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Title: The Two Faces of Fascism
Author: CrimethInc.
Date: June 5, 2017
Language: en
Topics: fascism, police, Portland
Source: Retrieved on 23rd April 2021 from https://crimethinc.com/2017/06/05/poster-the-two-faces-of-fascism-how-police-and-fascists-work-together

CrimethInc.

The Two Faces of Fascism

In May, Jeremy Christian, an alt-right proponent of so-called “free

speech,” murdered two people on a commuter train in Portland who were

responding to his attacks on two teenage women of color. In response,

far-right organizers promoted a rally in favor of “free speech” to take

place in downtown Portland on June 4. Portland Police, Oregon State

Police, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and a host of

other state forces mobilized to protect these “patriots” from the

consequences of promoting hatred and violence.

The events in Portland reflect a classic model we have already seen

police and fascists employ in Berkeley. Police disarm and disempower

demonstrators so fascists can attack them with impunity. In the

aftermath of the clashes that took place in Berkeley on April 15, police

carried out a series of raids in the Bay Area utilizing intelligence

that had been provided to them by far-right internet trolls. This

two-pronged assault enables reactionaries embedded in the state to

disavow the elements of their agenda that are perceived as too extreme,

while utilizing a variety of tactics to crush attempts at

self-determination and self-defense.

In creating a space for nationalists to promote violence and seizing

weapons from those who need to be able to defend themselves from attacks

like the one carried out by Jeremy Christian, Portland police are

complicit in the rise of fascism. On June 4, police attacked

demonstrators bearing banners reading MOURN THE DEAD and FIGHT LIKE HELL

FOR THE LIVING. They utilized a variety of less-lethal weaponry to break

up demonstrations against the far-right organizers, in order to preserve

a space for the far right to continue recruiting.

Fascists and other nationalists support the police, in turn, by

spreading narratives justifying their violence against those opposing

the rise of fascism. Anyone who has experience in demonstrations knows

that police manufacture their own propaganda to justify whatever they

do. Yet reactionaries who consider CNN and the New York Times “fake

news” are willing to believe anything they read on a police twitter

account. This is the mindset that supports fascism: independent

reporting and critical inquiry are derided, while the narratives spread

by the authorities are swallowed whole.

All this is part of a broader pattern in which police and fascists

reinforce each other’s activities. Here’s how it works, in a nutshell.

Fascist groups promote racist, sexist, and nationalist violence.

Individual bigots carry it out—attacking people in the streets, shooting

people in churches, stabbing people on trains. The authorities use these

attacks as an excuse to increase control, promising to protect a fearful

population. But the greatest threat is not individual fascists: it is

the state itself. It is the state that deports and imprisons millions,

that suppresses dissent, that imposes the tremendous imbalances of power

that characterize this society.

If we count on the authorities to control fascist activity, granting

them resources and legitimacy in hopes that they will protect us, it is

only a matter of time until a more reactionary government takes power

and uses those resources and legitimacy to carry out even more violence.

This is why only grassroots resistance can stop the rise of fascism. We

salute the courage of those who took the streets in Portland to oppose

racist violence and the rise of fascism. In the end, if we want to put

an end to all racist violence, we will have to come to grips with the

state itself. We have to become capable of defending our demonstrations

and communities from police as well as fascists.