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Alt-right raises $150000 to save neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer Jewish Telegraphic Agency Andrew Anglin runs the neo-Nazi website popular with the alt-right, a loose right-wing movement that includes white nationalists and anti-Semites. Almost 2,000 people have contributed to the crowdfunding effort in the past month, with 24 days still ...

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Alt-right raises $150000 to save neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Published time: 9 Jun, 2017 21:12

A game featuring Pepe The Frog, the internet meme who morphed into a symbol of the alt-right, has been declined by Apples App Store because the tech giant considers the cartoons main character as objectionable content.

Pepe began life as the star of an internet comic strip created by cartoonist Matt Furie and was popular in the early days of social media on platforms such as Reddit and MySpace.

In recent years, however, the once innocent frog was co-opted by the white supremacist, alt-right movement. The meme became ever present on social media as supporters of then US presidential candidate Donald Trump used it to attack his opponents. Trump himself tweeted a Trumpian version of the meme in October 2015.

Hillary Clintons campaign sought to highlight Pepes neo-Nazi connection after Donald Trump Jr posted a photo featuring the frog on Instagram in a reaction to Clintons infamous basket of deplorables remark.

The Anti-Defamation League, a non-profit organization set up to fight anti-Semitism, declared the cartoon frog a general hate symbol in September last year.

Apple has now joined in, classing the cartoon character as objectionable content and has rejected a game called Pepe Scream, according to Motherboard.

The aim of the game is to maneuver a character between gaps and around obstacles by yelling into the phone's microphone.

The format of the game isnt the issue, however. The games developer, Spirit Realm Games, appealed the decision prompting Apple to identify Pepe as the problem.

"Your app contains images and references of Pepe the Frog, which are considered objectionable content, an Apple App Review Board employee said in a rejection notice to the games developer. It would be appropriate to remove the references and revise the images in your app.

Apple said Pepe Scream was rejected for section 1.1 of the App Store Review Guidelines, which states that apps cannot "include content that is offensive, insensitive, upsetting, intended to disgust, or in exceptionally poor taste.

READ MORE: Pepe the Frog officially declared dead, brace for meme meltdown

Apple appears to have a blanket ban on the meme as there are no Pepe related apps in the store and the cartoon also doesnt appear in iMessage sticker packs themed around memes.

Spirit Realm have said they will modify the game to remove all traces of the notorious frog in the hope that it will allowed back into the App store. The game is still available in the Google Play Android store who are more lax about the kind of content developers can include.

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'Alt-right' Pepe the Frog game banned from Apple App store - RT

Statement from Washington, D.C.

Anti-racist demonstrators in Portland send the message: Fear will not silence us (Leighta Lehto)

WE, STUDENTS at the University of Maryland (UMD) and residents of the Washington D.C, Virginia and Maryland area, extend our solidarity and support, from one community mourning and fighting against racist murder to another.

We send our sympathy and support to the families and communities of Ricky John Best, Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche and Micah David-Cole Fletcher. These men were murdered and wounded for standing up to racist hate.

We know firsthand the horror and sadness that plagues a community when such an attack happens.

On May 20, Richard Collins III, a graduating senior at the historically Black college Bowie State University, was murdered on the University of Maryland's College Park campus by a white UMD student for no apparent reason other than violent racism. Collins was also killed for standing up to racism when he said "no" to the demand that he move aside so his attacker could have full control of a nearly empty sidewalk.

What would have simply been an act of rudeness by a white bigot and the reasonable refusal to give into bigoted demands in years past has, in these new times, become an excuse for racist murder.

Racist activity had been on the rise in and around the greater D.C. area in the months leading up to the 2016 election. After Trump's election, we have seen white supremacists act with growing impunity and increased audacity. In the past few months, nooses have been discovered hanging:

-- Inside a UMD fraternity kitchen; -- On the DC campus of American University; and, -- Most recently from a tree outside the Hirshhorn Museum on the National Mall.

