4channers are trying to shut down indie venues across North America

by Luke Ottenhof

Last week, people across the world watched with absolute horror as news unfolded of a fire at Oakland’s Ghost Ship, an independent venue and collective space maintained and used primarily by underground, DIY artists and musicians. The fire claimed the lives of 36 people, including performers and listeners, ranging in age from 17 to 61.

Artists, fans, and human beings who feel things echoed anguish and heartbreak at the events. Many donated to funds set up to benefit the victims of the fire; one campaign has raised over $600,000. Oakland’s major league teams announced they’d be donating sums as well. Oakland’s mayor Libby Schaaf pledged $1.7 million to “create and sustain affordable, safe spaces” in the city.

Not everyone has been so charitable. A benign lack of empathy or compassion could be observed even in journalistic accounts that, whether intentionally or not, pathologized and demonized the space and its’ patrons, somehow assigning blame for their deaths back onto them. They failed to recognize or acknowledge the very real, very confining social and financial preconditions that force venues like Ghost Ship to be a necessity, a safe haven for underprivileged and marginalized communities.

But a far more insidious and frightening backlash has come from the bowels of, you guessed it, 4Chan (which seems to function exceedingly well as a forum for homophobic/transphobic/sexist white supremacist males to thrive off one another and spread their vitriol). A post on Reddit uploaded yesterday warns, “ALT-RIGHT FASCISTS THREATEN INDIE MUSIC VENUES WITH VIOLENCE/SHUTDOWNS.” The post contains links to discussions (riddled with racial and homophobic epithets) across 4Chan of which venues to target, and how best to attack them. They outline who to call (fire marshals, city councillors) and what to report (code violations or safety hazards), and right below they list resources to locate DIY spaces.

The posts are genuinely terrifying, and are almost entirely driven by an anti-left or anti-liberal rhetoric. One thread, titled “LGBTQ BBQ,” claims its desire to eradicate “leftist nests” across North America. Participants have begun to map out (including Google Maps locations and images) their targets. Some are calling on Canadians to follow suit. Another thread, titled “DIY (Destroy It Yourself),” actually pulled a list of safe spaces from an international LGBTQ+ resource website and posted them. Any guess why they’d do that?

If you still think people are being alarmist when discussing how fucked up things are, and how endangered minorities and marginalized people are right now, and how enabled they have become in recent months, consider this your wake up call. Ignorance and benign complacence have traditionally been a political aggressor’s strongest tools.

This is nothing particularly new; hegemonic powers have always sought to stamp out what they call ‘dissenters,’ people who don’t prescribe to their views. What is (relatively) new is how prevalent, bold, and public these displays and sentiments have become. They have steamrolled into the mainstream under the woefully misappropriated (and for them, remarkably advantageous) ‘alt-right’ banner; would Tomi Lahren be on a late night show if Trump didn’t win?

In the face of these vocal and violent attacks on our communities, we have to be prepared to call this what it is; white supremacy. Nazism. Fascism. Pick your poison. But don’t fucking call it ‘alt-right.’ You’re failing those you call yourself an ally to. Van Newkirk III drove this point home for The Atlantic: “The labels of racism and bigotry can impose a social cost on bigoted actions, policy preferences, or speech, regardless of whether hearts or minds are changed.”

These are attacks on a community that has perpetually been under attack, and bullied out of mainstream places into places like Ghost Ship, and dozens of other similar spaces across the country. Be vigilant in defending them and those who need them.