Budding Roses: Antifa grade school "summer camp"

saki

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https://pjmedia.com/parenting/church-hosts-summer-camp-to-train-grade-school-kids-to-be-antifa-activists/

from article: "The Marxist revolutionaries are now reaching into our elementary schools to recruit ever younger comrades for the front lines."


Church Hosts Summer Camp to Train Grade School Kids to Be Antifa Activists

BY JEFF REYNOLDS JUNE 11, 2019

I'm so old I can remember when disseminating communist propaganda in public schools was frowned upon.
Last Friday afternoon, I was sitting at my computer when I received an email from Peachjar. This is a service used by several school districts near me in the Portland area that sends home digital fliers to parents in lieu of paper fliers to advertise extracurricular activities sponsored by various groups in the community. My son's middle school uses this service, and I receive a few emails a month from them. I've used the service myself to send advertisements for recruiting events for Scouts, and I've received other fliers such as music lessons, sports teams, and the like.
This one, however, was quite different.

There's so much wrong here it's hard to know where to start.
The first thing that struck me, before anything else, was the mask-clad, fist-raising elementary school kids in the illustration. Teaching incoming 4th-8th-graders how to riot, become members of antifa, and join a communist revolution seems a bit much—even for Portland, Oregon. Notice the star on the mask and the raised fist. Classic imagery from the USSR, China, and other violent Marxist revolutions in the 20th century.
One might immediately think of the Brown Shirts, except that Nazis and antifa hate each other. Antifa formed in the 1930s to oppose the rise of the Nazi party and to try to bring a Marxist revolution to Germany. Rather, the imagery is eerily reminiscent of the Vladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization, or Pioneer Youth. Lenin established this organization to replace the Boy Scouts, which he outlawed after the Bolshevik revolution. The oath that members took reads:
I, (last name, first name), joining the ranks of the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization, in the presence of my comrades solemnly promise: to passionately love and cherish my Motherland, to live as the great Lenin bade us to, as the Communist Party teaches us to, as require the laws of the Pioneers of the Soviet Union.​
You may also note that an organization called Budding Roses runs this junior domestic terrorist training camp summer camp for social justice. The About page says:
Budding Roses is a volunteer-run collective of educators, students, and activists who provide free social justice summer camps and year-round workshops for Portland-area youth in 4th-8th grade.
Camp Philosophy

Our goal is to provide a free, safe and encouraging space for youth to learn, express themselves, and engage critically with the issues they encounter individuals and as a group. We strive to help them cultivate the necessary tools to be active members of our communities through experiences of collective decision-making and democratic education. At camp, youth of all ages play a leadership role alongside adult counselors and make collective decisions about the activities and format of the day. Each day opening and closing assemblies provide a space for youth and counselors to democratically plan activities for the day, resolve conflicts, and build interpersonal leadership skills.


Daily Activities
Include a combination of community-building activities, discussions on social justice topics, interactive workshops, movies, arts, games, and free time. Workshops and discussions are often held in collaboration with local activists and community organizations. In the past two summers, we have worked with the Burgerville Workers Union, Critical Resistance PDX, the Transformative Lenses Collective, and DUG (Deep Underground)!


Building Solidarity
In our work we strive to be a resource for both the campers, their families, and the broader community. With funding from the Black Rose Anarchist Federation, an online fundraising campaign, and in-kind donations of space, supplies, and services we were able to offer two hot meals a day, school supplies, and a back-to-school haircut for youth last summer. In addition to this we hope that with the skills, ideas and support found at Budding Roses, each camper is empowered to make a lasting positive change in their community.

