“We’ve heard that a bunch of different groups are coming, including the Proud Boys,” he wrote. “We encourage everybody to join us Friday, especially patriots, and we’ve researched into the Proud Boys and checked their website and seen they are patriots.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated the Proud Boys, founded in 2016, as a hate group — a move that prompted a lawsuit — and the Anti-Defamation League says the group “represent[s] an unconventional strain of American right-wing extremism.”Philadelphia Inquirer
Here’s who’s behind ‘reopen’ rallies planned for Friday at Philadelphia City Hall
Anna Orso
"One of the qualities that makes the Proud Boys particularly dangerous is the friendly relationship they have been able to cultivate with the GOP. “The Proud Boys’ lack of overtly racist symbols has given them a level of access to the Republican mainstream (as well as a free pass for militant street activism) that the Alt Right can only dream of,” Emily Gorcenski, a progressive activist who was present as a counterprotester at the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally, wrote for Political Research Associates.
Unlike the Proud Boys rallies of the past, members of the group are unlikely to find antifascists to brawl with in the streets at anti-lockdown protests. They are also not the main organizers behind the early demonstrations – that designation belongs primarily to wealthy right-wing activists. Those include the Dorr family, which draws in hundreds of thousands of dollars each year operating a number of pro-gun and anti-abortion groups, and the Michigan Freedom Fund, which is linked to the family of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos...
Fox News, which has in the past avoided addressing the Proud Boys’ appetite for violence, has been one of the largest cheerleaders behind the demonstrations. (Tucker Carlson once posed for a photo with members of the Proud Boys, while Sean Hannity has hosted Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes on his show more than 20 times.) The media conglomerate promoted the “Michiganders against excessive quarantine” Facebook page and its Lansing rally the day before protesters hit the street. The page gained roughly 80,000 new followers in the day after Fox published their story. During her show, Fox News host Jeanine Pirro told one organizer on air, “A lot of people are very proud of you.” During another segment, the network displayed an image showing viewers the locations of all upcoming rallies. The network notoriously holds sway with President Trump, who posted a tweet calling on his followers to “liberate” states run by Democratic governors only minutes after Fox aired a story on the protests. Trump later called the protesters “great people.”
Wealthy far-right donors and the right-wing media are helping to amplify what is, in reality, a small movement. (One poll shows only 10% of voters favor ending social distancing to stimulate the economy.) In the process, they are elevating some of the most extreme figures who operate within these circles. Proud Boys and others have recognized the opportunity being handed to them and, on top of attending large-scale anti-lockdown rallies organized on Facebook, are now launching protests of their own...
The Proud Boys were among the earliest far-right adopters of the meme. After getting kicked off Facebook early last year, they returned to the platform under the page name “West is the Best II: Electric Boogaloo.” The meme has now been widely adopted within far-right and antigovernment circles. At an anti-lockdown protest in New Hampshire, men toting rifles and dressed in tactical gear handed out “Liberty or Boogaloo” flyers.
The notion that the pandemic could accelerate the country’s descent into a civil war has gained currency on the right, evidenced by the growth of groups with names like “Boogaloo Enthusiasts: CORONAPOCALYPSE” on Facebook. “Did Trump just call for boogaloo?” one of the group’s members wrote after the president called on his followers to “LIBERATE VIRGINIA” on Twitter. “Well, you heard the man! Let’s go bois,” another responded.
The Proud Boys are connected to the broader extreme right in other ways – namely, that they promote a hierarchical society in which some people are more deserving of inclusion in civil society than others. Women, they argue, are best suited for domestic labor and should be subservient to men. Trans people, they’ve written on their Telegram channel, are “mentally ill gays.”
"From militia groups to white supremacists, extremists on a range of online platforms talk about—and sometimes even anticipate—the “boogaloo.” The rise of “boogaloo,” and its casual acceptance of future mass violence, is disturbing. Among some extremists, it may even signify an increased willingness to engage in violence."MORE AT:
ADL
The Boogaloo: Extremists’ New Slang Term for A Coming Civil War
No comments:
Post a Comment
You can add your voice to this blog by posting a comment.