Battle for the Bay — What’s the Real Message

Michelle Dione
Aug 22, 2017 · 11 min read

OPERATION — DE-ESCALATE RIGHT WING RALLIES

Key Objective: Understand the true messaging for the Freedom of Speech Rally at Crissy Field on Saturday, August 26 and the Anti-Marxist rally at Berkeley on Sunday, August 27. Also a helpful guide to anticipate what may happen and what to look out for to avoid getting caught up in chaotic situations.

Many people are associating the rallies coming to the Bay Area this weekend with the KKK and Alt-right. This gets confusing, as far as messaging goes it’s way more complicated than that. The messaging that is being formed for the future right wing rallies is largely around pushing people of color out in the forefront to distance the groups like Patriot’s Prayer away from a white supremacist image. It’s often like a magic trick of optical illusions in hopes that we all forget what these groups have been doing for the last 4 or 5 months.

When rallies first started coming out from right wing groups it was mostly started by a variety of Trump supporters who were still on a trolling high from winning the election. The Freedom of Speech Rallies have always been about vengeance against Antifa after Antifa had shut down the Milo Yiannopoulos speech in Berkeley on February 1, 2017 and punched Richard Spencer. The message those in the right wing are trying to convey is, “don’t attack someone for their belief” placing themselves in a victim role. According to many sources, the problem for those who counter protested previous Trump rallies and events like Milo’s is there are individuals who come to harass and commit hate crimes. There is no community defense in place other than Antifa, as hate crimes in college settings especially are not taken very seriously. So Antifa would rather shut certain rally speakers down, considering no one else is going to protect the community from growing hate groups recruiting and bullying. These right wing groups want free reign for a reason and they are not simply speaking about an ideological message they are encouraging acts of online doxxing and harassment. When people like Milo Yiannopoulos and Richard Spencer explain their messaging, they always say they are completely non-violent and refuse to admit the subjects they talk about insight violence and extremism from their followers. And to be fair, Richard Spencer truly is far more non-violent than many of the other speakers the far-right wing has he just happens to be one of the most known on the Alt-Right. Some social media right wing celebrities verified on twitter blatantly endorse civil war.

In that vengeance against Antifa for spoiling right wing events, many formal groups like The Proud Boys developed and they crossed over into working with any group they could find willing to “smash antifa” and any counter protesters that got in their way. That ended up including the Alt-Right who in the beginning of the year kept a cool clean cut demeanor and had a philosophy of an ethno-state for themselves without committing genocide. Over time, a majority of right wing social media leaders got increasingly more extreme as their audience responded greater to the violence and hatred of the “Left and Liberals”.

After the groups held rallies together from March to June, eventually the “nazi white nationalist” image that the Alt-right brought with them clung onto the Proud Boys and they decided to distance and disavow. This was largely do to the effects of backlash after the Portland train stabbings of 2 people stabbed on a train protecting 2 young women on May 28, 2017.

Joey Gibson who leads Patriots Prayer and is hosting the Freedom of Speech rally in San Francisco at Crissy Field this weekend has mostly organized rallies in Portland and Seattle with the same groups that attended the “Battle of Berkeley” rallies. One rally on April 15, 2017 turned extremely violent and included white supremacist groups like Identity Evropa. Joey has always disavowed violence and hate crimes as he did after the stabbing in Portland, OR, but it didn’t stop him from holding a rally in Portland, OR the weekend after the stabbings happened upsetting the city and creating mass chaos. To add to that, Joey had included members of Identity Evropa in one of his most recent rallies on August 7, 2017 in Portland, OR. Jake Von Ott of Identity Evropa was seen celebrating and walking right next to Joey in his live feed at the end of the rally.

CRISSY FIELD MESSAGING — What Does Patriot’s Prayer Want?

