Antifa, are as fascist, draconian, pro-censorship/pro-revisionist history, and hypocritical as the extreme fascists/people they condemn.
So you keep saying. But
why?
I had a quick look at social media (twitter) and the amount of absurdly hyperbolic nonsense written about "antifa" is staggering.
You realise that some of this stuff has been varified as psy-op propaganda circulated by russian bots?
That's not a conspiracy theory - it's been widely reported, since the phony "boston antifa" twitter account posted some ridiculous crap the other day, but neglected to turn off their geo-tagging info - "boston antifa" posting from Vladivostok.
Seems legit huh?
The fact is, all this stuff about "antifa" being some totalitatian extremist force is a bad joke.
We are just people - members of communities and activist networks - that oppose the very things we are accused of supporting.
It seems that there are people out there who are passionately opposed to anti-racism.
I wonder why that is?
The problem is, some of these people control huge media networks, so this bullshit about how nasty and vicious anti-fascists are gets circulated and taken as fact by millions of people.
It's madness. People need to question what they see in the press and on social media - but sadly it seems that
many don't.
I know a lot of anti-fascists, and they're among the most passionate, kind and caring people i know. They have strong convictions, and are prepared to actually stand up for what they believe in.
Seriously - i'm not just saying that because i agree with the anti-fascist cause. If you knew some of the "antifa" people i do, you'd find the right wing portrayal of them amusing too.
I don't see the hypocrisy in being anti-racism. Racism is an expression of fear and ignorance. It's a relic of a colonial past that has no relevance anymore. Phrenology and other racial pseudosciences have been entirely discredited, and so has white supremacy.
If you doubt that, take a look at the examples of the "master race" that rallied on Charlottesville.
Hardly the
ubermensch.
There is awful lot of sensationalist media and hype around antifascists, but all of that kind of stuff that i've seen appears to be heavy on speculation and emotional condemnation, but very little in the way of actual content or reliable information.
Most of us are committed to non-violence, but in case you don't know, "antifa" isn't an organisation or a group. It's more accurately classified as a
tactic.
Trump supporters hate us - but it seems to me that trump supporters hate almost everyone who isn't a white heterosexual that goes along with trump's bullshit without questioning it.
Nazis and other racists hate us too, but that makes sense as we do what we can to disrupt their "activities".
I'm curious where you get your information from.
Some of the most vocal opponents of the antifascist movement are people that have a vested interest in painting
ordinary people who
proudly stand up against racism as violent thugs and terrorists.
The irony is that the people we are demonstrating against are literally violent thugs
and terrorists - have you had a close look at who these nazis are, and what they're saying?
They call themselves "alt right" to put up a smokescreen of preppy respectability, but they incite violence and hate. They are full-blown neo-nazis, as was demonstrated in Charlottesville.
The right wing press is pushing this line that militant antifascism is "setting a dangerous precedent" - as if we will all suddenly change our entire political outlook and
modus operandi, and start attacking everyone else in society.
It's a laughably preposterous suggestion.
Antifa has existed - in many forms - for
decades.
You know why it started (in recent decades)?
To stop neo-nazis bashing and killing people. That is not an exaggeration, it's the truth. I will post a great documentary about an early anti-fascist group that formed for that very reason in paris in the late 70s (or maybe early 80s).
We've always been here, and the only reason the tabloid media even knows about "antifa" is because we've had to step up because of the recent resurgence in nazi/fascist activity.
When people have a problem with that, it tends to beg the question - aren't you troubled by the recent, rapid growth of unapologetically neo-nazi groups?
If not,
why not?
Also, for what it's worth - labelling antifa "pro-censorship" is totally false.
Censorship is a state issue. Citizens can't - by definition - censor anything or anyone.
Also, "antifa" ideology is something that has grown out of modern-day anarchism.
Y'know - people that oppose the idea of government. In that sense, you'd be hard pressed finding people that are less pro-censorship.
Nazis, on the other hand are authoritarian bootlickers. Fascism is all about censorship.
Wherever you're getting your information from; it seems like you're projecting the characteristics of the people we oppose, onto us.
The whole "both sides are just the same" is a total nonsense, and anyone that simply believes that is just being lazy and gullible in my opinion.
