calvert had talked with Willamette Week reporter James Pitkin for a smear piece on Rose City Antifa, Calvert characterizing himself and others in the Portland 9/11 Truth Alliance as victims of a shadowy campaign rather than as individuals taken to account for hosting a hardore antisemite. The following year, a joint Pacifica Forum-Portland 9/11 Truth Alliance flyer distributed against the 2010 Anti-Racist Action conference in Portland identified Tim Calvert as "one of us" and alleged that Rose City Antifa was complicit with "Zionists." Calvert identified himself yet again as a Portland 9/11 Truth Alliance member in January 2011, when a video posted on Youtube provided his organizational affiliation.
Apart from the Springmeier appearances, some other Portland 9/11 Truth Alliance guests whose appearances Calvert has promoted in recent years are Jim Fetzer, Leuren Moret, and Susan Lindauer. Jim Fetzer is a conspiracy theorist who publicly denies that he is an antisemite while recycling antisemitic myths such as those of "dancing Israelis" on 9/11/01, as well as promoting writings by antisemitic propagandists such as Benjamin Freedman. Leuren Moret is an anti-nuclear activist who believes that the 2011 major Japan earthquake and subsequent nuclear crises were actually caused by "tectonic nuclear warfare" on behalf of a "banker"/"British" conspiracy. (London bankers is yet another antisemitic shorthand, similar the use of "Zionists" when describing a global conspiracy.) In an online video Moret fulminates about conspiracies by the "Rothschilds," whereas in yet another she describes depleted uranium as "Zionist extermination." Susan Lindauer is best known for being accused of conspiracy on behalf of the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein. While perhaps not as rabid an antisemite as Fetzer or Moret, Lindauer argues that there was "Mossad complicity" in the 9/11/01 attacks, and she has also been featured on a number of antisemitic and white nationalist websites.
In his presentation of September 10, 2011--at the 9/11 Truth Alliance event Calvert booked and where Springmeier would later talk--Tim Calvert made his own politics clear once again. Calvert's presentation, allegedly on the topic of "Critical Thinking," is also available online, having been recorded and then circulated by videographer Joe Anybody. Calvert discusses the US media as being controlled by special interests, the example provided by Calvert being an NPR journalist who Calvert believes ought to have disclosed that she was married to an Israeli citizen and that she lives in Israel--this is a rather obvious attempt to invoke the "dual loyalties" antisemitic myth, and to suggest that the special interest in question behind the US media is a "Zionist"/Jewish one. Calvert then proceeds to cite as his support Alison Weir, the president of the Council for the National Interest infamous for pushing the modern blood libel that there is an Israeli conspiracy to harvest the organs of Palestinian children.
Calvert's presentation rambles about the Tavistock Institute, a UK institution who Calvert believes has its roots in a broader Jewish attempt (ostensibly because it is linked to a nephew of Freud) to manipulate British public opinion against Germany enough to pave the way for World War and for the WWII air bombings against German civilian targets. In Calvert's topsy-turvy world, WWII therefore becomes a narrative about Jews attacking Germans, not the other way around. With such remarks about Tavistock etcetera behind him, Calvert then makes the following characterization: "Rose City Antifa, otherwise known as the anonymous Zionist hit squad trained by Tavistock and resembling most closely Israeli settlers in the West Bank of Jerusalem. We all become Palestinians in Gaza when the Zionists declare you the enemy." It is clear from such commentary that Calvert is not interested in any actual criticism of Israeli state policies, but rather that he believes in a massive Jewish conspiracy with worldwide reach which caused everything from Britain's entering into World War II to antifascists now criticizing Calvert. This is extreme antisemitism, thoroughly consistent with Calvert's political direction for over half a decade.
Immediately following Calvert's 2011 presentation at the Sellwood Community Center space he booked, another panel featured 9/11 Truth activists discussing what they considered as "false flag" operations. Tim Titrud spoke out about "false flag" reports of anti-gay violence, singling out Matthew Shepard, who was tortured and murdered by two homophobic men in 1998. In Titrud's repulsive logic, he paints right-wing Christians as the true victims of a queer conspiracy to rob them of their right to be bigots. Richard Frager contributed some conspiracy theories about the JFK assassination. Ramping things up, Cathie Bell then talked about "Zionist" control of Congress, and about how the 2011 mass murder by Anders Behring Breivik in Norway was actually a "false flag"/mind control operation orchestrated by Israel to punish Norway for siding with the Palestinians. The footage of Calvert's political associates is available online as well.
