Building off recent releases of info from @AtlantaAntifa & @nycantifa it has come to our attention that Asheville’s T.C. Roberson High School will be hosting the Fuji BJJ Winter Championship Tournament on Saturday, February 10th, and that a group of devout fascists will be in attendance as competitors. We are sharing this information with the greater #Asheville community to encourage us to come together as a united voice to tell Fuji BJJ, T.C. Roberson High School, and the martial arts community that we will not accept fascists in our community spaces.
Ian Michael Elliott and Paul Michael Gancarz have both been exposed as violent fascists and members of the white supremacist group, Patriot Front.
As NYC Antifa laid out in their recent article, both Gancarz and Elliott were documented last month participating in another Fuji BJJ event in Allentown, Pennsylvania under their first and middles names, “Paul Michael” and “Ian Michael”, and under the team name ‘Patria Gloria’. In this week’s Atlanta Antifascists article – detailing the Nazi cultist land project in Eastern Tennessee Ian Michael Elliott is a part of – they also update the current Telegram username that Ian Elliott is using as “Brother V”.
In another nazi Telegram chat we’ve provided a screenshot of, we can see that Ian Elliott is planning to attend the Asheville Winter Championship event by Fuji BJJ on Saturday, February 10th. In this chat, Ian Elliott states he’s planning to bring “10 guys” to Asheville for this event, and is openly inviting others from this nazi chat group to come along with them.
We’re calling on all community members to respectfully reach out to FUJI BJJ and ask them to sever all ties with Paul Michael Gancarz, Ian Michael Elliott, Kieran Morris, and Stephen Trimboli. Ask that Paul Michael Gancarz and Ian Michael Elliott be stripped of any medals conferred upon them.
The Asheville event is billed as a family friendly, inclusive environment. The age range for participation in the event is 4 years old and up. There should be no world in which it is acceptable for children, friends, family, or neighbors to compete along side organized fascists who spend their lives devoted to and planning to carry out genocide. This event is happening at T.C Roberson High School. Will we stand for Fuji BJJ and T.C. Roberson standing idly by while a group of fascists come to pollute our spaces?
No we won’t!
As a community, we have the power and the voice to make that point clear. As a community, we have the responsibility to make that point clear!
We’re calling on all community members to respectfully reach out to FUJI BJJ and ask them to sever all ties with Paul Michael Gancarz, Ian Michael Elliott, Kieran Morris, and Stephen Trimboli. Ask that Paul Michael Gancarz and Ian Michael Elliott be stripped of any medals conferred upon them.
Tell Fuji BJJ that when fascists are present in any space, it immediately dissolves any illusion of safety or inclusion for everyone else. Our friends, families, and neighbors deserve to enjoy everything the BJJ community has to provide at events like these. Don’t compromise our collective safety for the sake of the comfort of those who wish us harm on the most fundamental level.
Tell Fuji BJJ they should make a clear public statement disavowing white supremacy in totality!
Tell T.C. Roberson High School staff and administration who exactly they’ll be allowing into the school, alongside the children and families of our community. Ask that they demand Fuji BJJ ban Ian Michael Elliott, Paul Gancarz, Kieran Morris, Stephen Trimboli, and any other members of their group from attending or participating in any way.
Contact: Buncombe County Schools’ Superintendent’s Office Phone: 828.232.4160 Nathan Allison, Principal Phone: 828.654.1765 Email: nathan.allison@bcsemail.org
I just ordered some books from @firestorm, and you should too!
Firestorm will be donating the net proceeds from all sales for the day to The Hebron International Resource Network (HIRN), a Palestinian-led relief organization based in the West Bank.
Some pictures flying into #Asheville, #NC this morning. It was a super smooth, very beautiful flight into the North Carolina mountains! ✈️⛰🌄 #flying#aviation#Pilatus
Police in #Asheville used their new drone unit to surveil and harass hundreds of attendees at the grand re-opening of the @firestorm bookstore.
"It’s only been three months since the Asheville Police Department announced the launch of a new Drone Unit. Speaking with the Mountain Xpress, an APD Captain assured the community that the technology would not be used for “surveillance on the unknowing public.” But that’s exactly what is happening..."
@igd_news@firestorm all the investment made into the surveillance tech over decades by governments and their institutions was never going to be for our benefit. Only theirs. 😳
«Around town: Celebrating #Cherokee language preservation
The Museum of the Cherokee Indian will hold a free, two-night community event celebrating the Cherokee language at the Chief Joyce Dugan Cultural Arts Center at Cherokee Central School at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 4, and Saturday, Aug. 5.»
Speak-out and March in Solidarity with Palestinians
Saturday, November 4
2 to 5 pm
Meet at Federal Bldg, 151 Patton, #Asheville
Speak-out, esp. for Palestinians, Muslims, Arabs & anti-Zionist Jews
Poetry, music & art
Grief altar
March highlighting US & global complicity with Israel & the IDF
End the genocide + end the occupation
Mourning the dead, fighting for the living
Free Palestine فلسطين حرة
Until all are free
