Far Right, Anti-Muslim Activist is Coming to “Cleanup” SF Homeless Camps
Far-right, Islamophobic activist Scott Presler
Guest post by tree
This Saturday, far-right, Islamophobic activist Scott Presler will be heading to San Francisco on his anti-homeless “cleanup” tour, inspired by the Twitter rants of Donald Trump.
Presler is working with the San Francisco Republican Party to organize volunteers to gather at an as-yet undisclosed location to rid the streets of the belongings of homeless residents of San Francisco. Presler will follow the event with an LGBT #WalkAway Town Hall, also at an undisclosed location.
Presler has previously held “cleanup” events in other urban areas, such as Los Angeles, Portland, Houston and Baltimore, where he was able to drum up Pro-Trump, anti-Democrat press coverage or create his own social media buzz. He brings in dumpsters, joins forces with local Trump supporters and creates photo ops followed by voter registration drives and town hall meetings.
Now you know why we need the #SanFranciscoCleanup with @ScottPresler!
Join us this Saturday, February 1. Let the Democrats know we won't let their corruption continue to pollute our streets!
Signup at the SFGOP website.https://t.co/Sc3GDNufpz
— San Francisco Republican Party (SFGOP) (@SFGOP) January 29, 2020
History of Hate
Scott Presler is a far-right agitator who has worked for the anti-Muslim hate group ACT for America, which boasts close connections to the Trump administration. ACT for America has organized with Neo-Nazis like Billy Roper on anti-Muslim events like the “March on Sharia.”
His group has also rallied with other neo-Nazis like Identity Evropa and fascist Vanguard America – groups involved in the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, VA. And they organized anti-Muslim events with Patriot Prayer, whose events have attracted Neo-Nazis and, notably, Portland MAX train killer Jeremy Christian.
Presler also coordinated at the time with Patriot Prayer's Joey Gibson for a PDX "March Against Sharia" which was ultimately canceled after Patriot Prayer follower Jeremy Christian murdered people on the MAX train while shouting Islamophobic hatred at 2 teen girls. pic.twitter.com/KO0tQoZ59b
— Always Antifascist (@RoseCityAntifa) January 24, 2020
Presler’s Schtick
After organizing with hate groups, Scott Presler has rebranded himself as an “environmental activist,” spreading “love” while wearing a hazmat suit. He sets out to prove Trump’s point, that Democrat-run cities are filthy shitholes. He rolls a dumpster up to a homeless encampment, and sets his minions loose to make the Democrats look bad. He finds convenient things, like a carefully-placed pile of hypodermic needles or an old newspaper, announcing the Obama presidency.
We found this newspaper while cleaning up trash in West Baltimore.
It's been 11 years. #AmericansHelpingAmericans pic.twitter.com/rK9fUif0Z2
— #ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) August 5, 2019
Within Presler’s movement, the disdain and disgust for the people in the “cleanup” communities is clear in his followers’ social media posts. They say things like “rat and garbage infested minority neighborhoods,” “LIVING IN SQUALOR AND LOVING IT,” “EXCREMENT filled homeless camp.”
Scott Presler is not coming to San Francisco because he cares about the lives of homeless residents.
A Scary Precedent
Anti-homeless campaigns like this one harken back to Nazis targeting homeless people as “work-shy” or “antisocial,” marking them with black triangles, and sending them to concentration camps. Presler’s feel-good façade is actually designed to usher in further violent repression of poor and marginalized communities –whether it is done by the Trump administration or local, so-called progressive politicians and their police forces.
If Presler would really like to clean up a mess, he does not need to leave an official Trump rally to do it.
Trump goes onstage and does his Travis Bickle act, says the poor are disgusting animals, and look what happens after one of his rallies. https://t.co/V4rbypxFfq
— Corey Pein ????? (@coreypein) January 30, 2020
