Alexander Reid Ross

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Alexander Reid Ross discussing his book Against the Fascist Creep in 2018 AlexanderReidRoss-2018-2.png
Alexander Reid Ross discussing his book Against the Fascist Creep in 2018

Alexander Reid Ross is an American author and adjunct geography lecturer at Portland State University with fellowships at the Centre for the Analysis of the Radical Right (CARR) in the UK and at Political Research Associates. [1] [2] He is author of Against the Fascist Creep.

Contents

Against the Fascist Creep

Against the Fascist Creep
Published7 February 2017
PublisherAK Press
Pages400
ISBN 9781849352444

Ross published the book Against the Fascist Creep in 2017. [3] In it, Ross defines the phenomenon and term "fascist creep", "the crossover space between right and left" through which "at least in its early stages, fascists often utilize 'broad front' strategies ... to gain access to mainstream political audiences." This can take the appearance of individuals who attempt to position themselves as outside of political divides. [4] In practice, this takes the form of rightwing movements appropriating the language of the left, [5] such as attempts by the right to infiltrate the radical environmentalist factions of the left. [6] The book also describes how the right weaponizes detached irony to break taboos against far-right politics. [7]

Reception

The arts staff of the Portland Mercury , a left-wing or "alternative" publication, listed the book as among 2017's best, describing it as "one of the most thoroughly researched histories of fascist organizing and theoretical lineage from Mussolini to the so-called alt-right of today". The Mercury highlighted the book as both clarifying and subtle. [8]

Book tour disruption

During a book tour event in June 2017, men wearing "Make America Great Again" hats visited the event including Jamie Troutman, an organizer of Unite the Right. [9] Ross told the men they could stay as long as they remained quiet in the back, which they did. After attendees at the event described the new arrivals on social media, antifa began visiting the bookstore. The crowd swelled from around twenty to over sixty, according to Ross, and the talk continued without further disruption. The MAGA hat wearers left after the event, and some antifa followed. [3]

Map project

A screenshot of the interactive incident map AlexanderReidRoss IncidentMap.png
A screenshot of the interactive incident map

Ross began collecting cases in which far-right actors and vigilantes appeared at demonstrations and similar events starting on May 27, 2020. [10] Using this data, he developed an interactive map of the United States describing events and metadata such as involved groups. By early September, Ross had accumulated over 500 such incidents. [11]

By mid-October, he had accumulated over 800 incidents. Approximately 90% of the data is sourced from social media and news outlets. The remainder comes from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), a non-partisan, international political violence tracking group. Ross categorizes over 400 of the events as beyond harassment or intimidation. Ross found that, although vigilante-style attacks and threats had fallen since summer, the proportion of gun violence and vehicular attacks increased. Though demonstrations and violence at demonstrations were both decreasing, the severity of attacks was increasing, Ross found. The project has been praised by the research director at ACLED, and Heidi Beirich. [10]

"The Multipolar Spin"

In 2018, Ross published an article title "The Multipolar Spin: how fascists operationalize left-wing resentment" in the Southern Poverty Law Center's (SPLC) blog Hatewatch. [12] After receiving complaints, the article was taken down and an apology was extended to "those who believe they have been falsely described" as "white supremacists, fascists, and/or anti-Semites". [13]

According to the SPLC, "neither we nor the article's author intended to make any such accusations" and the article was only intended to show "that individuals on the left share some policy views with respect to multipolarism that are also held by the far right and/or appear on far-right media and conferences advocating them". [13] The article described links from members and media of the far-right and the Russian sphere of influence to those the left. Among those discussed was Max Blumenthal, a former AlterNet senior writer, whom Ross argues has used the guise of anti-imperialism to align with Russian and Syrian interests. Blumenthal strenuously opposed these statements and brought his concerns to the SPLC. [14]

The article was the third in a series. The first two titles were "The Internet Research Agency: behind the shadowy network that meddled in the 2016 Elections" and "The far-right influence in pro-Kremlin media and political networks". After the retraction of the third entry, the first two were also removed. [15]

Related Research Articles

Antifa may refer to:

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-fascism</span> Opposition to fascism

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proud Boys</span> North American neo-fascist organization

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Identity Evropa</span> Neo-Nazi group in the United States

