From what I’ve seen, they’ve been quite good at imposing movement discipline and keeping things peaceful despite the attempted entryism of anarkiddie troublemakers. They don’t show up at demos with weapons, they don’t initiate violence, and they work to establish situations where they don’t have to fight back in self-defense.
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edited to reflect responded to wrong person.
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Thanks for that. Well put!
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Yeah, but I don’t want people in the middle telling me that antifa is almost as bad as fucking nazis. We don’t always get what we want.
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Meither neither, though it seems to me that it’s the shithead-right that’s mostly claiming that.
If a lot of people in the middle are too, then ugh, what an even-more-rotten mess we’re in.
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Trump doesn’t like losers. Robert E. Lee and the rest of the Southern Military lost the Civil War. What does Little Donnie have to say about that?
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You can’t be serious, but it seems like you are. I live in Portland and there are violent clashes between people who claim to be part of Antifa (or who dress like them and espouse their views) and right-wing people on a regular basis. Some Antifa thugs recently hit one of their own members in the head with a bat because he committed the “crime” of carrying a U.S. flag at a rally: https://reason.com/2018/08/21/antifa-portland-evan-welch-violence/
The FBI and Homeland Security classified some of Antifa’s actions as actual domestic terrorism: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/01/antifa-charlottesville-violence-fbi-242235
Here’s a report from NPR of violent clash in August 2017: https://www.npr.org/2017/08/28/546831794/i-saw-his-humanity-reveal-host-on-protecting-right-wing-protester
Here’s a report of an event last summer here in Portland: https://www.npr.org/2018/07/01/625095869/police-declare-a-riot-after-far-right-and-antifa-groups-clash-in-portland
Another one about Antifa members trying to purchase guns from Mexico for an armed rebellion that was reported just this week: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/border-baja-california/story/2019-04-28/feds-investigating-alleged-armed-disruption-attempt-at-u-s-mexico-border-in-december-report
Here’s Antifa members in Portland yelling terrible things at drivers (and since they live in Portland, I doubt they are alt-right or Nazis) while illegally blocking the road: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq-dcJrnGTM
Or how about this video compilation of Antifa assaulting people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E61BTum2OI
Of course there’s more. But they’re an easy Google search away…
You could try to claim that every one of these people deserved it. You could say you investigated them all individually and know for a fact that they are dyed-in-the-wool Nazis. They are scum. They are evil. But, for me, that’s no excuse. Violence is violence, no matter who is wielding the club.
I would argue that you cannot excuse the violent mob tactics of many Antifa members any more than you can excuse the violence of neo-Nazis. I would also argue that the best way to deal with alt-right idiots is through public shaming and discourse, not through hitting them in the head with a piece of wood.
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Usually when talking to such fools I bring up the fact that White Supremacists killed about 150 people since 2016 (70 of them in the last 6 months) while ANTIFA has killed zero people since inception and MS-13 numbers no more 1% of all gang membership in the US.
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So what has been ANTIFA’s body count since inception? Zero
How many people have been killed by the Neo-Nazis they oppose in the last 6 months? 70
“The FBI and Homeland Security classified some of Antifa’s actions as actual domestic terrorism”
The FBI closed down its domestic terrorism intelligence unit, the primary force which would be on the watch for white supremacists.
They focused on fictional groups like extreme abortion rights activists and “black identity groups”
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But but, wooden boards! To the head!!
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Even the DC violent left wing shooter that always comes up, left a death toll of ZERO.
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I don’t care what your “body count” is when you hit me in the head with a bat.
It’s not apples to apples. You can’t say “violence that doesn’t kill is fine” because “violence that does kill is worse.” It is still violence. And human suffering. And it should be avoided.
Of course human suffering should be avoided. That is percisely why there are antifascists.
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The point of Antifa isn’t violence though.
The point of fa, however, is to “get rid” of all the ethnic minorities. However that is done is notionally violence.
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Because you are giving me garbage trying to pretend they are a serious threat. They aren’t.
If you are giving me crap about Antifa, you are deliberately deflecting and making excuses for pervasive neo-nazi murders.You are giving me whataboutism bullshit trying to create a false equivalence here. You are ignoring how white supremacists use “armed protest” to keep law enforcement at bay while they commit acts of deadly violence.
Antifa is beer league mayhem. Not worth getting into a tizzy over. Putting them on a threat level somewhere below frat boys and midwest high school athletes.
In most cases they engage in protective actions towards bystanders. The Neo-Nazis they oppose are full blow domestic terrorists with a body count. One which demands serious attention.
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Apparently, you don’t know what “fascist” means.
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Are you a member of Patriot Prayer? Because they’re the only ones who have clashed with Anti-fascists in Portland.
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Nope. I’m a moderate centrist. I don’t align with either side. But I see the harm that the fringes of both sides do to those of us who want to live peacefully.
A fascist wants to tell you how you have to live. Your own link says they want “forcible suppression of opposition.” That sounds like Antifa to me.
A look in the mirror is necessary for both sides.
