Anti-Fascist News has been engaging in some lazy investigative journalism about me; either that or they’re running a deliberate disinformation campaign. Given Antifa’s track record of cultish, conspiracy-theory behavior either or both could be true.
For the uniformed, Antifa is a network of Communists and anarcho-communists who are self proclaimed anti-racists and antifascists. While they hope to prevent the second coming of Adolf Hitler and Nazism, they tend to have a hard time finding actual fascists and spend a great deal of time policing leftwing political groups and movements where they attempt to expel anyone and everyone who doesn’t adopt their particular brand of anarcho-communism. The predictable results of their demands for ideological purity on the left are fractured political movements full of suspicion and paranoia. A very brief overview of the authoritarian left and it’s history will show you little but petty infighting, expulsions, fracturing and splintering which will leave you wondering to what degree their movements are run by Cointelpro. They are the McCarthyists of the left, checking under the bed for fascists and monitoring their supposed friends and allies for any signs that they don’t toe the line and agree with their narrow set of views.
Some things they had to say about me:
Among the various invitees for the (Cascadian Bioregional) conference was also Vince Rinehart, a tribal member of the Tlingit people and an editor with the National Anarchist website Attack the System. AtS is well known for allying with white nationalists and racialists, developing their own “pan-secessionist” ideology that calls for anarchists uniting with fascists to attack “the empire.” Keith Preston Keith Preston, the founder of the website, often speaks at neo-fascist conferences like the National Policy Institute. Rinehart himself supports a strong tribal nationalism, one where racial groups could get their own exclusive tribal communities.
And this:
Rinehart went on Jack Donovan’s podcast as well to defend himself, as well as to re-commit himself to solidarity with ethnic separatism.
This is a very typical Antifa characterization of Attack The Sytem’s views. Curious readers should read ATS’ Statement of Purpose and the core documents referenced therein if they would like to draw their own conclusions about what Attack the System is about. I’ll only say that we welcome a wide range of anti-system radicals and oppressed racial, ethnic, cultural and religious groups. We do not discriminate against any race, gender identity, or sexual orientation. For a more thorough debate between Keith Preston and Anti-Fascist News see here.
As to my own political views, I am an anarchist first and foremost, and if pressed to specify what sort of anarchist I would call myself a tribal anarchist (or perhaps “indigenous anarchist”). Much of what “tribal anarchism” means to me is laid out in my interpretation of what my tribe is: a decentralized network of autonomous kinship groups (clans) with a common language, culture, and ancestry. Essentially my tribe is a stateless nation; as are most indigenous tribes of North America. Within this stateless, decentralized network exists a legal and economic system that has served the interests of my tribe, the Tlingit, for hundreds if not thousands of years; as a friend from my tribe has said, a tribe or clan is a system of governance in and of itself. Antifa seems to object to this and to my connections with other tribal anarchists and attempts to caste me as an ethno-separatist or racial separatist. I do not espouse racial separatism; I imagine such an accusation would be laughable to those who know me. On that topic I have remained fairly consistent: if race does exist then it is a tribe that makes a race and not a race that makes a tribe. If Antifa and the radical left they claim to represent has an issue with indigenous tribalism then so be it. That just means they’re the next wave of cultural imperialism to come out of Europe.
I’m not the only Native American who doesn’t look to the European left for a moral and political compass. Russell Means was a Libertarian who rejected both Marxism and capitalism and endorsed US presidential candidates from Ralph Nader on the left to Ron Paul on the right. If I were the sort of person who voted I’d most certainly agree with his endorsements. Chase Iron Eyes had many interesting things to say about putting opposition to the military industrial complex and police state ahead of petty left/right squabbling when he explored the question of whether or not Natives should support the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Like myself at the time, he likely was unaware of the problematic history of white occupation of Paiute lands in the area. It even appears that he has taken down his article on the subject, but the spirit of what he said rings true to me at least. Additionally, members of my tribe include Clinton supporters, Trump supporters, religious conservatives, radical land defenders, indigenous radicals who defy categorization, gay rights supporters and detractors, corporate bureaucrats, government bureaucrats, conspiracy theorists; the full range of the political spectrum. For the most part we all get along and even come together to reaffirm our commitment to one another in tribal and clan unity. If we behaved like Antifa then we’d all be left standing alone.
All of this criticism I can take in the spirit of open debate. Except that in this case it’s coming from an organization with a history of physically assaulting men, women, feminists, other anti-racists and antifascists, and people within their own movement over small differences in ideology; differences that would be virtually unrecognizable to anyone outside of Antifa’s narrow political circle. Additionally, Antifa is down right wrong and/or lying when they have the following to say about me:
He later began going by Rinehart Wolf and openly calls himself Alt Right, is clear about his racialist politics, and is a virulent anti-Semite. He now does work with the white nationalist website Red Ice Radio where he talks about the “question of Jewish power” and interviews people like Alt Right troll Ricky Vaughn.
A few minutes of googling “Rinehart Wolf”, a person I’ve never heard of, and “Red Ice Radio”, a website and podcast I’ve only just now learned of from antifa, will lead you to Reinhard Wolff. Reinhard Wolff appears to be white. You can compare his profile picture to my picture on the front page of Attack the System or any of the photos that I’ve posted of myself over the years here at my site and see that he and I are clearly different people. Additionally, if I were to put an animal at the end of my last name it most certainly wouldn’t be “Wolf.” After all, yéil naxh xhat sitee. So either Antifa is:
- too lazy to spend 3 minutes researching “Reinhard Wolff”,
- too dumb to see that he and I are different people, or are
- just reposting whatever their handlers are sending them in some sort of disinformation campaign.
So which is it, Antifa? I’m not really interested in your answer. Whatever the answer, you are fairly well discredited in my eyes. Your amateur attempts at discrediting me and my friends as well as your use of physical violence against your own people prove that your are small, hate-filled people. You are like a tribe of angry little dogs; loud and vaguely dangerous (if you’re the sort of person who is afraid of a weak bite when you’re back is turned). But mostly you’re just a nuisance, worthy of little more than a swat and a few harsh words. No doubt you’ll respond with more yapping lies and accusations; but I’ll shut you out just like I do the other minor inconveniences in my life.
#NoDAPL protesters gather for a boat action in Standing Rock on August 20. (Photo: Kelly Hayes) 
Lingit Latseen 