Identity Evropa was an American far-right, neo-Nazi, neo-Fascist, and white supremacist organization established in March 2016. It was rebranded as the American Identity Movement in March 2019. In November 2020, the group disbanded. Leaders and members of Identity Evropa, such as former leader Elliot Kline, praised Nazi Germany and pushed for what they described as the "Nazification of America".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Posobiec</span> American conservative commentator and conspiracy theorist

Jack Michael Posobiec III is an American alt-right political activist, television correspondent and presenter, conspiracy theorist, and former United States Navy intelligence officer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antifa (United States)</span> Anti-fascist political activist movement

Antifa is a left-wing anti-fascist and anti-racist political movement in the United States. It consists of a highly decentralized array of autonomous groups that use nonviolent direct action, incivility, or violence to achieve their aims. Antifa political activism includes non-violent methods such as poster and flyer campaigns, mutual aid, speeches, protest marches, and community organizing. Some who identify as antifa also use tactics involving digital activism, doxing, harassment, physical violence, and property damage. Members of antifa aim to combat far-right extremists, including neo-Nazis and white supremacists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Post–World War II anti-fascism</span> History of movements and networks opposing fascism after WWII

Post–World War II anti-fascism, including antifa groups, anti-fascist movements and anti-fascist action networks, saw the development of political movements describing themselves as anti-fascist and in opposition to fascism. Those movements have been active in several countries in the aftermath of World War II during the second half of the 20th and early 21st century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patriot Prayer</span> American far-right political group

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<i>Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook</i> 2017 book by Mark Bray

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joey Gibson (political activist)</span> American right-wing activist

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rose City Antifa</span> Antifa group founded in 2007 in Portland, Oregon

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-Communist Action</span> Right-wing to far-right political organization

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Ngo</span> American right-wing author and influencer (born 1980s)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">End Domestic Terrorism rally</span> 2019 Proud Boys rally in Portland, Oregon, US

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tusitala Toese</span> Convicted Felon

Tusitala John Toese also known as Tiny, is a convicted felon. He is a member of the Proud Boys, a far-right group that engages in political violence in the United States. He was, and still is, a member of the Portland area far-right group Patriot Prayer, prior to joining the Proud Boys and has been convicted of multiple criminal charges for violence at rallies.

References

  1. Devega, Chauncey (September 4, 2020). "Alexander Reid Ross on what the media got wrong about the Portland protests: Everything". Salon.
  2. "Fellows". Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  3. 1 2 King, Elizabeth (May 20, 2019). "Why Fascists Storm Bookstores". The Nation.
  4. Minkowitz, Donna (December 5, 2019). "Why Racists (and Liberals!) Keep Writing for 'Quillette'". The Nation.
  5. "Responding to the Fascist Creep: An Interview With Alexander Reid Ross". It's Going Down . January 23, 2017.
  6. Berlatsky, Noah (May 8, 2018). "'The Rain' and Its Man-Eating Planet". Playboy.
  7. Wilson, Jason (May 23, 2017). "Hiding in plain sight: how the 'alt-right' is weaponizing irony to spread fascism". The Guardian.
  8. Crowell, Cameron (December 27, 2017). "Looking Back on the Best Books of 2017". Portland Mercury.
  9. Weill, Kelly (November 14, 2018). "Brothers Accused of Race War Plot Followed Alt-Right Heroes". The Daily Beast.
  10. 1 2 Bliss, Laura; Patino, Marie (October 16, 2020). "Tracking the Shifting Shape of Far-Right Political Violence". Bloomberg CityLab.
  11. Bliss, Laura (September 9, 2020). "MapLab: The Spread of Far-Right Vigilantism". Bloomberg.
  12. "The multipolar spin: how fascists operationalize left-wing resentment". Archived from the original on March 9, 2018.
  13. 1 2 "Explanation and apology: The multipolar spin: how fascists operationalize left-wing resentment", Southern Poverty Law Center. March 14, 2018.
  14. Ansari, Talal (March 18, 2018). "The Southern Poverty Law Center Took Down An Article Trying To Connect "Left-Wing" People And "Fascists" After Getting Complaints". BuzzFeed News. 'After receiving some concerns about the article from Max Blumenthal that evening, we took it down, pending further review,' the SPLC said in a statement.
  15. Proyect, Louis (March 14, 2018). "Max Blumenthal and the Streisand Effect". New Politics. Retrieved January 20, 2021.