Joey Gibson’s Patriot Prayer group does not have much emphasis on a specific message. When you peel back their safe messaging of “Breaking down barriers and connecting with people to destroy the mainstream narrative” you will find out that there is a wide variety of different mostly Trump supporting thinkers with a big emphasis on supporting “Blue Lives Matter” the anti-Black Lives Matter slogan of choice. Other most common beliefs from this highly religious group is supporting the Muslim Ban, departing “illegals”, banning abortion, and anti-Marxist/socialism and communism. What is most unique about this group is its claim to having a large police and military service support. Back in June I was asked to do some research on the group before the Portland, OR rally and I discovered Joey Gibson had employed CIA admitting to being part of the group and going to the rally: https://medium.com/@michelledione/warriors-for-freedom-police-cia-are-involved-in-pro-trump-rallies-beb24206a616

If you notice, they used to be called “Warriors for Freedom” but now they are called “Patriots Prayer”. Their outer messaging and image changing depending on current events. The point of the rallies almost seems like a virtual troll to Liberal cities that Donald Trump doesn’t like. Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Berkeley, all sanctuary cities on Donald Trump’s hit list. Supporters of these rallies often wish for police to violently put down counter protesters and take control of the city against the Liberal government. This is not to say Donald Trump is directly involved, why would he need to do that when someone beneath him can do it for him after all. It also could just be that these supporters are such die hard fans they do whatever it takes to fulfill what they see as his will. It is just quite a coincidence.

This is why Crissy Field is so alarming. Crissy Field is under Federal jurisdiction. A strange law allows for open carry on this field, while at the same time being under Federal jurisdiction so if anyone is arrested, the charges can been much more severe especially being under the jurisdiction of DOJ Jeff Sessions. Originally, we believed the point of this rally was actually a trap to get Antifa arrested before going to Berkeley the next day while being able to take a cool photo op of the Golden Gate Bridge. I am 100% sure they would love to show how they rallied in the most liberal city of them all and made it back successfully, spreading their message and gaining more support as this is something Joey himself loves to talk about. He boasted in a recent facebook lifestream about how great it was he was getting so much media attention for the rally because it meant their message will be heard by more people.

It is unfortunate that it took the death of a woman and 19 others injured in Charlottesville, VA to get such huge participation and attention of these rallies. There has been attention at Berkeley in the past but most residents did not even know about what was going on until after they found out about it on the news. Others were too scared to participate and many had the philosophy of just ignoring, which gave them room to continuing coming to Berkeley without much community push back. Ignoring a bully only works for those the bully is not targeting after all.

Thankfully , with massive counter protests planned for San Francisco and Berkeley, we do believe we can finally fill up and take back control of public spaces from these rally goers who come simply to mark territory and excite their followings. Yes they have a message to spread, but most of it is based on the same propaganda that the Bay Area has historically been against. You don’t need to see and hear the speakers in person to see them on the internet, it truly is all the same.

Crissy Field is new territory for us, but after paying attention to recent rallies like Boston, MA last weekend it seems likely the police will do the same strategy of escorting the rally goers through the counter protesters in the safest way possible. Police are learning they need to completely separate the rally goers from counter protesters in these large counter protest situations. Which means we probably will not even have a chance to see the rally goers up close in personal. Even if we do, they are not likely to be violent as this is not the same type of extremists that attended the Charlottesville, VA rally. Still, there are possible chances that “lone wolf agitators” can come and try to insight individual violence to create chaos. It happens at every rally. And it times, it can come from left leaning thinkers as well. What I’ve noticed is whether they are left leaning or right leaning, violent or non-violent, people who go to rallies truly believe their intended actions are the best method. We simply can not control everyone’s thought processes, only attempt to control an environment to prevent major problems from arising.

Berkeley MESSAGING — WHAT IS ANTI-MARXIST

The first “Battle of Berkeley” rally billed as a Freedom of Speech rally had no speakers at all, which spoke volumes about the rallies true purpose. It was organized by Kyle Chapman and Rich Black who have since parted ways. Kyle Chapman made his claim to right wing fame as “Basedstickman” after video footage of him hitting Antifa with a lead filled wooden stick was shared on every right wing social media outlet from the March 4, 2017 Berkeley rally. Kyle was seen on local news, bear maced a black panther as many saw, without reason. He was arrested for other charges but gained so much support he was able to crowdfund his bail and then some, around $80,000 was obtained.

