The Proud Boys, led by Enrique Tarrio, arrested today in DC, have built a bridge between the Alt-Right + the Trump wing of the GOP. While they include men of color, their ideology is centered around white hegemony + patriarchy + celebrating violence against 'the Left.' A thread.

After the 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville, the Alt-Right right collapsed in 2018 admits mass antifascist opposition. Tens of thousands took to the streets and as Richard Spencer explained, the Alt-Right was "pushed off the streets."

Far-Right organizers like Joey Gibson, who had built pan-far-Right coalitions that included neo-Nazis, white nationalists, militias groups, and the Proud Boys, lamented this reality, and pushed for a new street fighting coalition that could fight the Left in the streets.

In 2011, inspired by the Arab Spring, thousands of union members occupied the Wisconsin state capitol - shutting down the legislature in an effort to stop anti-union legislation. Months later, the Occupy movement exploded. A thread on how this relates to #DC + why it matters.

Mass demonstrations of upwards of 100,000 union members, community groups, and their supporters broke out in early 2011 against the Wisconsin Act 10, which attacked collective bargaining, health care and pensions. By February 20th, a physical occupation of the capitol began.

"In Wisconsin, public sector workers, students, and others more generally occupied the Capitol building to stop it from functioning. They prevented the legislative process, the transition from paper, to voting quorum, to the laws taking effect, and thus manifested a force..."

In early March, after being locked out of the capitol, union protesters re-occupied the building while chanting "general strike!"

Inside the occupied capitol, assemblies were held and food was shared communally. On the outside, strikes were called and solidarity occupations broke out at universities. Talk of a general strike filled the air.