Budding Roses was selected for a 2018 Spirit of Portland Award, as Nonprofit Initiative of the Year. View our acceptance speech and statement here.​
What's wrong with fighting for social justice, you say? You may have noted that Budding Roses received funding from the Black Rose Anarchist Federation. Notice that they use the same graphic as the summer camp:
Black Rose claims to believe in something called libertarian socialism. They attempt to resolve this oxymoron on their About page:
About Us
Black Rose Anarchist Federation / Federación Anarquista Rosa Negra (BRRN)
is a political organization with locals in over a dozen cities sharing a common set of politics and creating a shared strategic vision of how to build “popular power” in workplaces, neighborhoods, schools and all sectors of society towards the goal of libertarian socialism. Our organizing work is centered on building mass movements such as tenant unions, neighborhood assemblies, workplace campaigns, student unions, prisoner organizing, and in defense of communities resisting criminalization and deportations.
If you are interested in learning more about our politics we recommend you start with our core organizational documents: our Mission Statement, Role of the Revolutionary Organization and Points of Unity.​
They have podcasts that include Feminists against Capitalism, a Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) podcast, and others.
On a side note, the DSA in Portland has announced that they will challenge Democrat legislators in next year's primary over an unwillingness to go far enough left for their tastes. Mind you, Portland Democrats tilt to the left of Trotsky, so this will shape up as a battle royale to rival the craziest stuff advocated by AOC and others.
In any event, you can't tell me that we're not in a war for the soul of our culture. The Marxist revolutionaries are now reaching into our elementary schools to recruit ever younger comrades for the front lines.
 

justjess

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Can you outline what exactly YOUR objection is to any of this? Why would you object to localized power rather then the power system we currently have? Why would you object to standing up for the rights of the less fortunate/more vulnerable members of society? Or anything else that you took from this since I haven’t found much of substance to even explain what it is other then it seems to be a leadership camp teaching Democrat ideals on a localized scales to children.
 

mecca

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So you're against teaching children how to be against fascism and how to make society more just? What... do you want them to be pro-fascism and anti-justice?
 
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mecca

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Black Rose claims to believe in something called libertarian socialism. They attempt to resolve this oxymoron
Lol if you actually believe this is an oxymoron then you don't know anything about political history.
 

Scars512

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The problem with Antifa is that they are just the flip side of the coin with respect to the neo-Nazis. Conservatives/Liberals for the most part have been content to shout at each other without resorting to violence over the last few decades. But now we see the rise of neo-Nazis and the answer being promoted is NOT to "use your words" and "communicate" but to "fight fire with fire". They (meaning the elite -- the ones we all talk about on this site) are deliberately trying to provoke violent clashes. Problem, reaction, solution. When things get violent, that gives them an excuse to step in and crack down. Just look at what happened when Antifa met the KKK in Charlottesville. That is their goal. Antifa are useful idiots just as much as the neo-Nazis are. They are being used as part of an agenda.

Just like the crackdown on YouTube videos recently. Sure, it is just about "hate speech" (as defined by corporate America -- not by the Supreme Court, since the Supreme Court has ruled that even offensive and hateful speech -- so long as it doesn't directly incite violence -- is protected). They always use a bait and switch tactic. They sell it to us as one thing, but once they get the public to go along with it, they use it for what they really wanted all along. We were all on board with "Je Suis Charlie" until someone said something we don't like. That isn't how free speech is supposed to work. You have to actually support speech that you despise in order to really, truly be a free speech advocate.

The problem with Antifa is that they don't just seek to protect minorities, they seek to violently oppose anyone who might have an idea that they disagree with. They don't want people having difficult conversations and finding middle ground. They want to dictate what is appropriate and what is not. I hate both sides, to be honest. The middle ground where we try work out differences out like civilized individuals is the best approach. Not where we have street fights between skinheads and Antifa to determine which ideology is going to win out.
 
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[QUOTE="saki, post: 212279, member: 1591"
Black Rose claims to believe in something called libertarian socialism. they attempt to resolve this oxymoron. [/QUOTE]

The history of political language should be taught in school since the original libertarians were socialists and communists, who were breaking away from Marxist economics who wanted anti-capitalist free markets controlled by worker-led syndicates rather than a wealthy elite class.

There is nothing hypocritical about the idea of "libertarian socialism". Modern libertarianism is to classical libertarianism as modern liberalism is to classical liberalism. To quote modern "libertarian" Murray Rothbard.

