Posted on 09/04/2017 9:08:43 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
There seems to be an insatiable appetite among the punditry class for the “antifascists are as bad as fascists” argument, a subset of that orthodoxy of the moderate which argues for peace in the face of violence and love in the face of hate. In the last week alone, The Guardian published “Step Aside, Antifa. You Undermine the Trump Resistance,” Truthdig published Chris Hedges’ “How Antifa Mirrors the Alt-Right,” and Trevor Noah devoted an entire segment of his show to the issue of the “Punch Drunk Left” in which he referred to Antifa as “vegan ISIS.” The Department of Homeland Security has just formally classified Antifa’s activities as “domestic terrorist activity.”
It would be useful to acknowledge that generally speaking, white people in the United States have been and continue to be uncomfortable with explicit political violence. This was true during the Civil Rights Movement, which was supported by only 40 percent of white Americans at the time, and was frequently depicted as aggressive in nature, despite the contemporary insistence that it was a purely peaceful movement. It was certainly true with regard to white Americans’ fear of the Black Panther Party, and the discomfort with what is often called violence, but should really be referred to as property damage, that has been evident since the first Black Lives Matter protest in Ferguson, Missouri. The violence of institutional white supremacy and capitalist exploitation that these movements were reacting to often goes unnamed.
In fact, what came as a surprise was Antifa’s brief moment in the sun in the wake of Charlottesville. As the country watched the news coverage of the Unite the Right rally, they saw neo-Nazis and members of the “alt-right” and KKK beating protesters. They witnessed white supremacist terrorism as a man drove his vehicle into a crowd of protesters, murdering activist Heather Hayer. They watched the police escort white supremacists to their vehicles but stand by as protesters were beaten. And they watched armed groups like Antifa and Redneck Revolt protect the church where Cornel West was speaking, making sure clergy members made it safely to their car.
On Democracy Now, Cornel West was clear about his view of Antifa: “The anti-fascists… they saved our lives, actually. We would have been completely crushed, and I’ll never forget that.”
Logan Rimel, parish administrator at University Lutheran Chapel of Berkeley, California, traveled to Charlottesville to stand with his fellow parishioners. He had this to say about the condemnation of Antifa he heard from fellow liberals and Christians:
“They came to defend people, to put their bodies between these armed white supremacists and those of us who could not or would not fight... My safety… was dependent upon their willingness to commit violence. In effect, I outsourced the sin of my violence to them. I asked them to get their hands dirty so I could keep mine clean.”
This is, in fact, the actual history of nonviolent resistance in the US. To white liberals who are quick to pull out their favorite MLK nonviolence quotes: please know that you are whitewashing his legacy. The narrative of the peacefulness of the Civil Rights Movement versus the militancy of the Black Panther Party was always ahistorical.
To my fellow Montanans I say: support your local Antifa. You never know when you’ll need protecting.
The Women Of Democratic Socialism Prove The Movement Isn't Just A Bunch Of Sexist White Guys https://www.bustle.com/p/the-women-of-democratic-socialism-prove-the-movement-isnt-just-a-bunch-of-sexist-white-guys-78554
I wonder what the screen name here at FR is for the guy who wrote the comment?
If the anarchists hadn’t shown up to start trouble, nobody at Chatlotts ille would have been injured. (Or arrested)
First of all, one has to be a complete nitwit to not equate 'property damage' with violence towards those who own that property - in most cases individuals.
Second of all, of course 'white people' are uncomfortable with political violence. Since the Civil War, it really hasn't been a 'thing' a civilized society would want to get used to. And, while temper-tantrum mob mayhem may be common in socialist and third world countries where the IQ ranges about 90, more advanced thinkers view violence as a last, not a first resort, in the home and in the streets. And finally, one would have to wonder what home environment those who are prone to street violence provide their own children, or even how safe a neighbor they would be.
DSA. Just more lies out of a lying movement.
The left is all about denying reality and changing the meaning of words to make them sound legitimate.
This essay is right out of Orwell’s 1984. Rewriting history and all.
FTA
“They came to defend people, to put their bodies between these armed white supremacists and those of us who could not or would not fight... My safety… was dependent upon their willingness to commit violence. In effect, I outsourced the sin of my violence to them. I asked them to get their hands dirty so I could keep mine clean.”
The LCA and ALC churches I went to half my life were pretty conservative. I don’t recognize this church. And I was adopted through Lutheran Social Services and born in the Lutheran Hospital in Denver.
She’s so full of crap that we should bag her as fertilizer.
Cornel West is an avowed Marxist, a leader of the Democratic Socialists of America, the largest such organization of its kind.
The Far-Right wasn’t going to storm the church that West, an atheist by ideology, was speaking in. Who invited down there anyway?
The Alt-right didn’t beat up tons of people. There were a few skirmishes but 300 against 3,000 doesn’t exactly sound like the Rightist nuts were going to take on the Leftist nuts in a pitched battle.
Most of the antifa people had battle gear and weapons. Many of the far right didn’t. Tells you something. If you are planning for a real battle, you come loaded for bear, not not bear baiting only.
There is a small pro-Antifa group in Montana so they have to be watched, and their names/photos exhibited here at FR so that we know who to look out for re future violence.
I married into the LCA from being raised Southern Baptist. I enjoyed the LCA services. This Berkley church is ...
” a progressive and welcoming congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America”
Isn’t the ELCA the more fundie branch of the faith? I’m surprised at this affiliation.
No. You're right about that. But wrong in assuming that West is an atheist.
No the ELCA is the religiously and politically LIBERAL of the Lutheran Churches. Go search here for “ELCA “under the keywords, and see what comes up.
I think it’s a ELCA church.
Right, right, right. I was thinking of the Missouri Synod.
No, the ELCA is the result of a merger of the ALC, LCA and several smaller synods. The Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod (LCMS) is the more conservative one.
And the following week the nation watched Antifa beat up old guys wearing red MAGA hats.
Very Kipling-esque!
Thanks!
I wish.
Wonder what this little girl would think if I and some of my poor white friends were to show up at her residence, bust out her windows and trash the place?
Would she thank us for it? After all, we are protecting the First Amendment.
Hey - follow your course, and a hundred years from now people might say: Kipling? Was that the one who wrote like Bracken? History is like that sometimes.
Not that I’m an expert in such matters. I just read a lot.
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