Refuse Fascism

Refuse Fascism was formed by a broad ad-hoc coalition of leftists, liberals, intellectuals, artists, and activists including members of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), after the 2016 election.

[2] Responding to the call, an emergency meeting which officially launched the group was convened at the Great Hall at Cooper Union in New York City, featuring speeches from Sunsara Taylor, Immortal Technique, PZ Myers, Carl Dix, and Jeremy Scahill, among others.

[6][3][4] The group partially operates out of the RCP's Revolution bookshop on 132nd Street in Harlem[5] and shares a mailing address on West Broadway with The World Can't Wait.

[21] In October 2017 Refuse Fascism members protested panelists at an event on civil discourse and hate speech at the University of California, Los Angeles.

[22] News media reported in September 2017 that Refuse Fascism was organizing a series of nonviolent protests against the Trump administration, which began on November 4, 2017.

[9][24] Protestors carrying signs reading "NOV 4 IT BEGINS" blocked traffic on U.S. Route 101, near Alameda Street in Los Angeles, on September 26, 2017.

[4][26][27][28][29] In September and October 2017 the claims were reported in multiple articles and broadcasts by InfoWars, by the John Birch Society's publication The New American, and by Richard Spencer's Altright.com website.

[30] Later in October, the far-right blog The Gateway Pundit published an article by Lucian Wintrich claiming an "antifa leader" had pledged to "behead white parents" on November 4.

Although the DOD intended to conduct a training exercise that day alongside the American Radio Relay League, an event that had been held quarterly since 2013, the electrical grid was never planned to be turned off.

"[26] Adi Robertson of The Verge wrote on November 3 that "It doesn't necessarily matter how much anyone believes tomorrow's nationwide protest is a civil war—the point is that some people are hoping it will become one.

"[38] On November 4, 2017, Refuse Fascism held non-violent demonstrations in New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and other cities, in which over 4,000 people attended nationwide.

[39][40][41] In March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Refuse Fascism issued an expanded set of demands, including that the government "[p]rovide aid and protection for humanity globally, not just for Americans, based on international cooperation, not competition," the immediate release of all nonviolent offenders from prison and ICE detention centers, the provision of personal protective equipment for all healthcare workers, mass testing, and the provision of ventilators and hospital beds for ICUs, in addition to the overriding demand of the "immediate" removal of Trump and Pence from office.

Refuse Fascism placards seen at a rally to protest family separation in Cleveland , Ohio (June, 2018)
Protesters speak at a Refuse Fascism rally in Union Square, San Francisco , November 4, 2017.
Refuse Fascism members and supporters march in New York City. November 2019.