Calvert, Citybikes and the Co-op Movement
In 2009, Rose City Antifascists warned of antisemitic agitation by Tim Calvert and the Portland 9/11 Truth Alliance. We asked Citybikes, allegedly a business that is part of the progressive community, to hold Tim Calvert accountable for his hateful activism by firing the promoter of Holocaust deniers and "racialists". Citybikes stood by Calvert. While Citybikes retracted their initial clear statement of hostility to antifascists, the cooperative then replaced this with an alleged commitment to dialogue which of course led to them putting the issue aside and doing nothing. Tim Calvert subsequently felt confident to host yet another batch of far-Right speakers over the following three years, including Springmeier whose proximity to white supremacists and the Army of God has been documented. Citybikes Workers' Cooperative continued to put food on Calvert's plate. Calvert continued and escalated his antisemitic activism while remaining firmly ensconced in the presumed progressive co-op community.
Tim Calvert has stated why he believes that the cooperative movement is important from the position of his politics. In his online book review of William Sutton's Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution--a book alleging that financial cabals were behind the Bolshevik Revolution--Calvert writes that "my take on 'leftest' [sic] 'progressive' social movements would have been greatly altered" had he been exposed to this conspiracy book earlier: "Now it is clear that resistance to the New World Order must begin by breaking from as many connections you have with it as possible and that includes work, consumption and leisure. Controlling Local Markets is the only sure way of breaking from the globalists." Calvert here argues that movements such as the co-op movement are important as a way of resisting a vast global conspiracy, the same conspiracy that Calvert elsewhere describes as "Zionist." The Co-ops are important to Calvert because he now sees them as a tool of independence from Jewish control.
In general, the co-op movement on the West Coast has stood with Calvert. Many attempts were made by genuine anti-racists within the Western Worker Cooperative Conference (WWCC) to discuss Calvert's activities and to educate about antisemitism. Some members of the WWCC were sympathetic, but Calvert was never formally asked to leave the WWCC Board. The WWCC Board formally refused to discuss any reprimand for Calvert. Calvert nonetheless resigned from the Board of his own free will in early 2011, having never been censured. The clear majority position within WWCC leadership was that Calvert's star power within that community trumped his questionable political trajectory. In fact, Calvert's clout in these circles enables him to more effectively recruit and gives his proto-fascist leanings both cover and credibility. The WWCC website continues to pay tribute to Calvert as a conference founder, stating nothing about Calvert's extreme politics.
The WWCC stance demonstrates how co-op politics are not necessarily the same thing as anti-oppression politics. Even when anti-oppression politics are given lip service within the West Coast co-op movement, antisemitism generally is overlooked, considered as unimportant, or viewed as just a smear label unjustly applied across the board to critics of the Israeli state. Rose City Antifa has seen antisemitism be a common focus for various strains of far-right organizers to rally around, as in the Pacifica Forum where psuedo-intellectuals, conspiracy theorists, anti-choicers, and neo-Nazis would network around their shared hatred of Jews. We also view antisemitism such as Calvert's, which comes cloaked in Leftist trappings (anti-globalist language, anti-capitalist rhetoric, etc), as an entry point for some to an increasingly racist, sexist, and homophobic world view. Coded antisemitic talk about the "bankers" can be a palatable prelude to later indoctrination in the extreme Right. Our organization's experience has been that despite the good intentions of scattered individuals within it, opponents of antisemitism should expect no solidarity from the WWCC or the West Coast co-op movement in general.