Currently, Kyle Chapman is facing prosecution from Alameda County DA for possession and use of that same lead filled stick. It’s not clear if he will even make it to Crissy Field or Berkeley this weekend since his arraignment is this Friday, but he sure is trying.

The person organizing the Berkeley rally is a trans woman by the name of Amber Cummings. Amber is a tea party darling who has attended every Berkeley rally that Kyle Chapman attended and has been organizing this Sunday’s rally with him. The basic message for Anti-Marxism is passionately spoken about almost daily on Amber’s Facebook page. Her argument seems that it simply does not work so we shouldn’t try it. Regardless, the idea of wanting to rally for Freedom of Speech monthly all Spring just to then come up with an Anti-Marxism rally at the end of the summer is ironic. They call it “wrong think” when people police what they believe in, that’s what the first amendment is for. Yet they don’t see the hypocrisy in gathering hundreds of out of towners to “smash commies” and tell entire cities the way they are governing is completely wrong and needs to be stopped by any means.

HOW SHOULD YOU PROTEST?

  • I can’t tell you how to protest. If anything there is a general consensus among community activists that a diversity of tactics works best. We do ask that you come peacefully. Violence is not going to be a good look and is not necessary. We are going to grossly outnumber the rally goers on the other side. Self defense is totally acceptable if needed. When people say we need to preach non-violence, we have to say that is not so easy to debate because there are times when being violent becomes necessary to protect oneself, their family and their community. But we do want to avoid violence from occurring. The name of the game is all about optics. If you are pictured or recorded being violent against someone else, everyone will see the other side as a victim and feel sympathy for them even if the image portrayed does not show them attacking you first. Images can be misleading in that sense and the right wing loves to use images to mislead a real story. Instead, we’d would love the Bay Area to show the world what we are really about. Express yourselves!
  • Avoid provocateurs who seek to trigger reactions and get you emotional. They simply want you to fight. Growing a thick skin is necessary when you are dealing with extremists as they have no boundaries in what they will do and say.
  • Respect your fellow counter protesters. Do not take pictures of people’s faces if they are clearly uncomfortable with being seen. Wearing masks is one clue to that. Many people have been severely doxxed for attending these rallies (usually people who directly fight and oppose the alt-right so if you are not bothering rally goers you will be okay).
  • Beware of people asking you questions on camera to get an emotional rant out of you. Make sure you know what you are talking about if you do talk on camera. There are always alt-right antagonists hidden in the crowds trying to get great sound bites, pictures and media to give amusement to their trolling fans.
  • Remember this is like dealing with bullies at recess in elementary school. They will taunt you, call you names, know exactly what to say to hurt you. Stay calm, cool and remove emotions and hate from your heart. I’ve done this many times and it just makes them walk away and never talk to you again.
  • Have a buddy system. In case you do run into some violent agitators the more your party suddenly grows and activates the more likely the agitators will back down.
  • Bullies are also like dogs. Show no fear, confusion or insecurities. When you show how fearful you are they know you are an easy target.

MAIN MESSAGING FROM RALLIES (so you can make good counter messaging)

  • Anti-immigration/supports deportation & ICE
  • For Muslim ban
  • Anti-abortion and planned parenthood
  • Against Identity Politics
  • Anti-government social safety nets like healthcare & snap
  • Mostly Christian
  • Passionately hate Obama and Hillary Clinton (still talks about them)
  • Love president Donald Trump no matter what he does
  • Propaganda pushers of false media
  • Blue Lives Matter
  • Obsessively against Communism
  • Pro-Western Culture, believe everyone should assimilate to their ideal state
  • Pro Confederate monument preservation
  • Fine with people of color (they really hate being called racist)
  • Anti-Black Lives Matter
  • Extremely Patriotic
  • In favor of traditional Male/Female roles (Patriarchy)
  • Fine with LGBT but against trans in the military (because Trump said so)
  • Pretty much anything Trump says they support, except white supremacy because again, they hate being called racist
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Michelle Dione

Written by

Journalism student. Writer, Photographer (11 years experience) Video production, platform builder, connecting content & community. Black Panther, Oakland, CA

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