WDI USA Statement about NVDA Action in Portland

Women’s Declaration International USA (WDI USA) strongly condemns the violent attacks on us that took place near the Hollywood branch of the Multnomah County Library on Sunday November 19. In the face of this violent woman-hating terrorism, we are proud to stand with women and girls as a sex class spanning all ages, races, backgrounds, sexual orientations, and circumstances.

We also condemn the Portland Police Bureau, which flatly ignored several calls made to 911 while women were being punched, kicked, and pepper-sprayed. Portland police knew of the threat in advance. The library had been vandalized. Our tires were slashed. There had already been security breaches at the library that morning. The cops had driven by and seen the crowd and chose not to disperse it. This was a case of the Portland police knowingly and deliberately abandoning us to a mob.

This statement is intended to provide a timeline of the events and our understanding of what happened. 

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Our event was titled “Protecting Women and Children,” and we had booked a room at the Hollywood library weeks in advance, as any member of the public can do. Our intention was to give talks about how to protect women and children from the threats we face. We invited women to attend.

We had also booked an Airbnb for the nights of Friday through Sunday. We planned a series of training sessions in the tactic of nonviolent direct action, beginning Friday evening and going through Sunday morning. Nonviolent direct action is a very specific tactic for political movements. It confronts power directly and nonviolently. In any nonviolent direct action movement, the violence of those in power already exists; nonviolent direct actionists do not bring the violence, because it’s already there. The purpose of nonviolent direct action is to make existing violence visible to the public.

In the weeks leading up to the attacks, numerous online threats were made, mostly involving the suggestion that pies or other food would be thrown at the speakers. Multnomah County security discussed these threats with WDI USA volunteers and made plans to minimize the risks. Then, the day before the event, Multnomah County security contacted the organizers to report a threat of gun violence. A concerned third party had informed them that a person planning to attend had stated, “I am going to the event and bringing my gun and if anyone messes with me I will use it.” 

The police were notified and a decision was made to move forward with the event, with an increased police presence near the library. The situation escalated when, the night before the event, vandals arrived at the house where the organizers and several participants were sleeping and slashed the tires of all of the vehicles in the carport. At that point, we were on notice that our location had been leaked to those who mean us harm, but we did not know by whom. A WDI USA volunteer called 911 to report the vandalism, but the Portland 911 dispatcher sent her to an automated non-emergency system, which then dropped. She called 911 again, and again, the Portland 911 dispatcher sent her to the same automated non-emergency system, which dropped. At that point, there was little recourse other than to proceed as planned. In this video, WDI USA president Kara Dansky and WoLF founder Lierre Keith explained what was happening. 

Also overnight, the library was vandalized. The county security representative contacted us to tell us that the glass door had been shattered and the exterior of the library building was covered in graffiti. They did not tell us what the graffiti said. As a result, the library decided to close the public areas for the day but allow our event to continue in the reserved room. 

The library’s normal opening time is 10:00 a.m. PT. It did not open on that day because of the vandalism, but by that time, the mob had already begun forming. A woman reached out to WDI USA to tell us that she was in her car near the library entrance and that several parents (mothers, in particular) and their children were there to enjoy the library and seemed frustrated that they couldn’t because of the mob that had formed.

The scheduled time of the event was 12:00 p.m. PT, and county security asked us to hold off on coming until they would be able to secure the rear entrance. However, they eventually reported to us that the mob was circling the building and that there was no way they would be able to secure our entrance into the building at all.

When told to do so by county security, we set off from the Airbnb in two moving vans, half of the participants in one, half in the other. We could see along the way that we were being surveilled. As we neared the library, county security asked us to stop, which we did. We waited while the head of county security and the library president* approached the first van and asked to enter it. We admitted them, and the women in the second van joined those of us in the first van. At that point, all WDI USA participants were in one van, with the head of county security and the library president (both women). We were approximately two blocks from the library. 

They informed us that antifa thugs had surrounded the library and menaced the employees. They also told us that patrons were at a coffee shop next to the library and that there was an elderly living facility above the library. They told us flatly that they were gravely concerned for the safety of library staff, event attendees, nearby patrons of the coffee shop, and the elderly people living upstairs. The head of library security stated that she had the phone number of a Portland Police Bureau sergeant on speed dial and that she was happy to call him the instant a crime was committed. They asked us to consider canceling our event. Several of us had the distinct impression that they thought we would be surprised to hear about the behavior of antifa thugs. They seemed genuinely to believe that we would be afraid enough to cancel our event. We were not surprised to hear any of what they had to tell us. 

We had seconds to make our decision. One of the main organizers said that we were determined to continue with the event. Another of the organizers suggested that in order to avoid any violence being visited on library staff, audience members, nearby coffee shop patrons, and/or elderly residents of the space above the library, we continue with the event, but that we do it on the sidewalk where we were. The last thing we wanted to do was put innocent people, including children and the elderly, in danger. We asked the head of library security to clarify that Portland police officers were in the area and that as soon as there was any sign of a crime being committed, she would call them. She assured us that she would be nearby and would not hesitate to call in the police at the start of any criminal activity.

We need to be very clear about this: We were a small group of women who had booked a space in a public library to talk about protecting women and children. We had done nothing wrong, and we did not intend to do anything wrong. We live in a society in which women ought to be able to speak at a public library about protecting women and children but can’t do so without antifa thugs putting women, children, and elderly people at risk of violence.

