Uploaded December 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
On September 16, 2017, at the Mother of All Rallies on the National Mall, antifa activist Phillip Íjgyártó confronted New York Light Foot Militia leader George Curbelo in a tense debate about fascism, Charlottesville, and the Confederacy. Filmed by Eddie Becker.
00:00 George Curbelo & NY Light Foot Militia Arrive
01:45 Phillip Íjgyártó Confrontation Begins
04:20 Charlottesville & Confederate Monuments Debate
07:10 Tusitala "Tiny" Toese & Proud Boys Context
09:30 Black Veteran & Ex-Felon Perspectives
They met on the National Mall like two ghosts from rival hallucinations of America, wandering into the same bad dream at high noon. One of them was George Curbelo, a New York militiaman with the posture of a man who’s spent too long standing guard over a country he no longer trusts, wrapped in constitutional scripture and battlefield cosplay, a “peacekeeper” armed to the teeth and an indicted veteran of the battle over Confederate monuments in Charlottesville, Virginia. The other was Phillip Íjgyártó, a sincere and open young communist with the earnest stare of a seminar‑room revolutionary, carrying dog‑eared Marx in his head and antifa scars in his voice, convinced that fascism isn’t a history lesson but a live round humming inches over his shoulder, with a real‑time moniting by FBI/Homeland Security just waiting to tag him as one of Trump's Official Enemies of the State.
The topic was everything and nothing at once: the Confederacy, slavery, fascism, capitalism, white supremacy, the wealth gap, the whole cracked edifice of the Republic laid out like a drunk on the sidewalk, protesting that he can quit any time he wants. Curbelo defended “heritage” and flags like they were family silver rescued from Sherman’s march, insisting the war had been a rich man’s shell game more than a holy crusade against bondage—one more fine American institution ruined by the accountants. Phillip came back with Charlottesville, dead comrades, hospitals on lockdown, and the eternal ghost of Mussolini marching down Pennsylvania Avenue in a fresh‑laundered red hat, proving once again that history may not repeat, but it does enjoy a good impression of itself when the ratings are right.
Around them, extras drifted in and out: a Black Air Force veteran who’d clawed his way out of poverty through the Pentagon and sheer mule‑headed refusal to stay put; a three‑time felon who’d rebuilt himself with spite, sweat, and more night shifts than a Baptist revival; an anarchist muttering about self‑rule and direct democracy like a man trying to petition a hurricane to file its paperwork. They all talked at once, like a congressional hearing held in a bus station, and somehow the Republic did not immediately explode. Which, given the cast, may count as the most un‑American thing that happened all day.
Filmed on September 16, 2017, Trump had been president for nearly 8 months. The Charlottesville, Virginia, white supremacist Unite the Right Rally was 9 months ago. George J Curbelo, seen here relaxed and open, had been in Charlottesville commanding the New York Light Foot Militia.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Light_Foot_Militia
Tusitala “Tiny” Toese, of American Samoan descent, is a leader of the Portland, Oregon, Proud Boys,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tusitala_Toese
He has faced multiple felony criminal charges for violence at rallies,
oregonlive.com/crime/2022/01/proud-boy-tusitala-tiny-toese-faces-felony-charges-in-clash-near-abandoned-portland-kmart.html
On September 16, 2017, at the Mother of All Rallies on the National Mall, antifa activist Phillip Íjgyártó confronted New York Light Foot Militia leader George Curbelo in a tense debate about fascism, Charlottesville, and the Confederacy. Filmed by Eddie Becker.
00:00 George Curbelo & NY Light Foot Militia Arrive
01:45 Phillip Íjgyártó Confrontation Begins
04:20 Charlottesville & Confederate Monuments Debate
07:10 Tusitala "Tiny" Toese & Proud Boys Context
09:30 Black Veteran & Ex-Felon Perspectives
They met on the National Mall like two ghosts from rival hallucinations of America, wandering into the same bad dream at high noon. One of them was George Curbelo, a New York militiaman with the posture of a man who’s spent too long standing guard over a country he no longer trusts, wrapped in constitutional scripture and battlefield cosplay, a “peacekeeper” armed to the teeth and an indicted veteran of the battle over Confederate monuments in Charlottesville, Virginia. The other was Phillip Íjgyártó, a sincere and open young communist with the earnest stare of a seminar‑room revolutionary, carrying dog‑eared Marx in his head and antifa scars in his voice, convinced that fascism isn’t a history lesson but a live round humming inches over his shoulder, with a real‑time moniting by FBI/Homeland Security just waiting to tag him as one of Trump's Official Enemies of the State.
The topic was everything and nothing at once: the Confederacy, slavery, fascism, capitalism, white supremacy, the wealth gap, the whole cracked edifice of the Republic laid out like a drunk on the sidewalk, protesting that he can quit any time he wants. Curbelo defended “heritage” and flags like they were family silver rescued from Sherman’s march, insisting the war had been a rich man’s shell game more than a holy crusade against bondage—one more fine American institution ruined by the accountants. Phillip came back with Charlottesville, dead comrades, hospitals on lockdown, and the eternal ghost of Mussolini marching down Pennsylvania Avenue in a fresh‑laundered red hat, proving once again that history may not repeat, but it does enjoy a good impression of itself when the ratings are right.
Around them, extras drifted in and out: a Black Air Force veteran who’d clawed his way out of poverty through the Pentagon and sheer mule‑headed refusal to stay put; a three‑time felon who’d rebuilt himself with spite, sweat, and more night shifts than a Baptist revival; an anarchist muttering about self‑rule and direct democracy like a man trying to petition a hurricane to file its paperwork. They all talked at once, like a congressional hearing held in a bus station, and somehow the Republic did not immediately explode. Which, given the cast, may count as the most un‑American thing that happened all day.
Filmed on September 16, 2017, Trump had been president for nearly 8 months. The Charlottesville, Virginia, white supremacist Unite the Right Rally was 9 months ago. George J Curbelo, seen here relaxed and open, had been in Charlottesville commanding the New York Light Foot Militia.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Light_Foot_Militia
Tusitala “Tiny” Toese, of American Samoan descent, is a leader of the Portland, Oregon, Proud Boys,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tusitala_Toese
He has faced multiple felony criminal charges for violence at rallies,
oregonlive.com/crime/2022/01/proud-boy-tusitala-tiny-toese-faces-felony-charges-in-clash-near-abandoned-portland-kmart.html
