‘Alt-right celebrities’ are holding a rally in Portland. Who are they? – The Guardian

Trump supporters face off with protesters at a recent free speech rally in Berkeley. Photograph: Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images

An alt-right rally in Portland is going ahead on Sunday, despite the citys grief in the wake of a white supremacist double murder and the pleas of mayor Ted Wheeler.

Far-right activists are coming from all over the country to show their support for what they describe as free speech and a significant counter-protest is planned in response.

The rally will include the well-advertised presence of many alt-right celebrities, all of whom emerged during Trumps campaign, or in the months since. Some have achieved prominence by cutting a striking presence at rallies, others by engaging in violence at those same events.

So who are the players who will be in evidence?

Joey Gibson has been working all year to get the alt-right out into Portland streets. He organised the event on 29 April where accused killer Jeremy Christian showed up, and threw out fascist salutes and racial slurs. (Gibson has repeatedly stated that Christian has nothing to do with him or the group he leads, Warriors for Freedom).

Hes organized six separate events in Portland and Vancouver so far this year, but this Sundays is set to be his biggest yet. Gibson frequently claims to be acting in the name of love or principles like free speech, but his events have attracted white supremacists and, lately, have been marked by violence.

On 13 May, one of his associates, Tusitala Tiny Toese, flattened an anti-fascist (antifa) protester in downtowns Chapman Square.

Gibson has a presence of YouTube channel and Facebook pages, where he does much of his organizing, but local antifascists say that the Warriors for Freedom are also networked with the militia movement, and that members of racist groups like the KKK and Identity Europa have showed up at his previous events.

Tim Baked Alaska Gionet, 29, is proof that its possible to be too offensive even to remain in certain circles of the alt-right.

His disinvitation last December from the movements deploraball celebrating Trumps inauguration was a sure sign that the movement had split. His antisemitic remarks and Nazi salutes brought too much bad PR for the movements alt-light faction, and they cut him loose. He now claims he misspoke when he sent out repeated antisemitic tweets, and even disavows the alt-right label

However, his presence at the rally indicates that organizers have no serious objection to public antisemitism.

Kyle Based Stick Man Chapman, 41, became an alt-right icon after he attacked anti-fascists at a Berkeley protest in March. He was armed with a gas mask, a shield made from a table top, and a stick. Not long after the Richard Spencer filmed being punched during a live interview, the alt-right had found their own meme-worthy hero. He says his political views are those of an average Trump supporter, but he has been elevated within the movement because of acts of public violence. Thats a sign of its growing militancy.

Pat Based Trojan Washington appeared at a rally in Berkeley on 15 April. His get-up bare-chested and wearing a Trojan helmet made for some dramatic photos, which were more than enough to tickle the alt-rights Larp-y sensibilities.

Video he has made since suggest that he may not be the most cunning adversary that the left has encountered. Watch a few minutes of this one and youll see that he struggles to hold up his end of a basic conversation.

Mike Tokes is one of the many self-described journalists who have been showing up at rallies to produce agitprop for the alt-right movement. He capitalises on the deep animus the alt-right have for mainstream fake news to raise funds for himself and others to travel around the country to alt-right events (right now, hes trying to crowdfund his trip to Portland). He has 126,000 Twitter followers, and images and videos there and on his Instagram account show how close he is to other LA-based alt-right figures like Baked Alaska and Omar Navvarro, who is running an Infowars-endorsed campaign for Congress against Maxine Waters. Expect him to gather images of the chaos for recruitment and intelligence.

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'Alt-right celebrities' are holding a rally in Portland. Who are they? - The Guardian

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