Protest Warrior

Protest Warrior is a group that has taken the tactics of the Left and used them on the right. Started by a pair of twentysomethings in California, the Protest Warriors now have chapters throughout the country and were profiled this week in Newsweek. Here's the article's description of the PWs.

The methods of the right-wing protesters mirror those of their left-wing opponents. The Warriors organize rallies, street theater and marches. They carry video cameras to record their own version of events to bypass mainstream media outlets.

And, of course, the members hold plenty of signs and slogans, which read like editorial cartoons from the National Review: PROTECT ISLAMIC PROPERTY RIGHTS AGAINST WESTERN IMPERIALISM declares a sign over a picture of a Muslim woman in a burqa with a leash around her neck tied to a pole. EXCEPT FOR ENDING SLAVERY, FASCISM, AND COMMUNISM, WAR HAS NEVER SOLVED ANYTHING, says another. The most provocative, perhaps, is a picture of a Palestinian woman with a T shirt on her burqa saying MY SON SUICIDE-BOMBED A BUS FULL OF ISRAELIS AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY T-SHIRT; the small print underneath reads AND $25,000 FROM SADDAM.

[Kfir] Alfia, who designed network chips for a Silicon Valley start-up before devoting himself full time to the group at its Austin, Texas, headquarters, founded it in March 2003 with his childhood friend Alan Lipton. According to Alfia, the organization is funded by merchandise sales from the Web site, the occasional $50 donation and out of “our own pocket.” So far, there are about 7,200 Protest Warriors across the United States. They've pulled off close to 80 missions to date, including Operation Bias Check (they snuck signs behind Matt Lauer’s head during NBC’s "Today" show that said: DON’T BELIEVE THE LIBERAL MEDIA) and Operation Eagle Strike, where the protesters crashed an antiwar demonstration hosted by the radical group ANSWER.

Newsweek interviews Alfia.

More information on Protest Warrior is here on their very good website.