Antifascist comrades around the country mobilized to disrupt the explicit white nationalist public rally and Chicago was no different. As first reported by dear comrades at Corvallis Against Fascism, this “Sunday 4/11/21, White Nationalists are expected to mobilize in a “White Lives Matter” march in several cities across the country. This event was organized on Telegram and was widely circulated in White Supremacist circles on beginning in late March.” And, “the main organizers of the [WLM] event are very intent on keeping the rallies ‘optical.’ They beg participants to avoid using swastikas and neo-Nazi imagery. In public-facing communications, they routinely assert that they are not Nazis and are simply, “normal white people” standing up for what is right.”
After establishing ourselves as trusted members of the “WLM Chicago” planning chat, it was easy to lurk and take notes about the information the chuds were sharing in the lead up to the White Lives Matter march at Trump Tower on Sunday April 11 at 1pm CST and they are meeting in front of the entrance to Trump Tower at 401 N Wabash in the River North area in Chicago.
As reported by Tess Owens in Vice, antifascists posed as event organizers and lured unsuspecting racists to join several fake Telegram channels causing the White Lives Matter movement to fall into shambles and shambles: “This marks yet another major setback for the White Lives Matter movement, which began organizing “The March for White Lives” on the encrypted messaging platform last month. Since announcing the IRL rallies, the movement has been plagued with paranoia, intrigue, and infighting—as well as a general lack of interest from prospective attendees. What’s more, VICE News has obtained leaked chats from a private White Lives Matter admin channel, suggesting that antifa infiltration at the highest levels was even worse than organizers thought.”
In Raw Story Jordan Green, connects Proud Boy members to the explicitly neo-nazi White Lives Matter march: “The association with the White Lives Matter rallies, which are promoting overtly white supremacist messages about a supposed white genocide, is a liability for the Proud Boys, a violent proto-fascist group that claims to be non-racist. The leaked chats show that a Proud Boy responsible for organizing the Michigan White Lives Matter rally went to some effort to hide the fact that members of his group are involved in the effort. The Telegram user “Telly Savalas,” who was the admin for the @WLM_Michigan channel, expressed concern on April 5 about a user named “BamaPatriot 2º” who wrote, “POYB,” with an A-OK emoji. Those are signifiers associated with the Proud Boys.” And as you’ll see in the Chicago channels, Telly Savalas is indeed posting in there, urging others to attend. Corvallis Against Fascism identified Telly as known Proud Boy Vito Russell from Sterling Heights, MI.
To continue the disruption from anywhere, comrades are encouraged to create a new Telegram account, join the telegram channels (Chicago Public WLM Channel, Chicago WLM Planning Channel, & National WLM Channel) and have fun ahead of the planned start time of 11am CST. Do make sure to keep any and all that would identify your real identity off of your new account.
-
- Chicago Planning Channel
-
- National Public Channel
-
- Chicago Public Channel
Ahead of the white nationalists driving in from the suburbs to Trump Tower, we’re sharing the all the screenshots of the Chicago Planning Channel chats. We’ll be making all the Telegram files available for download soon!
Content Warning: Racism/Homophobia/Antisemitism/Transphobia/Nazi imagery/more
Chicago White Lives Matter Planning channel from April 8 to the morning of April 11
Click through for more Telegram planning chat content!
Content Warning: Racism/Homophobia/Antisemitism/Transphobia/Nazi imagery/more
Chicago White Lives Matter Planning channel from April 5 to April 8
Content Warning: Racism/Homophobia/Antisemitism/Transphobia/Nazi imagery/more
Chicago White Lives Matter Planning channel from March 27 to April 5:
Antifascism is community defense! If you have any additional tips about any of these neo-nazis in the Chicago WLM planning chats or elsewhere, please send them to antifascistchicago@riseup.net or our comrades Shield Wall Chicago at shieldwallchicago@cryptolab.net and Anne Frank Army at annefrankarmy@protonmail.com. We protect us!