PDX Antifa and BLM Rivalry Heats Up
A distinctive feature of Portland’s protest scene over the last year has been ever-increasing tensions between the local antifa faction and the BLM movement. Part of this has been driven by claims that BLM leaders were collaborating with Portland police, as well as scammy behavior involving mutual aid organizations like Riot Ribs. BLM and BLM-adjacent activists also quickly gained reputations for “swooping,” a term in protest patois for attention whores taking advantage of the loose leadership structure to hijack a planned action, usually for grifting and self-aggrandizement purposes.
(peace policing is encouraging compliance with LE and interfering with the preplanned violence and vandalism)
The PDX antifa crew found themselves in something of a conundrum. It’s one thing to talk about the theory of “centering black voices” and “listen to black leaders” in the context of a radical anti-white “social justice” movement, but it’s quite different when the reality is those black voices showing up with their loudspeakers and sympathetic media in tow, disrupting plans and often leading demonstrators astray into situations that find them kettled and arrested.
This conflict finally hit a flashpoint this past Saturday, May 22, when a group of black bloc decided to return the favor:
The black bloc joined the Rose City Justice march and seemed to have been disruptive from the start, unfortunately It’s difficult to tell to what degree because PDX streamers have become more disciplined and careful around filming negative incidents like this.
This is the only clip I’ve found of the confrontation, and seems to have occurred roughly 20 minutes into the march after someone threw a large firework into a tinder pile:
After they were kicked the bloc followed along for a bit, but ultimately back tracked to smash up the Multnomah county election’s office:
The armed march escorts seem to have been associated with J.U.I.C.E. PDX:
They seem to be the group behind the controversial Vanport PDX protest last year.
Carissa Dez has a decent stream of the march, however she’s pretty careful about not filming the confrontation. There still is some interesting information to note from her footage.
The bloc seems to have split off from the march at the onramp to the Hawthorne bridge to head towards the elections office, which is about 0.6 miles away:
I’ve written before about the radical left’s growing love of guns and increasing sophistication, and there are some glimpses of this in the youtube stream:
That’s a SCAR-H with an LPVO, and a Crye JPC 2.0 PC. Granted there aren’t any plates, but I wouldn’t bet on this person not having them at home. This is not the first SCAR-H I’ve seen wielded by a lefty in public, it’s important not to continue dismissing their ability to adapt and improve I’m not saying there’s not still lefties toting Mosins, just that don’t be surprised if you start seeing them with better kit than yours.
The patch on the hat also appears to be a Trans Equality Socialist Rifle Association patch:
Takeaways:
Rivalries between leftist factions over divergent aims are being exacerbated by a combination of the recent arrests and leaks from undercover moles, as well as creeping disappointment with the failure to accomplish many of the broader objectives set out last summer at the beginning of the Floyd riots.
Equipment is going up in quality while tactics are still evolving and improving, I expect the tension driving violence between factions to continue to spill over into confrontations with the general public.
There’s an undercurrent of desperation at the sense that progress is stalling, these situations also tend to drive spikes in violence from leftist groups.
We’re likely going to see a greater number of smaller, more aggressive, less predictable actions going forward as these groups reduce their cooperation.
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