Rose City Antifa sees it as politically important to work with those committed to turning the tide within the regional co-op movement over the long term. In the meantime we strongly condemn the support Citybikes and the co-op movement have extended to Tim Calvert, support that has translated to more Jew-haters and extreme-Right organizers being welcomed in Portland.homepage: http://rosecityantifa.org
phone: 971.533.7832
Related alert posted couple days earlier, and possibly implicating the Springmeier guest as an imposter:
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2012/09/417870.shtml
ANTIFASCIST ALERT
antifascist alert
holocaust denier organizes picnic at sellwood park, invites racist convicted bomber
ANTIFASCIST ALERT
HOLOCAUST DENIER ORGANIZES PICNIC AT LIBERTY PARK, INVITES RACIST CONVICTED BOMBER
the following email was leaked:
..................................................................
Portland 911 Truth-Alliance
Thursday, August 30, 2012 9:33 AM
From: "oregontt" oregontt@aol.com>
To: oregontt@aol.com
Below is information on three upcoming events The Portland 911 Truth Alliance will be Hosting.
The Portland 911 Truth-Alliance is happy to present author and 911-researcher MARK GAFFNEY on Saturday, September the 1st. This is a FREE event at the Hollywood Library in Portland, Oregon which is located at 4040 N.E. Tillamook. This even will be held from 2pm to 4: 30 p.m.
Mark's talk is titled "Black 911: Money, Motive and Technology."
The weeks following the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, were traumatic for nearly every American, but for some, the answers they received from the media and the government to explain the horrific events was not satisfactory. Accusations of cover-ups, internal plots, and sabotage from within the ranks of the U.S. government were - and continue to be - not uncommon.
But compelling evidence contrary to the accepted narrative has, for some skeptics, been lacking .
Mark Gaffney's investigation into the events of that day reveals dark secrets about the United States. Taking highly complex technical and scientific information, and distilling it for the consumption of the layperson. Mark's inquiry attempts to reveal the truth behind that infamous day.
Mark H. Gaffney is an environmentalist, peace activist, researcher, and author of many books. Mark holds a degree in physical science and lives in Southern, Oregon.
Other upcoming Portland 911 Truth-Alliance Events include a movie on the 7th and a pot luck on the 9th. :
The viewing of the pilot episode of the Lone Gunman, which foretold the 911 operation in incredible detail 6 months before it happened. This will show at the MIDLAND LIBRARY at 805 S.E. 122nd in Portland, Oregon at Friday, Sept. 7 at 2 p.m.
Truth and Food
Sunday Sept. 9th
1 to 5pm
Area "G" Sellwood Park
SE 7th and SE Lambert
Tired of Propaganda?
Feel smothered by people parroting lies?
Well this potluck is for you!
Bring food you like to eat and beverages you like to drink to share with others! A Bullshit Free zone will exist around area G. People who talk about the 9-11 false flag, Portland's water system and why we must stop the poisoning of the water via fluoride, Palestine and how we are all Palestinians, peace, justice and anything else; will be there.
There will be an extra interesting participant, Fritz Springmeir, at the potluck. Find out about him come and ask a question.
...........................................................................................
An easier way to find out about Springmeier:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Springmeier
Fritz Artz Springmeier is an American conspiracy theorist and religious right wing author, formerly a resident of Corbett, Oregon, who has written a number of books claiming that satanic forces are behind a move toward world domination by various families and organizations. He has described his goal as "exposing the New World Order agenda."[1
Conspiracy theories
Springmeier has written and self-published a number of books based on the ideology of what's been described as an "ultra-right-wing group" called the Christian Patriot Association;[2] this group was shut down in 2002 after convictions for tax fraud and tax evasion.[3]
In the talk page someone asks if he's dead:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Fritz_Springmeier
-- its being scrubbed out. isn't the guy dead now? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.204.125.89 (talk) 23:59, 9 February 2011 (UTC)
The guy filmed by Joe Anybody the last time Spingmeier was hosted by the 911 Truth Alliance is probably an imposter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8ramBn-6Ls
compare:
http://i47.tinypic.com/1z685z4.jpg
Details of Springmeier Bomb plot:
link to www.splcenter.org
March 1, 2001
As part of an ongoing probe into a white supremacist group, federal and local law enforcement agents raid the Corbett, Ore., home of Fritz Springmeier, seizing equipment to grow marijuana and weapons and racist literature. They also find a binder notebook entitled "Army of God, Yahweh's Warriors" that contains what officials call a list of targets, including a local federal building and the FBI's Oregon offices. Springmeier, an associate of the anti-Semitic Christian Patriots Association, is eventually charged with setting off a diversionary bomb at an adult video store in Damascus, Ore., in 1997 as part of a bank robbery carried out by accomplice Forrest Bateman Jr. Another 2001 raid finds small amounts of bomb materials and marijuana in Bateman's home. Eventually, Bateman pleads guilty to bank robbery and Springmeier is convicted of the same charges, and both are sentenced to nine years.
