Up in Arms: A Guide to Oregon’s Patriot Movement

October 2016 –

Rural Organizing Project in partnership with Political Research Associates has released Up in Arms: A Guide to Oregon’s Patriot Movement, a groundbreaking toolkit designed to provide resources and tools to Oregon’s small towns and rural communities under siege from militias and other Patriot movements. This toolkit was developed through extensive research on right-wing movements, as well as local knowledge by rural progressive community activists and economists. Up in Arms exposes, explains, and offers alternatives to this movement.

New groups formed since 2008 include local affiliates of the Oath Keepers and Three Percenters, as well as the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association. Researchers estimate that dozens of groups have thousands of supporters in the state, including within the state Republican Party. Up In Arms also documents how the Patriot movement takes advantage of the collapse of the rural Oregon economy and funding cuts.

Providing alternatives for communities being targeted for Patriot movement recruitment is extremely important. Rural Organizing Project offers a number of strategies and explains how community members can break out of a sense of isolation, form a group, and speak out with their own vision of what the community should look like. The kit offers examples from five different Oregon counties and towns over the last year are to show how residents can successfully counter Patriot movement messaging and intimidation, and help build inclusive and egalitarian communities.