On May 31, a noose was discovered inside the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture, at an exhibit about the violent history of the KKK.

The level of boldness it takes for racists to feel confident in vandalizing a memorial to an important aspect of the civil rights struggle and the fight against racism--with the most threatening symbol of the lynching and violence that the struggle fought to overcome--is appalling.

These ugly incidents are part of a national upsurge of threatened and actual violence by the far right, that has touched Portland, College Park, D.C., and other communities as well.

At UMD, we have watched as our university president, like other political leaders locally and nationally, has failed to take seriously the threat of racist violence and neglected to take any meaningful action. We cannot rely on campus administrators, or city and federal officials alone to keep our communities safe. Their tactics of downplaying, dismissing, or ignoring racism have clearly failed.

Instead we need to organize ourselves and make it impossible for the bigots on the far right to propagate their hate or grow their organizations. We stand in full support of the people of Portland taking the streets to condemn the hate and violence of the far right. By protesting them, we demonstrate the strength and numbers of our side. We have the power to outnumber them and win when we all stand together.

We, like you, are organizing anti-racist individuals and groups to oppose the growth of racism by building the broadest anti-racist movement possible. On Tuesday, June 6, a new community grouping, calling itself "D.C. United Against Hate," will hold a town hall meeting called "The Racist Murder of Richard Collins III and the Fight Against the 'Alt-Right'." We expect this will be the beginning of a new movement against racism in and around the nation's capital.

Again, we affirm our solidarity with you and your struggle in Portland. We will have you in our hearts and minds on June 6, as we honor Richard Collins III, Ricky John Best, Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche and Micah David-Cole Fletcher in a moment of silence--followed by 120 minutes of speaking out, testifying, and organizing.

The targeting of young Muslim women and the murder of those who stood in their defense in Portland, the murder of Richard Collins at UMD, and the growing presence of open racists in Washington D.C., are horrific reminders of the persistence of racism today and the need to organize for a better world that is free of Islamophobia, racism, sexism, and all other oppression. Together we can win that world!

In solidarity, UMD Socialists and the International Socialist Organization-Washington, D.C. June 3, 2017

Partial list of endorsers of the June 6 meeting in D.C.: Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ, Campaign to End the Death Penalty, Circle of Love and Support (COLAS), Code Pink, Faith Strategies, International Socialist Organization, Jewish Voice for Peace -DC Metro Chapter, Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington Action Fund, Protect UMD, Students for Justice in Palestine UMD, UMD Socialists, Washington Peace Center, WPFW 89.3 FM

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IN LIGHT of the tragic and gruesome attacks carried out in both of our cities, the Portland, Oregon, branch of the International Socialist Organization wants to express its solidarity to its comrades and to the community of the greater D.C. area who have experienced racist, xenophobic and Islamophobic attacks.

We send support and compassion to the family and community of Richard Collins III, murdered by a white supremacist as he waited for a ride with his friends.

On May 26, right-wing extremist Jeremy Christian killed Ricky John Best and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Mecche and wounded Micah David-Cole Fletcher on the public TriMet light-rail train. These people had stood up to Christian as he flung racist abuse at two Muslim female youth who were traveling on the train. The murderer had recently attended right-wing extremist rallies and posted white supremacist propaganda.

This is the same racism that killed Richard Collins III at the University of Maryland campus on May 20. Collin's murderer, Sean Urbanski, was emboldened by the same mass phenomenon as Christian. They identified and organized with the far-right extremists who have been given confidence by the bigoted Trump administration.

Both white supremacists attempted to harass and intimidate, both were challenged, and both resorted to murder.

The tragedies of May 20 in Maryland and May 26 in Portland are both part of the far right's agenda. They have neither vision nor solutions--they can only put forth terror and bigotry. And every ICE raid, every attempt to ban Muslims or attack reproductive rights carried out by Trump inspires the far right to further carry out this horrendous agenda.

