March Against Sharia – Atlanta Antifascists

Jared Huggins: Libertarian Turned Identity Evropa / “American Identity Movement” Racist Activist

Update 2021: We placed posters in the Carver Hills neighborhood of northwest Atlanta, where Huggins now co-owns a house.

Introduction

On Sunday, March 10, racist organization Identity Evropa held its first protest under its new name of “American Identity Movement” at the State Capitol in Nashville, Tennessee. The protest took place after the national conference of Identity Evropa (IE) / American Identity Movement (AmIM), held the Friday and Saturday beforehand at the Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park in Burkesville, Kentucky. (Note: we use the acronym “AmIM” for the “American Identity Movement” out of respect for AIM, the American Indian Movement.)

Patrick Casey, the IE leader, announced the name change to “American Identity Movement” late on the Friday night of the conference. While Casey claims that AmIM is a completely new organization, all evidence supports AmIM being a cosmetic rebrand of IE. The rebrand was necessary since IE’s reputation is so tarnished by its role in the violent “Unite the Right” rally of Charlottesville, VA, 2017, and also by its association with the broader “Alt-Right.” This name change may also be an attempt by IE to evade legal liability, since IE is currently being sued for its role in Unite the Right (UTR). Shortly before IE’s conference, communications on their Discord chat server were leaked to the public by the Unicorn Riot journalism collective.

*AmIM Inaugural Protest, Nashville, TN 3/10/2019*

One participant in IE / AmIM is Metro Atlanta white nationalist Jared Alexander Huggins, who seemingly appeared in the crowd at AmIM’s rally in Nashville. Huggins has been involved with Identity Evropa – and has been on the radar of antifascists – since 2016. We have mentioned Huggins in passing several times, but until now have not profiled his activity in depth.

*Jared Alexander Huggins, 2016. Note the fasces – a symbol of fascism – on Huggins’ patch.*

Justin Peek: Metro Atlanta Racist is National “Director of Activism” for Identity Evropa

Introduction / Overview

Justin Wayne Peek is the current Georgia coordinator for Identity Evropa (IE), a nationwide racist organization. Peek also serves as IE’s Director of Activism and organizes their protests across the United States, often personally traveling to participate in them.

Justin Wayne Peek speaking at Identity Evropa’s 2018 conference

Justin Peek became involved in the “Alt-Right” and white nationalism in early 2017. After the violence of the August 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, VA and the Alt-Right’s subsequent reversal of fortune, IE saw a need to alter its activist strategy. Peek was named as IE’s “activism coordinator” in late 2017 during the leadership of Elliot Kline AKA “Eli Mosley,” but his role only began in earnest under IE’s third and current leader, Patrick Casey. IE now deploys flash protests with just their own members, so that the organization can carefully stage-manage these events and maintain the correct “optics.” By orchestrating IE’s protests of 2018, Peek has played a key role in the organization’s efforts to attract new members and rebrand.

Identity Evropa “die in” at South African embassy, Washington DC, April 2018, organized by Peek.

On his old Twitter account, Peek claimed that “Jew [sic] and arabs are disease to this planet” and that “black lives don’t matter.” Peek also circulated pro-Hitler propaganda. IE remains a white power organization, even if it now uses carefully-crafted language of wanting a “European-American super-majority” instead of publicly demanding a whites-only homeland.

Since “Unite the Right,” Identity Evropa has tried to portray itself as having high moral standards for its members, in contrast to other racist groups. Peek’s personal history gives reason to doubt this. In 2012 Justin Peek was arrested in Fulton County for sexual battery. The initial accusation charged Peek with “intentionally […] touching the genital area” of a woman without her consent. Peek eventually accepted a plea deal for the lower charge of simple battery, which involves intentional “physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature.” Court documents from this case are included as an appendix to our article.

Peek currently lives with his fiancée Amber Michele Wojcik in the Edgewater at Sandy Springs apartment complex. The couple are due to marry this September, with a ceremony scheduled at the River Dream Lodge in Blue Ridge, Georgia. To coincide with the publication of this article, we mailed flyers to residents at Peek’s apartment complex, warning them of the racist organizer in their midst. Continue reading “Justin Peek: Metro Atlanta Racist is National “Director of Activism” for Identity Evropa”

Atlanta, November 4: Far-Right Counters “Antifa” Uprising of its Own Imagination

On November 4, the Leftist anti-Trump organization Refuse Fascism held protests in several major US cities, including Atlanta. Refuse Fascism is a national mobilization spearheaded by the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), a Maoist group that dates to the 1970s. Through building on widespread disgust towards the Trump regime, Refuse Fascism has engaged some numbers beyond the RCP’s cadre of organizers. Peaceful mass rallies on November 4 were supposed to usher in a wave of protest to “drive out the Trump/Pence regime,” although the details of getting from A to B were hazy.

In the end, the November 4 call to action captured the imagination of the far-Right just as much — if not more — than it did working class people fed up with Trump’s rule (or even other Leftist organizers.) On widely-circulated social media posts, YouTube videos and stories on Right-wing websites, the November 4th protests were portrayed as an “antifa” plot to usher in civil war, with likely mass violence that day. As nonsensical as November 4 conspiracy theories were, many on the far-Right paid attention and believed them. Just as the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory led to a true believer firing shots in a restaurant, some observers began to worry that “antifa” “civil war” hype could lead to real violence from people determined to play hero against an imaginary threat.

While “Refuse Fascism” and “antifascists” include variants on the same term, “antifa” groups such as our organization were generally not involved in November 4 planning or promotion — a point that seems to have been missed by portions of media, even though a quick glance at our social media could have cleared up any confusion.

In Atlanta on the evening of the 4th, Refuse Fascism rallied in Little Five Points, attracting several dozen to their protest. Large amounts of police staged nearby. A group of counter-protesters waved an American flag catty-corner from the Refuse Fascism event. Other Right-wing individuals moved within in or infiltrated the Refuse Fascism crowd. Heavy rains brought the entire spectacle to an early end. There were no clashes.

The remainder of this article sets out which far-Right forces did and did not show up for the anticlimactic “civil war” in Atlanta.

zesto — *Far-Right counter-protesters plus cops aplenty, cat*ty-corner from Little Five Points “Refuse Fascism” protest

Continue reading “Atlanta, November 4: Far-Right Counters “Antifa” Uprising of its Own Imagination”