for more on oregontt@aol.com go to pdx911truth.ning.com/profile/TimTitrud
or google>> titrud holocaust denial
SAY NO TO VIOLENT RACIST ORGANIZERS
NAZIS GO HOME
For more info:
http://rosecityantifa.weebly.com/1/post/2012/09/portland-911-truth-alliance-hosts-right-wing-bomber-courtesy-of-city-bikes-president-tim-calvert.html
ANTIFASCISTS CALL FOR BOYCOTT OF CITY BIKES
It's on:
PORTLAND BIKE CO-OP MAINTAINS ANTI-SEMITIC PRESIDENT; ANTFA CALL FOR BOYCOTT OF BUSINESS
Rose City Antifa
Since 2009, Citybikes Workers’ Cooperative in Portland, Oregon has known about the deep involvement of a key figure of their co-op in antisemitic organizing--political work done in collaboration with white supremacists, Holocaust-deniers, and others on the extreme-Right. Tim Calvert, the Citybikes President at the time of writing, is defended and promoted by the rest of the co-op, who attempt to maintain a progressive image while propping up their antisemitic President. Anti-racists first raised the issue of Calvert’s antisemitic organizing in 2009, after Calvert and his cohorts in the Portland 9/11 Truth Alliance hosted a speech by Valdas Anelauskas, a racist organizer who proclaims that evidence for the Holocaust is “shaky.” Citybikes mishandled its response during 2009, making excuses for Calvert and declaring that no problem existed after Calvert issued a bogus apology, even though Calvert’s organizing against Jewish people continued unabated. In September of this year, anti-racists again drew attention to Calvert’s antisemitic organizing. In particular, we noted that Calvert twice gained venues for Fritz Springmeier, an antisemitic author convicted of bank robbery charges alongside a white supremacist accomplice. (Springmeier’s 1997 robbery plot also involved detonating a bomb at an adult video store as a diversion.) Footage of the Citybikes President giving an extreme antisemitic speech was also pointed to at this time, and Rose City Antifascists provided an extensive chronologyof organizing by Calvert and his Portland 9/11 Truth Alliance organization. Now, Citybikes having discussed their President’s organizing yet again, the co-op has refused to take substantive action on this escalating community problem. On the morning of Monday, September 24, 2012, Citybikes held a meeting regarding the latest revelations concerning their President’s antisemitic organizing. A representative of Rose City Antifascists contacted Citybikes later that day, asking for clarification about any plan of action the Citybikes co-op may have to finally address Calvert’s bigoted activism. Citybikes refused to give any clarification regarding the co-op’s position, despite having several years ago made an empty statement that it “recognize[s] the need for communication” on this matter. Silence from this business is unsurprising, given that Citybikes has already spent three years being negligent on this issue and supporting its antisemitic President. Citybikes' refusal to take any action (even in the face of much new information on Calvert’s political work and associates) now compels an anti-racist response.
When we first alerted the community to Tim Calvert’s extreme-Right organizing back in 2009, the initial response of the Citybikes Board of Directors was not only to side with and praise Calvert, but to label our organization as “fascist” for criticizing Calvert’s antisemitic activism. This Citybikes statement accused anti-racists of “shutting down disparate voices” by mentioning and speaking out against Calvert’s work with a white supremacist. Ironically, it was the Citybikes collective who shut down disparate voices: their business later retracted its first statement because it was “was not released with consensus from all members of the Board, nor did it pass through the hands of each and every worker.” Citybikes also insisted that it would be illegal to fire Calvert, a clear misrepresentation of Oregon as well as federal law for the business’ own purposes. The Citybikes business later issued a vague and noncommittal statement about “the need for communication”. Citybikes proceeded to stand by Calvert as he publicly complained that his critics were on a “Stalinist” (later also described as “Zionist”) crusade against him.
