Law enforcement and city officials are preparing for protesters and counter-protesters to descend on Washington, DC, this weekend.
According to the shutitdowndc.org website, the Antifa side of the equation has purposes far beyond responding to the Unite the Right 2 demonstration set to take place on the Charlottesville, Va. rally anniversary on Sunday at Lafayette Park across from the White House.
The National Park Service has issued a permit to Jason Kessler for his Unite the Right 2 rally from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the park and its website has a list of instructions, including warning people not to bring weapons and to resist taunts from “provocateurs.”
The permit states that as many as 400 people may show up for the event, which has a stated purpose, according to the permit, of promoting “white civil rights.”
The Antifa counter-protest website, calling the event “Shut It Down DC” and “Trans and Queer #ResistDance Against White Supremacy,” states a much broader purpose and is supported by a long list of left-wing organizations, including Black Lives Matter, Anarchist Agency, Fredrick Socialists, D.C. Antifascist Collective, Millenials for Revolution, Occupy Wall Street, and Philly Antifa.
The website calls for a “mass mobilization” in Washington, DC, from Friday through Sunday with the group assembling at Freedom Plaza — just blocks from the Unite the Right 2 location.
The website states its broader goals, including honoring the woman who died in Charlottesville last year when she was struck by a car driven by a protester.
“This is for Heather Heyer, ICE abolition, open borders, dismantling the prison industrial complex, and ending the settler colonial system,” the website states. “We will confront fascism, antisemitism, Islamaphobia, white supremacy, and state violence on August 10-12.”
“Now the white supremacists want to come back,” a video on the website states. “On August 12, 2018, the Alt-Right will hold ‘Unite the Right 2’ in Washington, DC, in front of the White House at Lafayette Square. Jason Kessler, Richard Spencer, and the Trump administration are all implicated in the murder of Heather Heyer.”
“The Alt-Right relentlessly harass and threaten people of color, women, sex workers, trans and non-binary people, and the undocumented,” the video states. “Their rallies are all public displays of violence and calls for genocide.”
“They are Brian Trainer and every killer cop,” the video states. “They are the ICE agents. They are the prison system that breaks up families.”
“We will be in the streets on August 10-12, and we intend to win,” the video concludes.
The website also has a list of “Other Calls to Action,” including a gathering planned in Charlottesville on Saturday and Sunday where a state of emergency has been declared by Gov. Ralph Northam, and the United States National Guard is on standby.
“Inside D.C. Jason Kessler will find no rest, no refuge, no respite. Communities in D.C. will unite against hate, borders, prison and the vision of Unite the Right,” the website states.
“Outside D.C. If you can’t make it to Washington, DC, on August 10-12 take to the streets wherever you are. We call on our comrades to organize demonstrations and other actions the night of Aug 12. Occupy an ICE office, shut down a police station, or demonstrate at the home of a local racist, ICE agent, or prison profiteers,” the website said.
It also encouraged people outside of the U.S. to “take action at U.S. embassies, borders or other symbols of colonial power. Our allegiance is not to ‘making America great again,’ but to all of humanity and the planet.”
“We reject all forms of oppression, organize by consensus, embrace a diversity of tactics, and will not work with police,” the website states. “We seek to center the most marginalized members of our community.”
The group is also holding a series of discussions and training sessions, including “healing for internalized whiteness” and “kung fu for all.”
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