ANTIFA protesters circumvented barricades and police protection lines to attack a group of peaceful protesters. Hiding behind masks, they assaulted defenseless people, injuring several.
I lean left. I believe government has a vital role in society. I abhor racism, white supremacy, and all the rest. (Many on the right also abhor these things.) I tend to agree with more “left” or “liberal” viewpoints than right or conservative viewpoints. If I sat down and talked with the right-wing protesters at the “No to Marxism in America” rally in Berkeley, I probably wouldn’t have agreed with many of their beliefs. Although, I do agree: no Marxism in the USA. Regardless, peaceful protesters have every right to peacefully protest. The violent and deranged attacks carried out by ANTIFA were quite frankly deplorable.
In case you’re out of the loop, ANTIFA protesters circumvented barricades and police protection lines to attack a group of peaceful protesters. They hid behind masks, and ganged up and assaulted largely defenseless people. The attacks occurred at and around the Berkeley’s Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park.
This is unacceptable. I was appalled by clips showing people of color being attacked in a similar manner in Charlottesville, but I am as appalled by ANTIFA’s actions last night.
Antifa beat down apparent alt-righter. pic.twitter.com/WVdDJqLKmA
— Shane Bauer (@shane_bauer) August 27, 2017
Ironically, ANTIFA pretends to fight fascism, but they do so with decidedly fascist tactics. Shutting down free speech and assaulting peaceful protesters has long been a favorite tactic of fascists themselves. The violent attacks carried out by ANTIFA is eerily reminiscent of Nazi tactics in the lead up to World War II. By embracing violence, ANTIFA has become the very thing they pretend to hate.
There’s a certain irony that ANTIFA chose to mount their attack at the Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of America’s greatest leaders, and he knew the power of peace. MLK’s choice to use peaceful means to battle racism in the United States was as much a strategic choice as a moral choice. MLK understood that violence begets violence. If Civil Rights protests had turned violent, it would have only created more hate, and people would have closed their ears and most importantly, their minds.
When it came to battling racism, MLK understood that dialogue was necessary and that optics were important. By taking the moral high-road, Martin Luther King Jr. was able to build a powerful movement that pushed back against hate in America. He catapulted both himself and his struggle to the forefront of America’s collective conscious. Ultimately, he was successful at securing many rights and freedoms for People of Color.
ANTIFA and its supporters fail to understand that attacking political opponents physically will only strengthen them and create sympathy for their opponent’s cause. News websites are now filled with images of radical leftists attacking defenseless people. This will generate distrust not only for ANTIFA itself, but more moderate left-leaning individuals such as myself.
ANTIFA is only proving the arguments of their opponents right. White supremacists in Charlottesville, for example, used the actions of ANTIFA and other organizations to justify their hate and to draw in more supporters.
Freedom of expression and free speech are necessary for guarding against fascism. We need to be careful of falling into Orwellian traps where violence and oppression is labeled as “anti-Fascism.” Fascism is fascism, and assaulting and attacking peaceful protesters even if you (and quite likely me) disagree with that protester. While I agree with ANTIFA that fascism is horrible, I cannot condone violence as a tactic for attacking non-violent protesters.