Some critics of Rose City Antifascists defend Tim Calvert’s antisemitic organizing as a free speech issue. The First Amendment and related free speech laws protect citizens from state interference, not from criticism by the public. Our organization has always been clear that we do not call for any sort of government intervention regarding hateful speech, by Calvert or anyone else. We aim to address issues of racist and extreme-Right organizing within communities, not to trust or engage the courts, or to ask for government action. We oppose calls to fight fascist movements through increases of state power, as this firstly treats the state as an allegedly neutral tool and conceals institutional racism. Furthermore, increases in state investigative and prosecutorial power against alleged “extremism” can facilitate crackdowns on protest and social change movements in general, which we oppose.
Our organization believes that communities should unite in opposition when white supremacist, fascist, or antisemitic organizers attempt to target sections of the population. We believe that when white supremacists and fascists organize, they inevitably try to exert their strength against those they perceive as enemies--people of color, Jewish people, workplace organizers, sexual minorities, Leftists, and other groups. Watchfulness on the part of communities is therefore appropriate, including strong responses to antisemitic agitation--such agitation has historically tended to explode into sudden and extreme violence when allowed to spread. Organizing such as Tim Calvert’s, in spreading lies about Jewish people, creates favorable conditions for such violence. Tim Calvert, who twice secured meeting locations for an extreme-Right bomber, should not play innocent about the climate he is creating and its consequences.
Our organization is a militant one and we believe that force may at times be a necessary component in resisting fascist and white power organizing, if the alternative is simply to stand by and allow assaults, organized persecution, bombings or killings to take place unopposed. Our campaign in documenting and drawing attention to Tim Calvert’s activism, however, has been one of ideological confrontation. Through his Jew-hating activism Tim Calvert made himself a public figure, and thus became subject to public scrutiny and criticism. Calvert should expect antifascist criticism to be loud and unrelenting.
Rose City Antifascists asked Citybikes--a business with a progressive and community-oriented image--to say that antisemitic agitation and racist propaganda do not serve their community. We requested that the business take a concrete stand against such agitation, when a central co-op member worked for years spreading antisemitic lies and hosted a white supremacist. Calvert gains activist prestige and political credibility from his co-op work, because his workplace is falsely viewed as a progressive institution. This prestige and power is then used by Calvert to promote hatred of Jewish people, and to organize with racists and anti-gay bigots. If Citybikes is unhappy about the antisemitic organizing of their President, then it should certainly take action about this.
In Rose City Antifa’s first discussion of Calvert’s organizing, we argued that “If a collective or co-op can't deal properly with an anti-Semitic activist within its ranks, then it does not deserve to be supported.” We stand by these words over three years later. We have seen that quietude and tacit acceptance only allow antisemitic organizing to continue, escalate, and grow even more extreme. Silence and denial are not the answers. We call for a complete boycott of Citybikes.
Some Things You Can Do to Support the Citybikes BoycottCalvert sympathizers unhappy with boycott, go apeshit
(1) Remove any links to Citybikes on your website or Facebook page. If you have been giving advertising to Citybikes, tell them why you are stopping.
(2) Discuss problems of antisemitism in your community group. Antisemitism thrives when concealed, excused, or treated as “not an issue.” Make a commitment to educating yourself and others in your community.
(3) Tell your friends why you are supporting other Portland bike shops, and mention this when making purchases at these other establishments.
(4) Organize in the co-op community to oppose racist, antisemitic, anti-gay, transphobic, and anti-women politics. Realize that these problems affect participation within the co-op movement, and erode any claims of equitable workplace involvement.
(5) Keep an eye out for updates and share them with your friends, community organizations, as well as bike-related social groups.
(6) Contact Rose City Antifascists about any responses from Citybikes, or updates on Calvert’s bigoted organizing. Our voicemail number is 971-533-7832 and our email is fight_them_back [at] riseup [dot] net.
Seriously: http://pdx911truthalliancedramatica.blogspot.com/2012/10/co-op-activist-targeted-for-anti-racist.html
