Pittsburgh’s antifascists have a simple message for local Nazis: “fash beware.”
Last month, a group of anonymous antifascist organizers under the Pittsburgh Fash Watch banner reached out to Pittsburgh City Paper with information on Brandon Cahall, a Millvale resident, whom antifascists began investigating after he apparently posted a video of himself passing out “disguised neo-Nazi literature” at a pro-Palestine rally.
“Some dedicated digital sleuthing by multiple researchers eventually uncovered his name and other information,” Pittsburgh Fash Watch tells City Paper via email. They have since stickered Cahall’s face all over Greater Pittsburgh along with his address and a scannable QR code linking to a dossier the activists have assembled.
CP reached out to Cahall via what appeared to be a phone number linked to one of his businesses and spoke briefly with an associate, but we were unable to establish contact with Cahall himself by presstime. Other social media accounts previously linked to Cahall appear to have been taken down in the interim.
“Generally, Southwestern PA is home to a variety of neo-Nazi groups and we hope that’s not too much of a surprise to hear,” the antifascists write.
Cahall is, they claim, affiliated with White Lives Matter Pa. and the Goyim Defense League, an explicitly antisemitic group. Pittsburgh Fash Watch provided CP with screenshots from Cahall’s Gab and Telegram accounts that show him and others sticking White Lives Matter propaganda on railings and light posts in Millvale and on the Fort Duquesne Bridge. Cahall and other White Lives Matter Pa. members also bragged online about distributing aid to people experiencing homelessness — but only those who were white.
“The numbers in these groups are small, but their rhetoric is overtly genocidal,” the antifascists say. “[O]ne of their strategies is to make it feel safe for others entertaining or holding fascist beliefs to more loudly join them in the streets.
There are other groups active in the region, as well. Pittsburgh Fash Watch says Patriot Front has staged demonstrations on local bridges, members of the now-defunct National Justice Party have been seen in the region, and the American Defense Skinheads have staged concerts in the region. Pittsburgh Scanner also caught chatter of banner drops and pamphleteering by neo-Nazis in September.
In many cases, antifascists showed up that same day (in some cases within the hour) to rip down or replace stickers and burn banners to prevent reuse.
Relatedly, in late 2023, antifascists in Sweden leaked a database of online customers for the fascist music didtributor Midgård — a map of the customers by postal code shows a significant cluster in southwestern Pa. Other names on the list include leaders of white supremacist gangs across the country in every state except Hawaii, Maine, and South Carolina.
The bigger picture corroborates what many watchdog groups say is an ascendant far-right. Following deadly public demonstrations in Charlottesville and the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, observers such as the Southern Poverty Law Center say the far-right feels emboldened in 2024. Neo-Nazis’ rhetoric has begun to seep into national politics. Twitter, now X, under Elon Musk has also become a safe haven for white supremacist rhetoric.
This, Pittsburgh Fash Watch says, is where the community comes in. They say Millvale’s response to the unmasking of a Nazi in the community’s midst “has been really encouraging and positive.”
“The march that went to his house in early September made direct contact with dozens of residents and we’re not aware of anyone being upset about our activism,” they tell CP. “The same goes for the awareness campaign around Pittsburgh in general.”
The calculus here, per the antifascists, is simple: “Most people don’t like Nazis, which is only a problem for Nazis. The more people know who they are and where they are, the bigger a problem it is for those Nazis. Then there will be less Nazis.”
Cahall appears to have other problems, as well. The West Virginia Secretary of State revoked his business’ license in late 2020 for failure to file for renewal. The county health department cited a Marshall-Shadeland-based company he owns in May 2022 for failing to follow through on the demolition of two asbestos-contaminated properties in Mt. Oliver. Cahall has also faced at least eight civil lawsuits in local magisterial courts for property infractions, including one from July where a tenant leveled accusations of an unsafe structure. Other property cases against Cahall have been closed since the summer.
In spite of this, Pittsburgh Fash Watch’s dossier contains apparent photos from Cahall’s social media that show staggering quantities of propaganda in boxes and bags at his Millvale home. He appears to own and make frequent use of a label printer to produce more of it. While the doxxing may have changed the dynamic for Cahall in Pittsburgh, he has also traveled extensively to states like Ohio for demonstrations, marches, and distribution of racist stickers and propaganda flyers.
Antifascists encourage locals to report these incidents to them via email or X — and to include specifics and photo or video evidence where possible. “It’s great to get reports so we can understand fascist activities over time,” they say, “[but] it’s important that reports are specific and include information like time, date, place, activity, how many people.” It may also help locals to familiarize themselves with both covert and overt Nazi symbols.
“Antifascism is something that everyone can do. Whether it’s ripping down a sticker or confronting a rally, we all owe it to each other to do these things,” they add.
The U.S. is in a divided place, and despair appears to have driven some younger men in particular into the arms of the far right. Pittsburgh Fash Watch says it’s key to “remind them and their would-be recruits” that neo-Nazis are “unpopular and weak.”
“The bad news is that they are pretty good at preying on young, angry men,” Pittsburgh Fash Watch says. “The good news is that they are deeply outnumbered. There are far more of us than there are of them.”
This article appears in Oct 16-22, 2024.