We here in Portland stand in full solidarity with you, the students of the University of Maryland and the residents of Washington, DC, Virginia and Maryland area, in your struggle against the onslaught of racist attacks in your communities.

Like you, we watch as bigots grow more emboldened while our political leaders do nothing. The racists have left nooses in your schools and your museums, evoking the terror of the lynching tree, and neither campus administrators nor city officials adequately respond.

And like you, we are finding that it is only everyday people, committed to living in a better world, who are organizing a fight back against these right-wing terrorists. We stand in full solidarity with the town hall meeting to be held on June 6 organized by "D.C. United Against Hate."

The day after the attack on TriMet, a vigil was organized here in Portland to honor the heroism of Ricky John Best, Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche and Micah David-Cole Fletcher. Around 1,000 people came out to stand witness to their sacrifice. And in our mourning, we also felt anger. People felt the need to stand up, and in midst of so many others feeling the same thing, people became emboldened to fight back.

This determination coalesced into a large demonstration organized against a far-right rally on June 4. Like so many of the far-right events being held throughout the country, this one used the cover of "free speech" to justify spewing their hatred. The murderer Jeremy Christian, being questioned after arrest, said he carried out his violent attacks to protect his free speech.

In the world of the far right, the bigots would be protected as they harass, intimidate and terrorize people of color, women, LGBTQ folks and leftists.

Here in Portland, we have refused to stand by as these bigots take our city. On Sunday, June 4, as many as 1,500 people rallied to challenge the far right. More than 70 organizations endorsed Portland Stands United Against Hate, which brought together voices from the various communities that make up Portland. We outnumbered the bigots. We chanted loudly our solidarity with immigrants, Muslims, Black Lives Matter and all those struggling against terror.

This demonstration and so many others across the nation show that people are ready to stand united against racism, Islamophobia and all kinds of hate. This also proves that a majority of people will not tolerate the hate of the far-right anywhere. The need to build a broad anti-racist movement in our localities and nationwide is evident, and we see by our own actions that that we can do it. Our power relies in our radical solidarity against all forms of hate.

It's an honor to be fighting in the same struggle with you on the other side of the country. From Portland, Oregon, to Washington, D.C., it will be the work of masses of everyday people who take on these racist thugs and defend ourselves.

On both ends of the U.S., and in the many places in between, we want to see a world without racism, without bigotry, where people don't have to be afraid as they ride the train or wait for a ride. So long as we remain united, we can transform the world together.

In solidarity, Portland State International Socialist Organization June 5, 2017

Partial list of endorsing organizations for the June 4 Portland Stands United Against Hate rally: Portland International Socialist Organization, Voz Workers' Rights Education Project, Portland Jewish Voice for Peace, Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights, PCUN (Oregon's Farmworkers Union), Latino Network, Causa, Portland Democratic Socialists of America

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Our message of solidarity against the alt-right - Socialist Worker Online

An online campaignlaunched to help raise funds for the legal defense of the editor of The Daily Stormer has exceeded $150,000, with 25 days still left to go. Andrew Anglin, who serves as editor for one of the so-called alt-rights most popular web publications, was sued in April by a Jewish woman for orchestrating a troll storm against her and her family.

Tanya Gersh, a real estate agent in Whitefish, Montana, sued Anglin for invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and violations of Montanas Anti-Intimidation Act arising out of a coordinated, repulsive, threatening campaign of anti-Semitic harassment, according to a complaint filed on her behalf on April 18 by the Southern Poverty Law Center and its Montana co-counsel. The SPLC describes The Daily Stormerwhich is named after Der Strmer, the anti-Semitic Nazi tabloid newspaperas a major neo-Nazi website and refers to Anglin as a well-known neo-Nazi.

As of press time, the fundraiserfor Anglins legal defense had brought in $152,267 from 1,924 contributors. It was initiated by a user named weev, which is the nickname of Andrew Auernheimer, a troll and hacker who reportedly helps sites including The Daily Stormer with tech support. The fundraisers goal is to stop SPLC's perfidious perjurers from destroying the alt-right's biggest website!The Stormer appears to have a link to the fundraiser on the right rail of every page on its site.

