Brace Belden

Brace Robert Belden (born October 13, 1989) is an American leftist, podcaster, and union activist, who volunteered to fight with the People's Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia, in the Syrian Civil War.[6][7] Belden is also widely known as his former Twitter handle, PissPigGranddad.

Brace Belden
Other name(s)Rashid Fouad
Nickname(s)
  • PissPigGranddad (former Twitter handle)
  • PissPigGrandma (former Twitter handle)
  • Black Tar
  • President Chaos[1]
  • Mr. Bean[2]
  • Showbiz [3]
  • Mr. Fireworks [4]
Born (1989-10-13) October 13, 1989[5]
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Allegiance Rojava
Service/branch People's Protection Units
Years of service2016–2017
Battles/warsRaqqa offensive

Early life

Belden was born to Jewish parents in San Francisco in 1989[5] and grew up in Corte Madera, California.[8] His father is a journalist at a local TV station, and his brother works in tech.[8] His mother committed suicide when he was six years old.[8] Belden has said he was "a troubled teen" and went to five different high schools, including a boot camp from which he ran away before being arrested for public intoxication in Mission Dolores Park.[8][9] Belden has identified as a Marxist since his teenage years and protested the Iraq War when he was thirteen. In 2005, when he was fifteen, he and his friends started a satirical right-wing, pro-war punk band called Warkrime. His stage name in the band was President Chaos. They released their first album, Give War A Chance, in 2006, and the band broke up in 2008.[8]

Belden has said that he "always worked shitty jobs" and that he supposed he "should have gone to college", affixed with the caveat "but a lot of good that did other guys."[9] After graduating from high school, he worked as a florist at Brothers Papadopoulos flower shop in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2015, he launched a petition to cancel A Prairie Home Companion, a radio show by American Public Media. The petition said it "is a dumb boring show that forces millions of radio listeners under 60 to turn off their radios whenever that stupid old guy starts his rambling crap. All people under like 100 years old should sign this."[10] Willamette Week talked to Belden about his campaign before deciding to hire him as a freelance music writer. In September 2016, Willamette Week received a resignation email from Belden, saying that he had "accepted a position out of the country."[11]

Time in Syria

Belden arrived in Syria in October 2016. He underwent training at the YPG's Academy, where he met other Western volunteers including Lucas Chapman and Tommy Mørck. Shortly after graduating from the Academy, Belden was assigned as a machine gunner on a makeshift tank for the Raqqa campaign. His unit helped to capture Tal Salman in mid-November. Brace commented that "We pushed up to Tal Saman till we had it surrounded on a half circle. Then we just bombarded the shit out of it." Many refugees fled the town and sought protection behind the YPG front line. "Hundreds of civilians coming across for days in a row", Belden said. At night, his unit stayed in whatever building they had just captured and camped out on rooftops in the cold. "The first week we were out it was awful", Belden told Rolling Stone. After capturing Tal Salman, Belden's unit was withdrawn to Ayn Issa.[9][12]

In March 2017, Belden was nominated as a candidate for Rector of the University of Glasgow.[13][14][15][16]

Belden was among seven Western leftist volunteers profiled in Rolling Stone in March 2017. He later described it as "pretty fucking ridiculous, man. They just kind of made up my biography. Which is tight, because I've literally done nothing in my life but jack off before I came here."[17][18][11] It was later announced that the Rolling Stone article was to become a film starring Jake Gyllenhaal and directed by Daniel Espinosa.[19][20][21]

In August 2020, it was revealed that the Department of Homeland Security investigated Belden and other “anarchist fighters” for “suspected or confirmed ANTIFA links.” In response, Belden stated “I am not now nor have I ever been a member of any antifa organization” and quipped that “The US government has been spying on and smearing communists for 100 years but they usually have the decency not to call a Red an anarchist!”[22]

Twitter account

Using the handle @PissPigGranddad, Belden generated a significant following on Twitter. By the time he returned from Syria, @PissPigGranddad had amassed more than 30,000 followers.[23] The account was permanently suspended shortly after Belden's return to the United States for accusations of violating Twitter's policies on "targeted abuse or harassment." Although Twitter has not commented on the suspension, the account was locked shortly after Belden mocked white nationalist Nathan Damigo’s short stature on the site; according to Belden, "alt-right"-affiliated accounts (or, in Belden's words, "a bunch of Nazis/4chan dudes who were mad at me for making fun of that guy for being short") had tweeted about plans to report @PissPigGranddad en masse.[23] Belden reemerged on Twitter under the new handle @PissPigGrandma,[23] which was also suspended.

