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Protest Warrior

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File:Protestwarrior.gif
Protest Warrior logo

Protest Warrior is a political activist group which engages in public protest with a right-wing viewpoint. It is a worldwide organization, though its main focus is on the United States of America and Israel. The group was formed in 2003 by Alan Lipton and Kfir Alfia in Austin, Texas. The group's slogan is "Fighting the left... doing it right."

Ideology

Protest Warrior believes that left-wing politics and statism constitute a threat to the future of freedom and individualism, and that the left's ideas if taken to the extreme can lead to totalitarian police states. Seeing 'liberals' (in the United States usage of the term) as morally bankrupt and needing to be confronted head on, they feel that the voices of the left "are heard disproportionately, demoralizing our troops, and emboldening dictators around the world."

The stated purpose of the Protest Warriors is to provide an alternative ideological viewpoint to that of left-wing anti-war protesters and organizers.

Generally accepted ideas in the Protest Warrior community are support for Israel (the extent for this may vary), general support and respect for military institutions, right-wing and fiscally conservative economics, and support for the war on terror and Operation Iraqi freedom. Protest Warrior could for the most part be designated as Pro-Bush in terms of foreign policy, although the immigration, financial, and a few of the president's domestic security policies draw criticism from many of the regular posters.


File:Pwsign.jpg
An example of a Protest Warrior sign, widely seen as mocking pacifism.

Methodology

The group's primary method of activism is "crashing" left-wing events and counter-demonstrating left-wing protests, actions that the group itself gives names such as Operation Eagle Strike, Operation Liberty Rising, and Operation Wolverines (a reference to the film Red Dawn). The group engages in protests of their own, often against what it considers to be organizations in support of terrorism in the USA and around the world.

Protest Warriors often carry large signs with sarcastic or mocking messages. After large operations, videos are posted to the website documenting the events. The videos include confrontations with protesters and the unwelcoming, sometimes violent, reactions of the protesters. Protest Warriors claim that these videos show the hypocrisy of the protesters in their claims to being pro-peace and pro-freedom of speech.

Those who conflict with the Protest Warriors generally see them as acting in a provoking or aggressive manner towards protestors, and that the Protest Warrior signs are offensive. Many feel that the Protest Warriors are deliberately confrontational and hostile to antagonize the otherwise peaceful protestors. Some see the Protest Warriors' criticism of Islam as bigoted. Others feel that the Protest Warriors, by choosing groups likely to be agitated by their rhetoric as targets, are causing the very problem they intend to demonstrate. Some believe that its organizers troll anti-war rallies out of animosity because the pro-war side, unlike their opponents, has been unable to generate mass numbers of people to rally for their cause.

Website

File:Alankfir.jpg
Alan Lipton and Kfir Alfia; founders of Protest Warrior

The group maintains a website as an organizing and information hub. It also acts as a source for the many slogans and signs presented by the Protest Warriors at protests, as well as various tutorials on sign creation. A shop is also run from the website, to help cover the costs of keeping the website and organisation running.

The active forums of Protest Warrior have a large selection of topics for discussion; the group prides itself on permitting people of any ideology to join in on the discussions, provided that they do not insult the perceived moral and intellectual integrity of the Protest Warrior founders. It has been alleged by some that comments are deleted and users are banned based upon the opinions expressed. However, banning is not a regular practice, as many who vehemently oppose the protest warriors' stated goals post regularly on the forums.

Not everyone enjoys Protest warriors presence though. For example in 2005 Protest warriors attempt to mock detractors of George Bush resulted in their signs being forcefully taken from them.

Their fleeing for safty.

And humiliation since their assailents were fellow supporters of George Bush.

Here you can seen some of the event in movie form.


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