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Title: The Antifa Hysteria Author: Jim Kovpak Date: 3 August 2019 Language: en Topics: anti-fascism, United States of America, Donald Trump Source: Retrieved on 20th February 2022 from https://www.nihilist.li/2019/08/03/the-antifa-hysteria/
Since 2017, American conservatives have been raging against Antifa, an
organization they had never heard of until then, but which they are
convinced is a dangerous domestic terrorist organization that must be
criminalized. On Saturday, President Trump revealed his support for such
action in a series of typically incoherent tweets.
Anti-Antifa hysteria resembles typical right-wing moral panics about
secret Satanic cabals in the 70’s and 80’s, or the «knockout game» in
the past decade. A recent episode involved claims that Antifa was
putting some kind of quick-setting cement into milkshakes in order to
cause concussions. An enterprising entrepreneur (i.e. grifter) came up
with the idea of marketing his solid steel core «Patriot Cane» as a
weapon to defend against Antifa. One imagines the typical Antifa-fearing
audience, which is mostly elderly, spending their Social Security money
on a steel cane out of fear that they might one day be attacked on the
street by masked Antifa hunting parties for wearing an American flag
shirt or something equally innocuous. Indeed one need not imagine —
Twitter and other social media are rife with individuals who have never
and probably will never encounter Antifa in their lives, and yet are
labeling Antifa a terrorist group and making threats about what they’d
do if Antifa ever came for them.
What is causing this panic among conservatives about Antifa in recent
years? It’s simple — as mainstream conservatives have moved closer to
actual fascists, they have been increasingly confronted by Antifa and
their sympathizers when they attempt to organize or rally in public. One
perfect example of this was the so-called «Battle of York,» which took
place in Pennsylvania in 2002. Several other major clashes between major
neo-Nazi organizations and Antifa took place that same year. While these
could be considered high profile events, mainstream conservative media
didn’t pay attention. In those days, especially during the
administration of George W. Bush, mainstream conservatives were smart
enough to reject the far-right. The animosity was mutual too, because in
those days most neo-Nazi organizations hated the Bush admin for its
pro-Israel, neoconservative agenda. Thus there was a period of about
eight years during which there were several major clashes between Antifa
and far-right organizations in streets across America but the mainstream
media, including conservative media, largely ignored it.
The election of Obama in 2008 and the rise of the so-called Tea Party
movement is what knocked down the barrier between the far-right and the
mainstream right. Mainstream conservative media figures such as radio
and TV host Glenn Beck were given a huge platform from which they spun
numerous conspiracy theories about George Soros and high-ranking
government officials with alleged links to the Muslim Brotherhood or
«Marxism.» The pressure cooker of hate and paranoia boiled for eight
years and then Trump popped the lid off. As if recognizing their moment
had come, far-right organizations reciprocated the mainstream’s
rightward motion and reached out to the Trump movement. Some far-right
figures even acknowledged that Trump wasn’t actually on their side, but
that his rhetoric helped mainstream their radical views, and he could at
least accomplish some of their policy goals in a limited fashion. And
this is how more mainstream political figures appeared on Antifa’s
radar. Whereas in the past one had to do some deep digging to find
neo-Nazis working with Republicans, usually making great efforts to
conceal their views, after 2016 the former make little effort to hide
their views and when they are exposed, it is no surprise. Rather than
take a pause to reevaluate what it is about their beliefs and actions
that have led them into this alliance with, in some cases, actual
neo-Nazis, conservatives, famous for their inability to take
responsibility for their own actions, have decided to attack Antifa
instead. They insist that «Antifa calls anyone who disagrees with them
fascists,» and yet they’ll also say things like «Antifa are the real
fascists!» Moreover, they have no explanation as to why Antifa aren’t
going around attacking liberals, centrists, or even mainstream
conservatives who aren’t engaged in a public rally alongside literal
fascist organizations.
More importantly, you will not see these people, not President Trump,
not Senator Ted Cruz, or any of those who call for the outlawing of
Antifa, also call for the outlawing of any far-right group, be they the
3%’er militia, Identity Evropa (now known as the American Identity
Movement), or the Proud Boys — all groups that have been connected to a
number of criminal acts. As Antifa defenders are forced to point out
again and again, the number of people killed by Antifa in the United
States in decades of activity is still zero, whereas killing by
far-right individuals number in the dozens in recent years alone. Even
those who point this out often forget that this body count would be far
higher were it not for the large quantity of planned domestic attacks
that are foiled before they can be carried out. No, to the modern
American right, the organization with a body count of zero should be
criminalized as a «terrorist organization,» but actual terrorist
organizations that have killed dozens and the propaganda they spread
shouldn’t be similarly characterized and outlawed because of «free
speech.» As if the universe conspired expose this hypocrisy in the most
cruel way possible, the day after the president’s anti-Antifa tweets, a
gunman espousing far-right white nationalist views murdered three people
in California, one of whom was a six year old boy and a 13 year old
girl.
Getting back to the question of criminalizing Antifa, freedom of speech
and freedom of assembly are crucial concepts in this discussion because
as others have pointed out numerous times — Antifa is not a group or
organization, it does not have membership, and actions like assault are
already criminalized. Ergo, the only logical result of criminalizing
«Antifa» will be censorship and the restriction of freedom of assembly
for people who oppose the far-right in public. Ignorant, possibly
right-wing law enforcement agencies would draw up a list of attributes
they associate with «Antifa,» and then they could surveil or detain
anyone they apply that label to. Strangely, the right-wing commentators
who constantly accuse Antifa and the left of trying to eliminate freedom
of speech haven’t considered such consequences. In fact, they’ve been
cheering the president on ever since he started tweeting about it. There
is no mystery as to why — right-wingers don’t believe in freedom of
speech. They just want the right to say and do whatever they want
without consequences.
The outlook is grim at the moment, but American leftists can take solace
in the fact that time and time again, it has been shown that the ideas
of the right are not truly popular in this country. The actions taken by
Republicans such as embracing the far-right, voter suppression, and
rigging elections are the actions of a desperate, aging party that feels
its vulnerability and is attempting to defend itself by establishing a
form of fascist minority rule. Their incoherent raving about Antifa
without so much as a peep about America’s largest and most ignored
terrorist movement only proves that they are in fact fascists, or at the
very least fascist sympathizers, and thus they deserve Antifa’s
attention. And if the left or at least progressive-leaning people, who
far outnumber the right, are criminalized for their beliefs, they will
no longer be held back by the idea that must work only within the limits
of the law. They will be freed from that restraint, and the oppressors
will soon long for the days when all they had to fear were imaginary
concrete milkshakes.