(The following article is from the April 16-30,  2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)

By Kimball Cariou

     A new upsurge in violence against anti-racists is emerging in western Canada and the U.S. Pacific Northwest region.

     The most serious recent incident was in Portland, Oregon, where a prominent activist was shot just after midnight on March 27. Luke Querner, who has spent over a decade opposing the white supremacist movement in Oregon, was the target of an apparently well-planned attack by an assailant who concealed his identity and fled the scene. At last report, Querner remained in intensive care.

     While local police portrayed the attack as a random, gang-related shooting, Portland Anti-Racist Action believes the attempted murder was a political act designed to intimidate anti-racists.

     "The Portland Police aren't telling the whole story," states Alicia of Portland ARA. "They have not mentioned the most obvious motive for the shooting. We fear that they are more interested in smearing the victim than in uncovering the truth."

     An expanded statement with further details surrounding the shooting is available on the website rosecityantifa.org.

     White supremacist groups in the region, such as Volksfront, the Northwest Front and the National Socialist Movement, share information about anti-racists and the Left, and have been increasing their actions against such targets.

     Two other attacks in Canada appear to confirm that neo-Nazis are stepping up their terror campaign.

     During the early morning hours of April 6, a bomb blast damaged a home in Abbotsford, just east of Vancouver. Police report that an accelerant and a fused device were used in the attack.

     Anti-Racist Action member Maitland Cassia lives in the house. He told media that the blast was likely in retaliation for an anti-Nazi rally which he helped organize at New Westminster's Braid SkyTrain Station on March 21. Cassia's name and face were in much of the coverage of the rally, which drew hundreds of anti-racists. A couple of the neo-Nazis who had called for a "white pride" march to start at the station turned up but left quickly.

     Cassia planned to move out of the house immediately. Abbotsford police say they have had "no prior interaction" with the residents, and are trying to determine "potential motives" for the attack.

     A few days earlier, neo-Nazi posters were plastered on the front door of two leading anti-racists in Calgary. The "poorly-made" posters attacked Jason Devine, a public spokesperson of Anti-Racist Action Calgary, and ARA itself as an organisation.           The posters feature the web site and email addresses of Calgary's Aryan Guard, the white supremacist neo-Nazi group whose members have committed a string of assaults in recent years.

     The postering is the latest attack on the northeast Calgary home of Jason and Bonnie Devine, and their young children. In 2008 a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the house, causing minor damage. Racist graffiti has been sprayed-painted on the walls, and last fall a cinder block was thrown through the front window and a projectile shot through the children's window.

     The Devines have often been the focus of abusive and threatening messages on neo-Nazi websites. The new posters are further important evidence that the Aryan Guard has been targeting Jason and Bonnie, who have been leading organizers in a successful public campaign to expose the racist movement in Calgary.

     The Devines are also members of the Communist Party of Canada, which has demanded police action to protect the family, and to bring charges against the perpetrators of the attacks. Earlier this year, the CPC called for the firing of Calgary Police Service chief Rick Hanson, citing his apparent inability to ensure that the department take appropriate action against these crimes.