Thoughts on The Portland Shooting

I feel compelled to make some statement about the shooting in Portland. These views are my own and not a statement from Facts For Working People. I have not had time to share and develop a statement from those comrades who are supporters of and around the blog. Any comrades should fee free to contribute their views to the blog as well.

 

Richard Mellor

I have to admit I have not enough information about the shooting in Portland to judge but if what the media is reporting is true, that the shooter was a self described Antifa member, this doesn't mean he was. I do not know exactly what Antifa is or how it is organized and given the continued failure of the police to protect citizens it is not inconceivable that individuals might resort to vigilante actions; there are many possibilities.

I find it hard to believe someone who considers themselves to be a serious anti-capitalist working class fighter would do this at this point in time. And what makes me suspicious is there is no doubt in my mind that Trump's thugs, just like the Nazi Brownshirts were, are out there trying to discredit righteous protests against racism, capitalism and the savagery of the market. Remember, the first Americans in Vietnam were the CIA and they engaged in plenty of terrorist acts designed to get popular support for an invasion back home.

 

However, if this guy does represent or is a member of Antifa whatever that means, unless it was in self defense, shooting one of Trump's thugs should be condemned by workers. It plays right in to Trump’s hands who is counting on more violence to justify further encroachment in to our communities and to halt a genuine working class movement against injustice, racism and capitalism. It will strengthen his argument for four more years that he will restore order.

This sets back the Black Lives Matter Movement and strengthens the forces of reaction. I was sitting thinking about writing something and the tit for tat killings in Northern Ireland came to mind. I remember as a youth reading about young Protestants and Catholics dying as a result of conflict between IRA and Protestant Paramilitary forces when only a united working class non-sectarian movement could solve the crisis there.

 

An act of individual terrorism, which this would be if the perpetrator was not threatened and is not an agent provocateur, is nothing less than an act of revenge. It does not raise class consciousness and most workers will be put off by it. Let's wait and see but we should not underestimate the possibility that this was a right-wing infiltrator or a government agent. It’s not crazy to distrust the US government.