Because of his widespread following and familiarity to Twitter users by that name, "PissPigGranddad" has been widely used to refer to Belden both in the press[9][19] and real life encounters with Belden.[23] Commenting on the "pseudo-celebrity" he had acquired under that name, Belden said "I kind of wish I hadn't made my name PissPigGranddad. I picked it before I ever thought anyone would say it to me out loud."[23]

Unionization effort

In February 2018, Belden began working in San Francisco at Anchor Brewing Company, which had recently been purchased by Sapporo. As a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, specifically the local Marxist caucus Red Star, he became part of an eight-person organizing committee to form an employee's union at his factory. By early 2019, the unionization effort had gone public and was profiled in Jacobin magazine and an episode of Chapo Trap House.[24][25][26] Workers at the brewery voted 31 to 16 in favor of unionizing.[27]

Podcast Appearances and TrueAnon

Belden has appeared a number of times as a guest on popular American left-wing podcast Chapo Trap House,[28][29][30] appearing on a live show for the podcast in March 2020 at the Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco,[31]

In August 2019 Belden, along with co-host Liz Franczak, published the first episode of their podcast TrueAnon, an 'anti-pedophile' podcast inspired by the events surrounding the 2019 arrest of financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.[32] Belden and Franczak comment on various topics including sex crimes, American and British Politics, conspiracy theories, intelligence agencies, international finance, and the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic. The podcast follows a similar premium model as that of its contemporary, Chapo Trap House. Free episodes are published regularly, as well as paid content hosted on Patreon. As of May 2020 the show has over 13,533 paid subscribers, making it the platform’s fifth most subscribed podcast.[32] The series has featured Vincent Bevins and Azealia Banks as guests.

References
  1. https://www.discogs.com/artist/2910431-Brace-Belden
  2. https://www.patreon.com/posts/38734370
  3. https://www.patreon.com/posts/38734370
  4. https://soundcloud.com/trueanonpod/shoot-me-in-st-louis
  5. "Brace Robert Belden, Born 10/13/1989 in California". California Birth Index. California Office of Health Information and Research. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  6. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/jeffrey-epstein-is-a-feature-of-our-system-a-conversation-with-liz-franczak-and-brace-belden-hosts-of-trueanon/
  7. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/04/brace-belden-pisspiggranddad-syria-isis.html
  8. Wiedeman, Reeves (3 April 2017). "The Dirtbag Left's Man in Syria". New York Magazine. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  9. Harp, Seth (14 February 2017). "The Anarchists vs. the Islamic State". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  10. Boller, Jay (1 September 2015). "Petition urges 'all people under 100' to help cancel A Prairie Home Companion". City Pages. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  11. MacMurdo, Walker (14 February 2017). "Former Willamette Week Freelancer Who Went to Syria to Fight Against ISIS Profiled in Rolling Stone". Willamette Week. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  12. Sly, Liz (1 April 2017). "How two U.S. Marxists wound up on the front lines against ISIS". The Washington Post. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  13. Jamieson, David (1 March 2017). "Anti-Daesh socialist fighter nominated for Glasgow University Rector". CommonSpace. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  14. Shakespeare, Austen (14 March 2017). "Rector interview and analysis: Brace Belden". Glasgow Guardian. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  15. Alexander, Stephen (5 April 2017). "Britain's pseudo-left promotes Kurdish YPG militia volunteer Brace Belden as University of Glasgow Rector". World Socialist Web Site. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  16. Corcoran, Kieran (6 March 2017). "Milo Yiannopoulos Nominated For Top UK University Job, Outrage Ensues". Heat Street. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  17. Orton, Kyle (17 February 2017). "Life under the Kurdish YPG in Syria". The Syrian Intifada. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  18. Guion, Eoin (17 February 2017). "Brocialist Podcast Interviews Weird Twitter Personality Turned YPG Soldier, Results Are Surreal". Medium.com. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  19. Arcand, Rob (23 March 2017). "Rolling Stone Article About American Radicals Fighting ISIS to Become Jake Gyllenhaal Movie". Spin. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  20. Hughes, Josiah (24 March 2017). "Jake Gyllenhaal's Anarchist War Movie Draws Criticism from Subject Brace Belden". Exclaim. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  21. Garrido, Duarte (24 March 2017). "Jake Gyllenhaal to fight Islamic State in new drama". Sky News. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  22. Klippenstein, Ken (3 August 2020). "Homeland Security Is Quietly Tying Antifa to Foreign Powers". The Nation. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  23. Wiedeman, Reeves (21 May 2017). "PissPigGranddad Is No More". New York Magazine. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  24. Infante, Dave (February 7, 2019). "One of the World's Most Iconic Craft Breweries Is Unionizing". Splinter News. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
  25. Day, Meagan (February 15, 2019). "'There Wouldn't Be Craft Beer If It Weren't For Us'". Jacobin. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
  26. ""So You Want To Start A Union feat. Brace Belden"". Chapo Trap House (Podcast). February 10, 2019. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
  27. Fitzgerald Rodriguez, Joe (March 13, 2019). "Cheers! Anchor Brewing workers vote to approve union". The San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
  28. Episode 82 - War Is Heck feat. @PissPigGranddad (2/13/17), retrieved 2020-04-14
  29. UNLOCKED: 335 - Shrugging Towards Bethlehem feat. Brace Belden & Liz Franczak (7/25/19), retrieved 2020-04-14
  30. "288 - So You Want To Start A Union feat. Brace Belden (2/10/19) - Chapo Trap House". Spotify. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  31. "398 - Live from San Francisco: Mind Palace of Fine Arts feat. TrueAnon (3/2/20) - Chapo Trap House". Spotify. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  32. "TrueAnon Podcast is creating ANTI-Pedophile Podcast & Intelligence Exposure stuff etc". Patreon. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
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