A War on a Verb
A Call to Defend Rose City and the Soul of Antifa.
The notification arrived not with a bang, but with the digital sneer of a Truth Social post. The words, glowing on screens across the country, declared a new front in a long-brewing war. He has sent troops to “war-torn Portland” again. He has declared war on “antifa.” He has summoned his “Secretary of War,” Pete Hegseth—a chilling change in title from “Defense” to “War,” a shift from a posture of protection to one of pure aggression. And in the Germanic echo of Kriegsminister, we hear the goose-steps of history.
Troops
glowing screens declare/
war on a torn city’s streets/
history goose-steps.
This is the moment we knew was coming. The mere idea of declaring a violent, state-sanctioned war against an ideology is a slippery fucking slope, dear readers. This isn’t just a threat; it’s a declaration against the very concept of dissent. Who is “antifa”? I am. You might be. The person who hands out water at a protest is. The medic rinsing tear gas from a stranger’s eyes is. The neighbor who stands between a federal agent and a child is. Literal citizens are “antifa,” and sometimes we gather and do the good trouble together. It’s a spontaneous rejection of tyranny, a human reflex. It’s never planned too far in advance.
Verb
how to bomb a thought/
you cannot kill an action/
a body in place. Fury
This is the third time I have put words to this fight, following my pieces: “Resistance is not Terrorism” and “Resistance or Terrorism.” The state and its right-wing mouthpieces have worked tirelessly to paint us as a monolithic, shadowy organization. They refer to our tight-knit groups of comrades—like Rose City Antifa or the Greater Orlando Antifascist Network—as “cells,” a word deliberately chosen to evoke images of terrorism. They need a noun to fight, a tangible enemy to bomb, arrest, and disappear.
But we are not their noun. We are a verb. Antifa is an action. It is the act of standing up, of speaking out, of physically placing your body in the way of fascist creep. To be antifascist is to draw a line in the sand and say “no further.” It is a moral imperative, not a membership card. And that is what terrifies them. How do you wage war against a verb? How do you bomb a conviction? You can’t. So instead, you wage war on the people who embody it. Resistance is not fucking terrorism. It is the immune system of a free society.
This latest move, this deployment of troops to an American city to hunt an ideology, is the escalation they have always craved. They are telling us that to believe in a world free from fascism is to be an enemy of the state. They are criminalizing a belief system. And if they can do it to us, they can do it to anyone. Today they come for the antifascists. Tomorrow, they will come for the journalists, the union organizers, the teachers, the librarians—anyone who dares to defy their narrow, brutal vision for this country.
So I will say it plainly: I am unequivocally antifa. I will die on this hill. For I am also a heathen and a berserker, and our way is not one of quiet submission. We do not bow to tyrants. We do not surrender our kin. When the threat comes, the spirit of the berserker is to meet it with a fury that shocks the soul of the oppressor. This is not a political debate. This is a battle for the world we want to live in, and I will meet it with teeth bared. If this is the fight that sends me to Valhalla, then so be it. A warrior could ask for no better death.
Fury
a heathen spirit
with a berserker’s bared teeth,
will not bow to them.
Our comrades in Rose City are now on the front line. They are in danger. We need to support our antifascist family everywhere, but right now, all eyes must be on Portland. Let’s stand with Rose City. For those who are able, consider traveling to Portland. Our presence is our power. We need to show them that for every one of us they target, a hundred more will rise to take their place. If you cannot go, amplify their voices. Support their bail funds. Organize in your own community. Be the verb.
Portland
the strong shield wall holds/
rose city is the front line/
be its strength right now
The state has declared war on an idea. But an idea cannot be killed. It can only be carried. It is carried in our hearts, in our fists, in our unwavering solidarity. The shield wall holds in Portland. Let us be its strength.
