In last week’s blog I mentioned that ID Canada, an “Identarian” (read: white nationalist) group claimed to have identified the author of the important anti-fascist blog Anti-Racist Canada. The extreme-right in Canada immediately began baying for “justice” against the alleged author, claiming that his unmasking was a “victory” and the start of a “purge of antifa”… and when fascist extremists openly start using words like purge, you can bet they’re riled up.
On Thursday, January 9th, the person they’d identified as the author of the blog spoke up. It, he said, was true. His name is Kurt Phillips, and for more than a decade he’s been tracking neo-Nazis and hate groups and sharing that information with the public.
His statement, linked above, refutes in the simplest, plainest language the increasingly strident baying of the extreme-right, including the whining claims by fascist propagandist Rick “Facts VS. Feelings” Boswick that ARC has “made us unhirable and gotten people fired” by revealing them as neo-Nazis and/or white supremacists. (Fact check, Rick: nobody wants to employ a neo-Nazi because it’s very bad for a business’ image and you obviously know that since you’re whining about Nazis being uncovered rather than advocating making the effort to not be a fucking Nazi.)
Simply put, Kurt Phillips’ volunteer work over the past twelve years has been careful, meticulous, and an invaluable service to the safety of Canadians. If there’s a silver lining to his being doxxed, it’s that everyone now knows who he is and what he’s done, and he can get the deserved credit and respect for more than a decade of selfless service casting a bright light on the hate groups which spread like mould in the shadows. And in response far-right “luminaries” like Andy Ngo and Ezra Levant have denounced him, bottom-feeding homophobes like the Yellow Vests Sudbury crew are calling for “a purge” (and making blatantly fake accounts trying to co-opt his work and the work of other anti-fascists) and the far-right Twittersphere generally is full of abuse and threats.
It needs to be pointed out, however, that Phillips’ identity was not uncovered by his part in the CBC documentary, nor was it uncovered by any particular effort on the part of the extreme-right. He was doxxed by noted “ex-Nazi” author Elisa Hategan, who included his name and identity in legal documents that are part of the public record. Hategan is apparently upset that the CBC produced a drama based on her life without permission or credit and is suing the organization, and as part of her affidavit she names Phillips. By her own admission, she revealed Phillips’ identity in those documents deliberately, although whether she did so out of malice, cupidity or simply as a mis-reckoning of the consequences, I’m not sure. Certainly, as someone who knows Mr. Phillips and who doesn’t know Ms. Hategan I’m having a hard time being neutral about the situation, so I’m trying to make a deliberate effort to reserve judgment. (I encourage folks to read both their statements about the situation and make your own decision.)
For myself, I see the consequences of her action as both entirely predictable and extremely upsetting. I’m going to admit it — I’m personally dealing with a lot of anger right now over what’s happening to Phillips. I’ve followed his work for years and have gotten acquainted with him through anti-fascist circles over the fast several months (although like everyone else I didn’t know his real name until last Thursday) and I find him to be a good and decent person who genuinely cares about fascist and white supremacist threats to our society. And now the hate groups are doxxing him and threatening him. I myself dealt with some doxxing and threats after the Maxime Bernier protest last September, but nothing on the scale that Phillips is facing. This man has spent 12 years fighting fascism and white supremacy and was outed by an “ex-Nazi” who is ostensibly part of the anti-fascist community in Canada… and now scumbags are making thinly-veiled death threats (and in the comments sections, not so thinly.)
So yeah, it pisses me off, and I’m trying to keep a lid on my temper. Lashing out at these shitheels online is not a helpful response. I keep telling myself to look at the quality of the people who are lashing out at Phillips: White nationalists. Racists. Homophobes. “Anti-antifa” (which is simply an alt-right euphemism for “fascist.”) Neo-Nazis. Qanon conspiracy peddlers. Alt-right biker cosplayers. Yellow Vesters. Proud Boys. Right-wing grifters and con-artists of every description.
They want him dead and humiliated and somehow saw in his exposure a triumph for their hateful ideologies.
But do you know what the best part is?
Kurt Phillips still beat them. The chuds thought they’d silenced him and he’s risen above that… and he’s not only bequeathed his work to worthy successors but will be doing more and better work in the future with more resources at the Canadian Anti-Hate Network.
Hell, I’ll bet he gets a book deal out of this whole mess. I’d buy it.
Heh. No wonder the far-right is seething and trying to make as much noise as they can. They know they lost this exchange. They thought they’d taken out a major player (well, not them, but it was at least a windfall)only to have Phillips turn the tables. It must be infuriating.
Well, fuck them. There’s a sea-change happening in the public consciousness in Canada, and they know it. The CBC documentary on The Fifth Estate, while not being as explicit about the threat of the far-right as I feel they could have been, is a clear example that Canadians are rejecting the bullshit “both sides” narrative that has allowed these groups to operate more-or-less freely in Canada. Without public ignorance and/or apathy to hide behind the hate groups are being increasingly exposed… and it turns out that generally speaking the average Canadian doesn’t like fascism.
What’s needed now is for people to continue Phillips’ work and continue to expose the hate groups for who and what they are. We need the public and the media to pay attention to their threat, not out of fear, but out of determination to repudiate their hatred. And we need the authorities to actually act against these groups, which they clearly haven’t been doing. Every time the fascists are allowed to make a threat or carry out an attack without consequence, they get bolder. So we need to make sure there’s consequences.
Good people like Kurt Phillips have led the way. While we can say we’re grateful to them, the best thanks we can give is a continued commitment to opposing violent far-right and white supremacist groups in Canada.
