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Kfir Alfia is the co-founder (along with Alan Lipton) of the group Protest Warrior, a right-wing group that has dedicated itself to traveling to anti-war protests and presenting their own opposing view.
Background
Alfia's family moved to Dallas from Israel when he was two years old. He attended Hebrew school at Akiba Academy and proceeded to J.J. Pearce High School before attending the University of Texas at Austin. As a teen, he read many libertarian texts by writers such as Friedrich Hayek and anti-war activist Ayn Rand, as well as conservative publications such as The National Review. Kfir was a fan of talk radio and he was a published source at Contumacy.Org as well as the Austin Review.
Protest Warrior
In February 2003, Alfia was working as a computer chip designer in San Francisco when he reunited with childhood friend Alan Lipton. Along with two other friends, Alfia and Lipton decided to crash a February 16th anti-war protest. Alfia carried a sign featuring a woman in a burqa tied to a pole with a leash around her neck; the sign read, "Protect Islamic Property Rights Against Western Imperialism. Say No To War!" Lipton's said, " Saddam Only Kills His Own People. It's None Of Our Business!"
On February 17th, they were invited onto conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh's show to describe how they'd been met with shouts and spit, which Alfia described as "so much hate." Limbaugh posted pictures they had taken at the protest on his Web site.
In the summer of 2003, Alfia and Lipton moved to Austin, which is now Protest Warrior's headquarters. They like the city, Lipton says, for its "conservative economics and liberal culture." There are now active chapters all across the nation and the movement has spawned international chapters.
Kfir has referred to atheists and secular humanists as "religious fanatics" and condemned feminists as being hateful of Christianity. He has been quoted as saying he intends to begin picketing abortion clinics and gay rights events in the future to show support for social conservatism. When this was brought up on the organization's message board, questions were raised as to whether ProtestWarrior was going to abandon its religiously neutral point of view. Kfir responded publicly, declaring the article a misquotation. His response was:
- "This is a misquote. Though it's been a while, I do remember this interview. The interviewer asked me about our involvement with regard to the abortion issue, and I mentioned that some PWers attended the anti-abortion rally in DC that spring. It was by no means an official PW operation.
- "It did seem that the interviewer was interested mainly in our stance on religious issues, and I did tell him that the PW membership is made up of conservatives of all stripes.
- "I can't directly speak for Alan, but abortion and gay rights is not a burning issue for me. Obviously this is not the case for some conservatives, but it certainly isn't a litmus test for PW membership.
- "If you want to get a good idea of the issues PW has taken a stance on, the PW sign gallery is a good place to start."