Check the fash/anti-fash body count.
Oh wait - antifa don't have a body count. We're not in the business of killing people, unlike the people we oppose.
It's false equivalence based on ignorance and lies.
Here's an analogy i just came up with, which i think works pretty well;
Nazis are like paedophiles.
They may not have committed acts of violence against jews, muslims, gays, people of colour (etc etc) - but regardless of whether or not they are outspoken about it, they have the potential to cause great harm and suffering to individuals and communities.
So - 'children's rights advocates' (i don't think that's the correct term, but i'm referring to the sort of activists who speak out about child abuse and exploitation that happens in institutions and in online/secretive paedophile networks, and try to affect legislative change to prevent child abuse and the distribution and possession of child pornography)
Are these pro-child activists pro-censorship?
If so - is that always a bad thing?
I personally cannot see a single reason to support the "rights" of nazis to openly advocate genocide and - among other things - turning the USA into a "white ethnostate".
Besides abstract arguments about "freedom of speech" - i wonder if the people who hate antifa have actually read or been exposed to nazi propaganda?
Do you think it's ok?
Do you think threats of murder, threats of violence and other intimidation and hate speech falls under the category of "free speech"?
To come back to the paedophile analogy - do we wait for these nazis to harm innocent people before we condemn them?
(Oh - silly me - they've already started killing people for political, ethnic and religious reasons)
Or is it maybe reasonable for concerned citizens to prevent these heavily armed gangs gathering in large numbers for the purposes of intimidation?
The government and police aren't interested in taking sides here, but citizens needn't be apolitical. Some of us do what we can to make life difficult for these gangs (for that is what they are) of extremists and terrorists.
There seems to be a lot of people on the right wing end of the spectrum telling activists how we should and shouldn't protest, at the moment.
It's always interesting when folks don't understand or agree with what you're trying to do, yet still feel compelled to advise you how to do it.
I've participated in quite a few anti-fascist demonstrations, as well as some of the less glamourous stuff, like putting up posters, sticker campaigns, and removing or correcting racist graffiti.
The people that are involved in this stuff are
good people. We care about communities, we care about the society we live in, we care about people and we care about preventing racist violence from becoming normalised by these fucking nazis.
The right wing press can slander us all they like - we're not going away, and we don't take much notice of their bullshit anyway.
Frankly, they're part of the problem - giving attention and free publicity to hate groups, because it sells papers and gains website hits and ratings.
It's a thankless task, but i'm proud to be part of it, if only in a tiny way.
I've never done anything violent at an action (or anywhere else, for that matter) - because fortunately i've not been in a position where i've had to defend myself.
I don't expect gratitude from anyone, but i hate to think what sort of state the USA (for instance) would be in if people didn't stand up to the same neo-nazis that rallied in charlottesville. The same nazis that assaulted priests that were part of the counter-rally, the same neo-nazis that drove a car into a crowd of people, injuring many and killing one poor woman.
If these people were allowed free reign to do as they pleased, do you think that would be ok? Do you think kkk and nazi guys march around the block, sing some cute songs about the führer, the master race and rounding up the homosexuals and jews - then just bid one another farewell and go home with a smile?
That would be a naive assumption, if so.
Fascism and white supremacy are not new. When they're emboldened enough, they kill.
This is not a suspicion or a conspiracy theory. The nazis themselves don't make any secret of it.
Neo nazis have traditionally killed and assaulted gay folks, drug users, non-white and non-christian people. If they get the chance (meaning - if they get confident and powerful enough) they will do the same.
Thankfully, antifa greatly outnumber them, and we monitor them.
Again, the police and government won't act until there is an atrocity.
We don't want to run the risk of that happening, so we organise to resist them.
The right wing militias that joined the nazis in charlottesville reportedly out-gunned the police that were present.
If anti-fascists weren't there to resist this influx of terrorist, extremist hate groups, the rally that day - called "unite the right" may have succeeded.
But it failed spectacularly - the "alt right" (and the various nazi, neo-nazi, fascist, white supremacist groups that took part) completely fractured into infighting since then.
Those groups had several demonstrations planned betwen Charlottesville and now. They've all either flopped spectacularly, or been cancelled.
Say what you will about militant antifascist activism - it works.