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The fundraiser is posted on a crowdsourcing site called WeSearchr, run by blogger Chuck C. Johnson (who was permanently banned from Twitter in May 2015 after asking for support to help take out Deray McKesson). All are welcome to fundraise on my properties, he told the Los Angeles Times.The more mainstream platform Kickstarter does not allow offensive material (e.g., hate speech, encouraging violence against others, etc).Anglin has been banned from most mainstream fundraising and ad revenue platforms, according to the SPLC.

It was Decemberwhen Anglin published an article urging his readers, Lets Hit Em Up. Are yall ready for an old fashioned Troll Storm? Because AYOits that time, fam. The article includes an accusation that Gersh was trying to extort Sherry Spencer, the mother of white nationalist Richard Spencer. A video of Richard Spencer, who heads the National Policy Institute, went viral a few days after the 2016 election. It showed Spencer giving a racist, anti-Semitic speech at an NPI conference and being met with cheers and Nazi salutes. His mother published a Medium post the day before Anglins article in which she describedwhat she called threats from Gersh regarding a commercial building she owns in Whitefish. Gersh says Spencer reached out to her for advice on what to do about the property amidthe turmoil surrounding her son.

Just make your opinions known. Tell them you are sickened by their Jew agenda to attack and harm the mother of someone whom they disagree with, Anglin wrote in his December post, which the lawsuit says was the first of 30 articles about Gersh and Whitefish. He warned, As always: NO VIOLENCE OR THREATS OF VIOLENCE OR ANYTHING EVEN CLOSE TO THAT. However, his post included email addresses, phone numbers, street addresses and social media accounts for Gersh, her husband and her 12-year-old son. Anglin asked his readers to call Gersh, leave reviews of her business or even show up at her home. There hasnt ever been a more important campaign than this. So do it!

According to the lawsuit, Gersh and her family received more than 700 harassing messages via mail, email, social media, phone and voicemail. Gersh was called an [O]ven-dodging Christ killer, Worthless fuckin kike and slimy jewess. She and her family received messages such as, We are going to ruin you, you Kike PoS [piece of shit].... You will be driven to the brink of suicide. & We will be there to take pleasure in your pain & eventual end, and, Thanks for demonstrating why your race needs to be collectively ovened, and, You have no idea what you are doing, six million are only the beginning.

The fundraising campaign claims that the lawsuit is a flagrant violation of the rights of the whole Internet to criticize public figures. Though it has surpassed its initial six-figure goal, it calls for supporters to continue to donate. If this is not fought, a major alt-right press outlet will die,the campaigns description insists.

Anglin himself has yet to respond to the lawsuit or have a lawyer respond on his behalf, according to the SPLC, which says heremains in hiding, penning petulant articles for the Stormer and counting the proceeds generated from his personal victim narrative.

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Hate Pays: Alt-Right Raises $150,000 to Save Neo-Nazi Website ... - Newsweek

In the spring of 2017, NBA superstar Kyrie Irving and NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille ONeal both publicly discussedtheir belief that the world is flat, althoughShaq later clarified that he was joking. These statements brought light to what Live Science called the ultimate conspiracy theory a refutation of the globe, and with it, heliocentrism and even the theory of gravity. This being the internet, it is not shocking to find groups who believe in anything, whether it is that pterodactyls still fly in our skiesor that people live at the center of the hollow earth.While there are plenty of believers in chemtrails and vaccination conspiracies that rely on faulty science, these other fringe-of-the-fringe theories that refute the most basic scientific understanding of our world garner little to no mainstream traction.However, flat earth ideas have moved incrementally towards the mainstream. After examining these flat earth online communities, it becomes clear that there are common threads and a similar vocabulary shared between them and the alt-right communities that gained prominence in 2016. Here, we will outline what online flat earth communities look like, what they believe, and answer perhaps most commonly asked question about the flat earth theory:do people actually believe this?

