BBC, “Proud Boys and antifa: When a right-wing activist met a left-wing anti-fascist”

Since the election of Donald Trump, extreme right-wing groups and left-wing activists have battled on American streets. It’s happened in New York, Berkeley, Charlottesville and elsewhere. But one liberal enclave might be the epicentre of the fighting: Portland, Oregon, a progressive city in the Pacific north-west.

Two activists who have been on opposite sides in the Portland clashes agreed to meet and talk. But would they have any common ground?

I didn’t think they would both be in the same room, until they were both in the same room.

We had agreed to meet on neutral ground – a cannabis club in east Portland. Recreational use of weed is legal in Oregon, and one thing Luis and Rob have in common is that they think liberalising drug laws is a good idea.

Luis, nervous and on edge, enters wearing sunglasses and a hat. Rob is wide-eyed and, it seems, intent on at least a verbal confrontation.

Read more

Written By
More from Agency
The Daily Beast, “Anti-Islam Bigots Fail to Provoke in Phoenix,” May 30, 2015
Anti-Islam Bigots Fail to Provoke in Phoenix by Rebekah Zemansky, The Daily...
Read More