Unicorn Riot is a
decentralized,
nonprofit,
left-wing
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
media collective that originated online in 2015. The group is known for reporting on
far-right organizations and sources of racial and economic injustice in the US. The non-hierarchical media organization operates in the US cities of
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Minneapolis/St. Paul, and
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
as well as in South Africa. They produce
live streams of political rallies and protests
and are funded by viewer donation and grants.
Structure
Unicorn Riot currently has around 10 members, based in Boston, Denver, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and South Africa.
The media collective is non-hierarchical and makes decisions based on
consensus.
The organization is frequently described as
left-wing
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
.
Unicorn Riot has maintained a channel on
livestream.com
Vimeo Livestream is a video live streaming platform based in New York City that allows customers to broadcast live video content using a camera and a computer through the Internet, and viewers to play the content via the web, iOS, Android (operat ...
since May 2015.
Besides creating live video of protests, the media collective also engages in
investigative journalism, producing web series, video packages, blogs, and podcasts.
They have published documents obtained through open records requests, including a copy of the
Denver Police Department
The Denver Police Department (DPD) is the full service police department jointly for the City and County of Denver, Colorado, which provides police services to the entire county, including Denver International Airport, and may provide contractu ...
Crowd Management Manual. They also produce the weekly news show ''Deprogram''. Unicorn Riot releases its content under a
Creative Commons license.
History
The founding members of Unicorn Riot met while filming
direct actions in support of
Tar Sands Blockade and
Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest movement against economic inequality and the influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Wall Street financial district, in September 2011. It gave rise to t ...
.
Some had previously worked for online news outlets and had grown frustrated with news organizations that failed to publish their work. The founders of Unicorn Riot started meeting in Minneapolis in the fall of 2014. Among the founders were Lorenzo Serna, Andrew Neef, Niko Georgiades, Pat Boyle, and Ray Weiland.
Unicorn Riot claims to seek to "amplify the voices of people from marginalized communities" and to broadcast and bring context to stories that are not picked up by the mainstream media.
Early on, they documented the
Ferguson protests following the
shooting of Michael Brown. During the next year, Unicorn Riot registered as an educational
501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Unicorn Riot journalists are often embedded in protests, and film from the front lines.
Members of the media collective have been repeatedly targeted for arrest by law enforcement officers
and often have their cameras and equipment confiscated.
Their press credentials have also been challenged by the police.
In 2022, Unicorn Riot was classified as a member of the news media by Minnesota's Fourth District Court as part of Energy Transfer LP v. Greenpeace International.
Activities
Black Lives Matter protests
Unicorn Riot has documented a number of rallies and protests related to the
Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police br ...
movement. Following the November 2015
shooting of Jamar Clark in Minneapolis, Unicorn Riot maintained a live stream of the occupation of the
Minneapolis Police Department's 4th Precinct station.
The media collective also documented the protests that took place following the
shooting of Philando Castile
On July 6, 2016, Philando Castile, a 32-year-old African-American man, was fatally shot during a traffic stop by police officer Jeronimo Yanez of the St. Anthony police department in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area.
Castile was ...
, including blockages of interstate freeways.
Denver homeless encampments
In Denver, Colorado, Unicorn Riot live streamed the removal of homeless encampments, including an eviction that took place during a blizzard on the morning of December 15, 2015.
Dakota Access Pipeline protests
During the
protests
A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one.
Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...
against the
Dakota Access Pipeline, Unicorn Riot was one of the first media groups to be present when
Standing Rock Sioux
The Standing Rock Reservation ( lkt, Íŋyaŋ Woslál Háŋ) lies across the border between North and South Dakota in the United States, and is inhabited by ethnic " Hunkpapa and Sihasapa bands of Lakota Oyate and the Ihunktuwona and Pabaks ...
tribe members set up the
Sacred Stone Camp on April 1, 2016. The media collective has maintained a near continuous presence at the pipeline protests. Video from Unicorn Riot showing a crowd of protesters being sprayed with
water cannon
A water cannon is a device that shoots a high-velocity stream of water. Typically, a water cannon can deliver a large volume of water, often over dozens of meters. They are used in firefighting, large vehicle washing, riot control, and mining ...
s during sub-zero temperatures was used to contradict police reports that the cannons were only being used to put out fires.