Murry Rothbard said:
One gratifying aspect of our rise to some prominence is that, for the first time in my memory, we, 'our side,' had captured a crucial word from the enemy... 'Libertarians'... had long been simply a polite word for left-wing anarchists, that is for anti-private property anarchists, either of the communist or syndicalist variety. But now we had taken it over...
Also, Anarchism isn't inherently Marxist. That's not to there aren't anarchists influenced by Marxist ideology, especially the maxim of "each according to ability and each according to his need" but if you're worried about your kids joining a Stalin-Leninist death squad... Well, don't. Since you know, anarchists universally reject the State. If they didn't, they wouldn't be an anarchist.

Lastly... You do understand that actual neo-nazis are trying to recruit vulnerable kids, right? The lurk on forums where there's a lot of young angry white men who feel ostracized by society and try to convince them to fight for fascism.
 
Joined
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The problem with Antifa is that they are just the flip side of the coin with respect to the neo-Nazis. Conservatives/Liberals for the most part have been content to shout at each other without resorting to violence over the last few decades. But now we see the rise of neo-Nazis and the answer being promoted is NOT to "use your words" and "communicate" but to "fight fire with fire". They (meaning the elite -- the ones we all talk about on this site) are deliberately trying to provoke violent clashes. Problem, reaction, solution. When things get violent, that gives them an excuse to step in and crack down. Just look at what happened when Antifa met the KKK in Charlottesville. That is their goal. Antifa are useful idiots just as much as the neo-Nazis are. They are being used as part of an agenda.
Antifa has its origins in the punk scene. As anyone in the punk scene what happens when they turned the blind eye to nazis. They'll tell you; violence. While I don't approve of the use of political violence I also don't believe you should play nice with them. You need to get them blacklisted, you need to outshout them, you need to know their dog-whistles and not let them hide racism behind obfuscation, and you need to let them know you'll defend yourself.

Just the other days a bunch of armed neo-nazis marched in counter-protest to a Detroit pride parade. With a police escort. If you believe that the police's official statement, they did it because the neo-nazis said they wanted a "Charlottesville 2.0"; i.e.: they wanted someone to die. And if you don't believe their statement... Well, scare thought ain't it?

Just like the crackdown on YouTube videos recently. Sure, it is just about "hate speech" (as defined by corporate America -- not by the Supreme Court, since the Supreme Court has ruled that even offensive and hateful speech -- so long as it doesn't directly incite violence -- is protected). They always use a bait and switch tactic. They sell it to us as one thing, but once they get the public to go along with it, they use it for what they really wanted all along. We were all on board with "Je Suis Charlie" until someone said something we don't like. That isn't how free speech is supposed to work. You have to actually support speech that you despise in order to really, truly be a free speech advocate.
The right aren't the only ones that are hit with demonization and they aren't the only one's who have had videos taken down. And free speech does not me we have to humor people who talk about ethnic cleasing or the like. We can, and we should ridicule them because their beliefs are objectively evil.

The problem with Antifa is that they don't just seek to protect minorities, they seek to violently oppose anyone who might have an idea that they disagree with. They don't want people having difficult conversations and finding middle ground. They want to dictate what is appropriate and what is not. I hate both sides, to be honest. The middle ground where we try work out differences out like civilized individuals is the best approach. Not where we have street fights between skinheads and Antifa to determine which ideology is going to win out.
I am a leftist. Far left. An anarchist. I believe in the abolition of state and capitalism and I believe in cooperatives taking their place. I'm more that willing to communicate with liberals, conservatives, modern libertarians... I'm willing to find common ground we can work towards since at the end of the day I've found that most people are a lot more sympathetic to my ideas that they realize. But just as I won't humor Stalin-Leninists or any "tankie" that parades around authoritarian leftist, I won't humor actual fascists and I find it hard to pretend that the violence of Antifa is the same as the violence of neo-nazi groups.


In the case of the later, they commit violence because they believe certain groups of people don't deserve to live. In the cast of the former, they commit acts of violence because the other group believes certain people don't deserve to live. I find it hard to find a moral equalivancy between the two.
 
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