Do you Know who Spencer Sunshine Is? Why should you care?
Well to start with, here’s his blurb from Political Research Associates.
Spencer Sunshine, PhD (associate fellow) writes about the U.S. White Nationalist movement (including the Alt Right, Neo-Nazis, and esoteric fascists), the Patriot movement and militias, and antisemitic currents. He is the lead author of the 2016 report Up In Arms: A Guide to Oregon’s Patriot Movement, which is a collaboration between PRA and Oregon’s Rural Organizing Project. He can be contacted via his website and on Twitter @transform6789. https://spencersunshine.com/contact/
Full disclosure. I’ve known Spencer Sunshine since he was in his teens when we met while I was engaged in anti-Klan/anti-Nazi organizing in the deep South. He had contacted the group I was a part of because we were actively opposing the Nazi Skinhead organizing/intimidation that was then rampant on the youth scene. He was looking for some way to get involved in the struggle.
Since that time he’s been an anti-fascist activist and become a major researcher doing invaluable work investigating and exposing the far Right. He ‘s not the kind of activist/researcher who limits his activism to the keyboard but the kind who puts his body on the line, as he did when Neo-Nazis invaded and occupied the streets of Charlottesville, VA in 2017, resulting in the death of Heather Heyer.
The following is a presentation Spencer gave for Political Research Associates.
A mark of Spencer’s effectiveness is the hatred he inspires on the Fascist Right. If you want to see a picture of grace under pressure here it is. Spencer was being accosted by Jovanni Valle, a notorious alt-Right agitator.
A brief note. The line about not hating brown people, just loving America is a variation on the old Ku Klux Klan trope of “We don’t hate black people. We just love white people.”
As you might imagine, this isn’t work you pursue if you want to get rich. You’re far more likely to wind up deeper in debt. Which brings me to how you help in the ongoing struggle to combat the fascist/white supremacist surge in the US.
I recently received the following announcement from Spencer.
I have been creating research and analysis about the Far Right in the United States for 15 years. It's a hard, dirty, and dangerous job. And I'm asking for your support in order to continue this work.
Most immediately, I need help to complete an in-depth investigation into neo-Nazi James Mason and his terrorist murder manual Siege. I have spent over a year working on it, including extensive archival work; I've spent all my savings doing this, although the project is not quite finished yet.
Over the course of many years, I written extensively about the U.S. Far Right. This includes the Alt-Right and fascists, the Patriot movement and militias, and issues around left-right crossover movements and antisemitism. My work brought me to thearmed takeover of Oregon's Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in January 2016,where I got to question Ammon Bundy. I was also present in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12, 2017, at both the counter-demonstration against the Unite the Right rally, as well as being in the crowd during the car attack which killed Heather Heyer and injured abut 30 others.
I conduct research; write analysis, editorials, and counter-organizing how-to guides; give public talks and speak to the media; consult with groups counter-organizing against the Far Right; and help arrange security for events in case Far Right activists show up. I have published dozens of articles for places like The Progressive, The Forward,Truthout, Colorlines,TeleSUR English, Alternet,and Public Eye. I‘ve been cited in newspapers and magazines around the world, including The Nation, The Forward, Teen Vogue and L’Humanite. I've appeared on podcasts, radio shows,and videos, including those by MoveOn, Submedia, Splinter, and Politically Reactive. My writings have been translated into Russian, Polish,Serbian, Turkish, Spanish, Greek, and Portuguese, in addition to my frequent articles for German-language publications. I’ve given talks across the United States, as well as speaking tours in Germany in 2016 and Canada in 2017. In 2016, I was the lead author of the book-length report Up in Arms: A Guide to Oregon’s Patriot Movement. In 2018, I wrote the how-to guide 40 Ways to Fight Nazis: Forty Community-Based Actions You Can Take to Resist White Nationalist Organizing. Almost all of these works are available for free online (see www.spencersunshine.com/publications for links).
I am currently working on three projects. This first, which I am completing now, is a series of articles detailing the history of James Mason and Siege. I am also writing two books: oneis a history of the U.S. Nazi movement from the 1920s to the present, and theother is a reception study of Third Position fascism in the U.S.
During this time I’ve been “channed,” flooded with death threats, stalked by anti-Semites, and struggled through chronic health problems. While some people have helped me, institutional support has been minimal at best, and I have gone in many thousands of dollars of credit card debt to subsidize my work.
Although I have raised a lot of cash for other activists over the years, I have always hated asking for money for myself. I know there are so many people who need it more than me. But after applying, begging, and pleading for financial support from various projects and institutions, I am appealing directly to those of you who value my work for support. I don't think we can end White Nationalism and antisemitism in our lifetimes, but I know that together, we can do much more than we currently are to help understand, contain, and neutralize it.
I heartily endorse both Spencer’s outstanding, gutsy work and his appeal. He deserves all the support we can give. Time to ante up and kick in. Here’s the link to his Patreon account.
www.patreon.com/...
If you can’t contribute yourself, please repost to spread the word.