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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSomething I noticed about Antifa
And I never thought about it today until I saw this post about the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210957390
The thing I noticed is - ever notice how Antifa is *NEVER* at our rallies? They're *ALWAYS* at rallies for Milo, and the Proud Boys, and Patriot Prayer, the Oath Keepers, the III%ers, and all the other ugly groups. So how are the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer able to infiltrate these groups? Do they know something we don't? Something about this stinks and I can't quite put my finger on it.
Cirque du So-What
(25,941 posts)From what I've learned in life, a group like antifa seems a natural target of policing actions.
wonkwest
(463 posts)Quite often (mainly because they're quite often violent).
There was an incident, I want to say last year, where a community college professor went after a right-wing protester with a bike lock. Pretty sure he went to jail.
But, we're kind of used to them here. If there's a protest, there's Antifa. And where there's Antifa (at least here), there's violence.
Most of us run of the mill liberals and leftists are entirely tired of them. They dilute our message, because it gives the Right a reason to point and go, "See?! Told you leftists were violent!"
Buh.
Nevernose
(13,081 posts)Than Nazis or Klansmen, whether or not violence occurred.
Right now theres a bill introduced in the House to make wearing a mask while intimidating people exercising their free speech a hate crime punishable by FIFTEEN YEARS.
So the lesson a year after Charlottesville? You can be as vile and racist as you want, and there will probably be no charges filed. There certainly wont be any bills introduced to stop Nazis from having events where the Nazis are starting riots, burning (tiki) torches outside synagogues, blindly shooting into crowds, running people over.
But trying to stop those same Nazis? People dont wear masks because theyre afraid of getting arrested, they wear them because theyre afraid the Nazis will kill them. If they do get arrested, Jeff Sessions has already demonstrated that he is willing to attempt to put hundreds of peaceful demonstrators in prison for decades if one asshole breaks a window.
Crutchez_CuiBono
(7,725 posts)naming a counter protest "group' after a philosophy, then populating it for edification and consumption. I certainly was surprised when some form of organized reaction happened, but, happy about it as well. I think force sometimes has to be met w force...or in the alternative big numbers.
Maybe they think "antifah" is going to get arrested, and they want some plausible deniability when they get a mug shot...in antifah clothes. Proud boys are known protest agitators.
That's my thinking...based on your thinking...posssibly....
Initech
(100,081 posts)And pits them against each other. The philosophy of the Proud Boys is that they are a group of macho, alpha male motherfuckers who are looking to get their fight on. In fact, in order to even join the Proud Boys you have to fight a member of Antifa or other protest group, and the more people you fight, the higher your rankings go. And I exposed a while back that "Antifa" members were actually paid Russian operatives on Twitter. There's something really fucked up in this mix here.
renegade000
(2,301 posts)Rather than the much more self-explanatory "Anti-Fascist"?
It's like whoever promotes "antifa" wants it to sound scary and foreign (like a terrorist group) and look that way too (with the masks).
Coventina
(27,121 posts)Antifa is just the shortened version of "anti-fascism" and became the standard over time.
renegade000
(2,301 posts)However, I still do think American chapters should think about "rebranding" a bit.
Coventina
(27,121 posts)Nazis and their toadies have not gone away, and this is the same, long fight since the 30s.
On the other, the RW media has been controlling the narrative on what the Antifa is, and is making it a dirty word.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,182 posts)It's a label. That's it.
Any type of website claiming they are an "official chapter" of Antifa should be viewed with the utmost suspicion.
Crutchez_CuiBono
(7,725 posts)Tommy_Carcetti
(43,182 posts)It simply lumps anyone who protests white supremacists and neo-nazis in with whatever strange fringe element also happens to show up the protest--for reasons not yet clear--wanting to sew chaos.
I wish people on the left would stop using the term. It's a false narrative.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)I thought their whole thing was to protest/fight those fascist groups you mention.
Initech
(100,081 posts)It seems all they do is show up to fight, then cause the right wing snowflakes to retreat and build up their numbers.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)They are about eradicating fascism, which sometimes necessitates violence. The end goal being a more peaceful world free of racism, fascism, and the like (but engaging in violence to fight fascists may be necessary to get there).
Coventina
(27,121 posts)WWII proved this.
apnu
(8,758 posts)They are "Anti-Fascist" so they probably know what is and is not fascism.
Coventina
(27,121 posts)anything the conspiracy theorists dream up.
Crutchez_CuiBono
(7,725 posts)both in the American Air Forces in WW2. Heroes actually.
Coventina
(27,121 posts)Crutchez_CuiBono
(7,725 posts)Tommy_Carcetti
(43,182 posts)Basically you have people who might naturally show up to peacefully protest or counter protest white supremacists or neo-Nazis because of common sense and decency.
And then every once in a while some strange people dressed in black and wearing face masks will show up to these protests and for whatever reason seem more interested in creating chaos and provoking a situation. Its extremely weird and out of the blue.
What the right has donesomewhat successfully in certain circlesis somehow to combine these two disparate groups and label them Antifa, and basically turn them into some shadowy terrorist group.
As if its a real group or organization.
Its not.
Theres no real, legitimate group called Antifa. Its a fictitious narrative meant to demonize left leaning protesters and create undeserving sympathy for white nationalists.
Crutchez_CuiBono
(7,725 posts)When youre being lied to 24/7...you DON"T don it at your peril. I think we know now, dt wants us to be in peril. He has loans to pay and stuff to hide.
Initech
(100,081 posts)I'm of the point where I think everything is suspect what Trump and his goons and supporters are doing to us. They want us dead, it's that intense. I don't think there's a whole lot that's legitimate about what's going on right now. Question everything.