Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Bikers Against Terrorism

Joelle invites you to read about the brave men and woman of the biker community that have stepped up to take a stand against terrorism. These bikers defend the ideal of all bikers, "Freedom", and take one step further by defending this ideal for the whole country.

Motorcycle Boots on the Ground: 
Bikers Against Isis (and Why I Feel Safer)

For days, everywhere I look, everywhere I go, there’s debate on what to do about the threat of ISIS. Yet for bikers, the solution is as clear as sunlight on the chrome of their bikes: Keep Terrorists Out.

This doesn’t surprise me. Bikers are about freedom, and Jihad is the death of freedom.

I first heard about bikers against terrorism a year ago, when the news hit that Dutch and German motorcycle clubs had sent members to help the Kurds fight ISIS in Iraq.

“We wanted to do something when we saw the pictures of the be-headings,” the leader of the Dutch MC, No Surrender, told the press.

Ron, a Dutch biker with the MC No Surrender, holds a Kalashnikov
assault rifle and flashes the "victory" sign as he sits with a
Kurdish comrade in a fortified  bunker.
No Surrender is one of the Netherlands’ biggest motorcycle clubs.

The German club is called the Median Empire. One member wrote on his Facebook page: “While others blabber on, our guys are at the front and fighting against ISIS.”

In April and June of 2014, the German bikers – whose ideology is based on the Medes legends that describe them as “fearless and mounted warriors” – organized aid missions to supply Syrian Kurdish refugees in northern Iraq with medicament, food, and humanitarian aid.


Dutch bikers against ISIS

I was fascinated by these events, and as the author at HardRiderPress, decided I would write a short story about bikers against terrorism, but set it on American soil. My premise was that an American motorcycle club would root out a terrorist cell in the Northwest and well, take care of business. I even had a cover made for the story.

My short story cover for HardRider Press, about
an american MC that roots out a terrorist cell
Then two things happened to scare the hell out of me. First: the Charlie Hebdo Magazine attacks in France. Islamic terrorists armed with assault rifles and other weapons slaughtered 11 people and injured 11 others. As a writer and journalist, I felt this tragedy personally.
About a week later, I started getting Arabic followers on my HardRiderPress Instagram account. A quick glance at their profiles revealed some disturbing photos.
Fearing I’d gotten on the ISIS radar, I decided to not pursue my story.

But I kept researching the bikers against terrorism movement. I learned about the 2013 ride to D.C., when nearly one million rode to Washington to protest the “million Muslim march scheduled for 9/11/13.” Only a handful of Muslims actually showed up after they heard the bikers would be meeting them there.

As has been seen in freedom protests in India during the 1940's, in Poland during the 1980's, and in the Ukraine just a few years ago, hundreds or thousands of people assembling peacefully to support liberty and freedom is an incredibly powerful force.

But motorcycle riders have even more power because they’re so visible. People pay attention when a parade of bikes is rolling by.

Raising awareness alone is valuable.

And so is bringing awareness that motorcycle club and riding groups are a force for good—especially now in light of the coordinated attacks on Paris.
Perhaps the days of profiling bikers is finally on the wane. William Dulaney wrote for CNN that (laughably to me) certain law enforcement officials have labeled motorcycle clubs as a “domestic terrorist threat.”

Argues Delaney, “As one who earns a living studying and teaching about threats to national security, it concerns me greatly to think that precious time, money, and manpower are wasted on targeting the wrong people. We have very real dangers to our society, our American way of life, but MCs are unequivocally not among those dangers. In my experience, patch-holders represent the very people who protect us from those threats.”

I’ve come across a couple of American motorcycle clubs that are actively trying to raise awareness by riding and supporting the anti-terrorist movement.

One of the new MCs that rallies against terrorism
One is the American Bikers United Against Jihad (ABUAJ), a grassroots human rights movement comprised of American bikers, patriots, veterans that organizes rides and events across America. Their mission is stated as follows: “…defend America and to mobilize and educate average Americans about the impact of violent and stealth Jihad (creeping Sharia), which have already begun to threaten our freedoms, rights, national security, and, most importantly, the future of our children.”

Their primary objectives are to counter the PC propaganda from the mainstream media and Islamic-tied groups with factual information and to unite and galvanize others to stand up for American principles and liberties through social media and feet-on-the-ground rides, rallies, events, counter-protests, and beyond.”
ABUAJ is nondenominational, and advocates peaceful approaches.


Another MC is the Infidels, founded by a biker named Slingshot who served as a security contractor in Iraq in 2006. Within a few short weeks membership had grown to nine individuals, all security contractors. These Original Nine men reviewed, and agreed upon, the Mission Statement and Bylaws.
The Infidels MC rejects the radical jihadist movement that threatens liberty and freedom around the world. The Infidels MC supports the fight against terrorism as military members, contractors in support of the military, and as patriotic Americans supporting our fighting forces from the homeland.


Another event took place this year in Phoenix, on May 30, when about 250 anti-Isis demonstrators faced off against a similar crowd defending their Muslim faith in front of a mosque. The rally was sparked by events earlier in May, when two Muslims armed with assault rifles were ultimately killed by police outside a Mohamed cartoon-drawing contest in Garland.

Bikers protest outside a Phoenix mosque
Jon Ritzheimer, the organizer and a former U.S. Marine, called it a patriotic sign of resistance against what he deemed the tyranny of Islam in America.

“I would love to see more of these events pop up in other states,” he said. “I want fellow patriots standing right here next to me….I’ve got Isis posting my address. This is terrorist at its finest, right here in America,” he said. “My family has to go into hiding.”

Phoenix resident Paul Griffin said the rally exposed Islam as contrary to American rights.

“They want us to cower in fear because of a cartoon that somebody drew? What the hell has happened to this country? Griffin said. “I don’t care if I offend anyone. This is America.”

Right now these various groups and events are scattered across the country. But I’m hoping the bikers against terrorism movement will grow into a unified national group, like the Patriot Guard Riders, which began in 2005 as a response to the Westboro Baptist Church whose members disrupted military funerals with hateful signs and speech. The PGR has now grown to 220,000 members.


If the terrorist threats and attacks continue, and it seems likely they will, then I encourage all riders to join in some way to help defend our country.

I’d feel safer knowing a biker has my back: wouldn’t you?