Anti-fascist, artist, and independent journalist Alex
Stokes has been reporting on civil conflict in the United
States for over five years. His fearlessness led him into the midst
of the chaos around the protests against Donald Trump's
inauguration, where he was falsely arrested (and had his charges
later dropped). It led him to the 2017 protests in Charlottesville,
where he was injured in an attack by fascists. In 2020, he was on
the streets, documenting the uprising around the police murder of
George Floyd.
On January 6, 2021, as a mob attempted to overthrow the US
government on Capitol Hill, armed members of the Proud Boys fascist
gang who didn't join their pals in Washington, DC. tried to stage
their own violent threat to democracy at the New York state
capitol. Alex was there among counter-protestors. When the
Piss Boys attacked the counter-protestors with weapons, Alex
jumped up to defend those being assaulted.
This very
detailed video
describes step-by-step how Alex's actions were clearly done in
the defense of himself and others that day.
After an inexcusably lengthy delay, police intervened
to arrest Alex!
Despite all the events being captured in great detail on
video, the courts did not see what Alex did as clear
self-defense and instead convicted him on assault charges,
sentencing him to twenty years in prison!
This is an obvious miscarriage of justice and the stakes of
Alex's appeal of his sentence could not be higher. We are in direct
contact with Alex's lawyer and are raising funds to ensure that is
appeal case does not lack for resources. Please help us to
ensure this injustice is overturned and Alex walks free!
About Us: We are Antifa
International, an anti-fascist social media collective with
members in seven different countries. Since 2015, we've run The
International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund - an emergency fund
for anti-fascists that has provided over $175,000 in direct aid to
over 650 people in 25+ different countries. We also coordinate The
International Day of Solidarity with Antifascist Prisoners
every July 25th. We are in direct contact with Alex's partner and
his attorney and are sending the funds we receive to support Alex as
per their directions.