The central tenet of the flat earth movement is obvious the earth is flat, rather than a sphere.

The exact details of how a flat earth works differ among believers, but generally the earth is seen as a flat disc with the sun and moon revolving around it. Most flat earth models have the North Pole at the center of the flat disc and a ring of ice (Antarctica) surrounding it.

Representation of a flat earth with revolving sun and moon

Representation of a flat earth with revolving sun and moon

For a more detailed explanation of flat earth beliefs, see Ashley Feinbergs concise explainer from 2016 here. However, there are flat earth heretics who believe in a different map, including (as The Guardian detailed in 2016) one prominent flat earth YouTuber who believes that Antarctica is at the center of the flat disc, and not along the rim.

If one were to sincerely adopt the belief of a flat earth, it would require a reshaping of other notions, such as the nature of the universe and elementary laws of physics. Thus, the beliefs surrounding flat earth communities are rarely isolated to just the shape of the planet, and will extend to rejecting the most basic tenets of physics and astronomy, such as Copernican heliocentrism (the earth revolves around the sun, and not the other way around) and the theory of gravity. YouTube channels, Facebook groups, and Imgur albums provide endless examples (and variations) of these alternative laws of physics.

The cognitive dissonance required to believe that the earth is flat leads to a number of absurd subsequent beliefs, including, as best documented by Sam Kriss inThe Atlantic, that there are actually no forests on earth. An 80-minute video, embedded below, lays out the details of the idea, which as Kriss describes, goes beyond simple assertions about forests and veers into nonsensical mythic assonances.

Flat earth beliefsare nothing new. Through much of the 20th century, the International Flat Earth Society and theFlat Earth Newsserved as the most visible communities for those who believed in or were curious about the alternative world view.

December 1980 edition of the Flat Earth News (source)

There is no need to elaborate on how the internet has accelerated the spread of some conspiracy theories, whether it beancient (yet, still active) Usenet groups, GIF-heavy Geocities sites, and eventually somewhat through websites like InfoWars. In the latest development,YouTube and social networks have accelerated the spread of flat earth ideas, with tens of thousands of followers on various Facebook pages, Instagram accounts (see this AV Club primer on the topic), andendless YouTube videos with men (and a few women) speaking over a slideshow of shoddily-edited photographs and memes.

These memes have become a new focal point forflat earth believers in their attempts to spread their message and persuade others. Most recently, the flat earth movement has adopted Fepe, or Flat Earth Pepe, to spread their ideas. This character is a spin-off of the alt-right favorite, Pepe the frog, though Fepe is supposed to be a penguin.

A penguin was chosen for Fepe in order to referencethat Antarctica is (as they believe) on the edge of the earth, rather than the bottom. Lacking a grasp on gravity and basic physics, many flat earth believers assert that it is impossible to be upside-down on Antarctica, and only a flat earth wouldexplain why penguins do not fall off into space while at the bottom of the world. In one especially dramatic video, Pepe is transformed into Fepe, showing what is perceived to be a continuation of the alt-right use of Pepe.

Similarly, flat earth believers have recently picked up the #Globexit hashtag, playing off of Brexit, to share their ideas. Taking the cue of far-right internet activists whoshared memes in support of Trump, Brexit, and Marine Le Pen, #Globexit is being pushed as an ideological movement.

Flat earth believers recent use of alt-right favorite Pepe and #Globexit isnot a coincidence, as many of their ideological tenets and goals can be found in thealt-right. This is not to say that the alt-rightbelieves that the earth is flatin fact, most on the alt-right would likely see flat earth believers use of their memes and methods as a detriment to their far-right causes. Rather, modern flat earth online communities should be seen as inspired by the alt-right, as opposed to the previous iterations of flat earth communities, whichwere rooted in literalist readings of the Bible and fringe Christian evangelical movements.