We exited the van and walked with our banner reading “WOMAN = ADULT HUMAN FEMALE” to the nearest intersection, just a few blocks from the library. We did this having been assured by the head of county security that the police were nearby and that she would call them in at the first sign of criminal activity. Our planned speeches covered many of the current harms women and children face, from prison rape to addictive and destructive online content. 

The women never got to give their speeches and the police never came. WDI USA president Kara Dansky gave an introduction, and halfway through the very first speech, the women were noticed by the library mob, which advanced on them. The mob began screaming, chanting and throwing cans filled with liquid at the speaking women. Cans landed on the ground, exploding with carbonated liquid. They landed on the bodies of the women standing there. Soon, the mob rushed the women and sprayed copious amounts of blinding, burning chemicals in their faces. The first woman hit with liquid spray was president Kara Dansky but for unknown reasons, she wasn’t badly injured by it. She reports that the impact of liquid being sprayed in her eyes hurt, but the liquid did not appear to be poisonous. The pain subsided fairly quickly. Other women were injured much more severely. The mob sprayed poisonous chemicals directly in women’s eyes. The women were blinded and in excruciating pain. Several women called 911 immediately. 911 dispatchers could hear women screaming and antifa mob members yelling at the women to “GET THE F*CK OUT OF HERE.” While the women were reporting these crimes against them, antifa mob members stole their phones out of their hands, sometimes throwing phones to the ground and smashing them. They also stole two out of the three body cameras that women were wearing. 

They punched several women, who fell to the ground. While the women were on the ground, writhing in pain, antifa mob members repeatedly kicked their bodies and heads. They attacked an old woman passerby, shoving her to the ground. WDI USA volunteers quickly helped the woman to safety at the home of a neighbor who had come outside to view the commotion. A local man tried to intervene to stop the violence, but the crowd continued to beat the women and threatened him. As far as the organizers know, the police never made it to the corner, just a few blocks away from the library where they had claimed to have increased patrols. Throughout the entire ordeal, not a single one of the women participating in our event broke our commitment to nonviolence, even once.

Eventually, our group made their way into a Whole Foods nearby. The security guards were immediately helpful in escorting the women to the bathroom and again calling 911. Soon after, antifa thugs entered the Whole Foods and began taunting the women, saying “where are we going now?” At least one security guard got between them and the antifa thugs who were taunting us.

We called the vans, exited Whole Foods, found one of the vans, piled in, and left to return to the house. 

When we got to the house, we faced another conundrum: what to do now? We knew that antifa knew the location of the house. We had reason to believe that if they knew the location of the house, they might also know the door code to enter it. We had no faith that Portland police would do a single thing to protect us from theft, assault, arson, rape, and/or murder. Four of the women who were the most injured went to the emergency room to have their wounds treated.

We called 911 anyway, and they eventually showed up, hours after women were viciously attacked on the streets of Portland. They took our statements and promised to file a report. We are reasonably confident that this report will be filed, but not at all confident that anything will come of it. The city of Portland simply does not care about the lives or the safety or the civil rights of women. PPB sources tell us that officers are on orders from above not to intervene when there are groups clashing unless there is an imminent threat to life. 

Of course, this was not an incident in which “groups clashed.” This was a brutal, unprovoked attack on unarmed, unresisting women—and the men kicking prone women in the head posed a clear imminent threat to life.

At this point, our options seemed simple: 

1. Rely on Portland police to protect us;
2. Abandon the Airbnb to antifa vandals, disperse, and stay in private hotel rooms; or
3. Wait it out and simply hope that antifa would not assault, rape, and/or kill us.

None of those options seemed viable. WDI USA was simply not willing to put women’s lives at risk by asking women to stay at a house whose location was known to antifa thugs who hate us, likely without any police protection. We also did not relish the idea of abandoning the house to the thugs because the homeowner had done nothing to deserve to have her or his house vandalized. We also did not particularly like the idea of dispersing. At that point, what we wanted was continued sisterhood and solidarity.

Then we had another idea: hire a private security detail. Private security was there within a few hours. They were armed, polite, and extremely professional. Once security arrived, we were able to relax somewhat. We were able to eat dinner, talk, debrief, and even laugh a little. One woman had brought her guitar and she entertained us with her beautiful singing. 

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We are aware that women did go to the library intending to attend our event. Those women had no way of knowing of the last minute change of plans. We had made a split-second decision to hold our event on the sidewalk rather than in the library and simply had no way of notifying the attendees that we had done so.

To the women who attended our event in good faith that library security and/or the police would protect them from violent thugs: We are deeply sorry for any injuries and/or trauma you may have sustained. We hope you know that we would never intentionally put women in danger without their knowledge and consent. We are grateful for those women who came to attend the event and support us. We are saddened that many of you were subjected to the violence of vicious thugs who hate women, and that neither the library nor the police protected you at all.

To our supporters and to our detractors: Know that we will keep doing these actions. Our strategy continues to be to make the existing male violence against women visible. Each time we succeed in speaking publicly, more people hear our words and understand that violence. Each time men use violence to prevent our speech, even more people see it for what it is. We’ll be doing these actions again and again. Thanks to the ongoing courage and determination of our NVDA volunteers, we’re going to win—even in Portland.

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*WDI USA has been advised that this person’s title may not be ‘library president’ and we are seeking clarification.

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