Four Unicorn Riot reporters were arrested in September and October 2016. Chris Schiano and Georgiades were arrested on September 13 as they were filming protesters who had locked themselves to equipment being used to construct the pipeline. Reporter Lorenzo Serna was arrested in both North Dakota and Iowa, and reporter Jenn Schreiter was arrested in October while reporting on a lockdown at a DAPL construction site in Iowa.
Unite the Right rally
Unicorn Riot had documented several of the chat rooms in the
Discord
Discord is a VoIP and instant messaging social platform. Users have the ability to communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called "servers".The developer documenta ...
application prior to the
Unite the Right rally in August 2017, which led to violence between alt right groups and local citizens, including the death of one person. The group subsequently released this material, which was used to identify the anonymous users on Discord who were involved with violence at the rally.
Documentary film
Unicorn Riot produced a feature-length documentary film about the resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline entitled ''Black Snake Killaz: A #NoDAPL Story''. The film was premiered on November 17, 2017 at the Parkway theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and released online free of charge for educational purposes via Unicorn Riot's website on November 18, 2017.
Gab
In October 2018, Unicorn Riot discovered that on
Gab, individual users on the platform led by
alt-right figure
Brittany Pettibone organized on the video game chat and voice room platform
Discord
Discord is a VoIP and instant messaging social platform. Users have the ability to communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called "servers".The developer documenta ...
and that some of the discussions centered on
antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
and achieving "
ethno-nationalism."
Identity Evropa/American Identity Movement (IE/AIM)
In March 2019, Unicorn Riot leaked more than 770,000
Discord
Discord is a VoIP and instant messaging social platform. Users have the ability to communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called "servers".The developer documenta ...
messages from
Identity Evropa
Identity Evropa () was an American neo-Nazi and white supremacist organization established in March 2016. It was rebranded as the American Identity Movement in March 2019. In November 2020, the group disbanded. Leaders and members of Identity Ev ...
's (IE) national server called "Nice Respectable People Group" as well as that of Nicholas J. Fuentes' America First,
James Allsup
James Walker Allsup (born September 7, 1995 as James Orien Allsup, name legally changed by petition on 7/12/2021) is an American white supremacist, far-right political commentator, and podcaster. Allsup has stated that he prefers to be describ ...
's The Nationalist Review, and the group's
Slack server. The leaks revealed that Identity Evropa was attempting an campaign into the
Republican Party such as one member meeting with Billy Ciancaglini (party candidate for the
Mayor of Philadelphia), sympathizing with Representative
Steve King of
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...
and others seeking to join College Republican clubs. Several members were
doxed, and the group was rebranded American Identity Movement (AIM), as part of a public relations effort to avoid scrutiny.
Shutdown of brown coal infrastructure in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Unicorn Riot livestreamed the "
Ende Gelände"
direct action protests in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, whose aim is to shut down brown coal fossil fuel infrastructure in North Rhine-Westphalia. Ende Gelände (roughly translated to "Here no further") achieved this by entering the brown coal pit mine and blocking the brown coal transport railroad track.
Murder of George Floyd
After the May 2020
murder of George Floyd
On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's ...
, Unicorn Riot began doing a series of live streams on Twitter and YouTube of the protest and uprising in
Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
and
Saint Paul
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
. Unicorn Riot has had a history of working in the
Twin Cities
Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in sta ...
and covering police brutality and other violence.
Patriot Front
''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' reported on 28 January 2022 that more than 400 gigabytes of private
Patriot Front chat logs on RocketChat had been obtained and published by Unicorn Riot.
The logs reveal efforts to expand membership, with the founder Thomas Rousseau writing "We are absolutely desperate for new people. We've been in the 220's to 230's membership rut for nearly a full year". The group can be seen attempting to inflate its numbers and importance, outlining plans to create fake social media accounts pretending to be bystanders to marches, and posting deceptive material on
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
,
Reddit
Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, imag ...
and
4chan
4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from anime and manga to video games, cooking, weapons, television, ...
, as well as direct messaging traditional media outlets and rejoicing when it is mentioned in the news. The leaders frequently scold members for not participating in events.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unicorn Riot
Alternative journalism organizations
American news websites
Citizen journalism
DIY culture
News agencies based in the United States
Organizations established in 2014
Left-wing organizations in the United States