Portland DSA Calls on the Entire City to Rally Against Fascism on Saturday

Portland DSA calls on the entire city of Portland to mobilize on Saturday in opposition to fascism. Despite the fear-mongering of city leaders, and the threats of violence from the far-right, we know that giving in to fear will allow fascists and Neo-Nazis to recruit in our city.

Because of weak city leadership and a sympathetic police force, fascists have learned that if they want to start a fight in Portland, they can. This allows them to attract new, curious, still-radicalizing young men to their cause. We know that the tactics of exposing, de-platforming, humiliating, confronting, and disrupting fascists are effective. We know that the city government opposes us. The city believes their use of state violence is the only way to stop these rallies. They believe community defense on the part of antifascist groups like Rose City Antifa stifles the free speech of fascists. So they attack leftist counter-protestors in the name of free speech, giving these out-of-town street gangs exactly the violence they want to see.

If the leaders of Portland truly want to stop the fascist creep in our city, then they are making fatal errors. They have given legitimacy to the far-right by protecting them. They have embraced the climate of fear that the far-right has sought to spread. Their attempts to intervene have only made things worse. They have spent weeks attempting to dissuade the people of Portland from showing up on Saturday when our community is the only thing that can protect our community.

How did we get here? Decades of allowing a white supremacist police department to operate without oversight. The continued election of centrist liberals who rely on market forces and state violence to solve all our problems. The lack of will on the part of Portland liberals to band together with those on the frontline in our fight against Trump, neo-fascism, and the right-wing militias that terrorize us today.

Boston was able to amass 40,000 people to kick fascists out of their city. San Francisco was able to use mass public and political pressure to keep Patriot Prayer at bay. Our city has been capable of neither. Now is the time to join with antifascists of all kinds, from those in black bloc to the everyday antifascists who refuse to sit idly by while neo-nazis recruit new members in our streets.

We are aware of the risks. We want every person to carefully consider their own abilities before attending such a rally. We also know that the dangers of the fascist threat are not confined to this rally: members of our Queer community were attacked this year. DSA and IWW’s office space was attacked this year. The fascists have declared that their real enemy is the far left, so they spent months trying to break up our meetings. We do not confront the right wing flippantly, we do so because the growth of fascism is a threat to our survival. Yet we also know that the privileged many in Portland do not show up for the marginalized, and it has fallen on us to protect ourselves.

Now is the time. Show up on Saturday. The more of us gathered together in solidarity, the safer we will be. Don’t give in to the climate of fear created by the far-right and nurtured by city leaders. Join the Spectacle and make it impossible for fascists to ever rally in our city again.

PopMob’s rally The Spectacle begins at 10AM at 6 SW Pine St.

Portland DSA will meet at the Japanese American Historical Plaza at 10:17 AM.