Flat earth beliefs are not just a break from scientific logic, but more centrally an explicit rejection of mainstream political authority. According to flat earth believers, the round earthis more than a scientific lie;it extends to a grand conspiracy orchestrated by the global order and perpetuated by a range of institutions, both real (NASA) and imaginary (the Illuminati). With this, we see the common threads between flat earth online communities and alt-right ones, with similar messaging strategies and a shared vocabulary of describing their ideological foes. For example, many Trump fans believe that their massive propagationof pro-Trump Pepe memes had a tangible effect on his electoral victory(as seen in the rare Pepe tweet below, posted just before the presidential election). Following this success, they tried to replicate their meme war to push far-right politician Marine Le Pen to victory in the French presidential election.

The same tactics are being borrowed by flat earth believers, with the spread of Fepe as a means of spreading the truth of flat earth. A British man named Joseph Green has taken this notion to its logical end point with his GoFundMe crowd-funding campaign to raise money for a Flat Earth Meme Factory, which would be operational for 50+ hours every week; producing and sharing flat earth content throughout the world wide web. His pitch is a bit convoluted, to put it mildly, as he explains why the Flat Earth Meme Factory is a good investment:

Whether youre part of the flat earth movement or not, I promise you this is the best place you can invest your money right now. Once my objective is complete, your money will be worthless anyway.

Greens insistence that money will be worthless after flat earth truth spreads across the globe (or the disc) underscores the world-changing stakes for whichflat earth believers feel they are fighting. To accept flat earth does not just mean rejecting the globe, but rejecting all political and scientific authority, thus changing your entire worldview. In another recent development in flat earth online communities, the sudden cognitive shiftthat takes placeafter discovering flat earth ideas is compared to the red pill. The red pill idea is originally fromThe Matrix, marking the main characters decision to see the world in its undisguised form, and has been adopted by a number of alt-right and misogynist online communities to mark the ideological shift that takes place in adopting these fringe viewpoints.

This is far from the only vocabulary borrowed from the alt-right movement, as flat earth believers also echo the frequent alt-right/conservative refrain of disrupting safe spaces with their ideas. Their means of disrupting so-called safe spaces mostly involves spamming flat earth memes, but they also go outside and try and spread their ideas in the real world. In the video below, a flat earth believer conducts a stand-up comedy bit at a Manchester comedy clubs amateur comedy night. The narrator explains how this open mic bit shows how there are no more safe spaces left, no safe spaces on flat earth, YouTube cannot contain this thing, the Internet cannot contain it, the dam has broken, we are everywhere

To red pill someone is the same as disrupting their safe space, allowing a supposedly world-changing ideology to break down existing political orders. InfoWars Paul Joseph Watson was mostly known for his belief in chemtrails and other bizarre conspiracies before the rise of the alt-right, while now he is a YouTube mainstay spreading far-right and misogynist views to (mostly) young menor, in other words, red-pilling them.

So, this all brings us to our final question: do people actually believe this? In short,yes.

Clearly, thereare many people who write about flat earth and create memes about it sarcasticallyfor many examples of this, check out the Flatearth subredditor pretty much any 4chan thread on the topic. But there are genuine true believers, from Bible literalists to the emerging alt-right inspired flat earth communities. A recent article inPsychology Todayconvincingly asserts that many adoptflat-earthism through a cascading series of events leadingto a mistrust of science and, more so, political and scientific authority. This, combined with a few snazzy YouTube videos and impressionable minds, can lead to some people genuinely believing the earth is flat. Despite its bizarre resurgence, it is difficult to seeideas about the flat earth having anywhere near a fraction of the pull that alt-right ideas have had, despite the similar tactics and vocabulary. However, the ideas are not going away anytime soon, no matter how often us globeheadsor, in the alt-right inspired variation, globecuckstry to convince people otherwise.

And if you still dont think that people believe in flat earth, just read the comments below.

Link:
No Safe Spaces on the Flat Earth Emergent Alt-Right Inspired Flat Earth Online Communities - bellingcat