Posted on 09/27/2017 12:54:15 PM PDT by nickcarraway
NBC Bay Area speaks to activists with Antifa, the “anti-fascist” political movement mobilizing across America to investigate their sometimes violent tactics and question their mission.
By Vicky Nguyen, Robert Campos, Jonathan Jaworski, Jeremy Carroll, Tony Rutanashoodech, and Chris Jewett
The costs of keeping students safe at the University of California, Berkeley are at $1.4 million and rising amid a series of free-speech-on-campus protests and counter-protests, and police remain on alert. Much of the concern focuses on the Antifa movement.
Short for “anti-fascist,” it draws people clad in black, wearing masks, who say they are willing to use force to silence hate speech.
Daniel is a sophomore studying political science at a private Bay Area university. The 19-year-old asked to have his last name withheld so he could speak freely about his experience with the Antifa movement. He said he became involved two years ago, after becoming disillusioned with what he calls a corrupted American dream.
“These false promises we’ve been told throughout our lives that we just have to follow the American dream of working hard and things will be all right. We’ll get a middle class existence with house, lawn and the picket fence,” Daniel said. “This promise, this future has never materialized, and we kind of realized that the system’s rigged against us and we need to do something about it.”
NBC Bay Area sat down with several militant Antifa protesters, who spoke about their ideals, their concerns with the current state of the nation, and what they see as their legitimate use of violence.
Daniel said he attends political demonstrations to protest against hate speech and awaken Americans to what he considers a dangerous rise in fascist values. He acknowledges Antifa, short for anti-fascist, has become synonymous with attacks that include property destruction and countless street fights. But he says Antifa uses “defensive violence” in response to dangerous actions by extremist groups that espouse discrimination based on race, gender, or sexual identity. “You cannot rationally debate fascism. If someone cannot be rationally debated, you have no other choice but to use a show of force against him.” Bonnie, an Antifa activist who spoke with NBC Bay Area during a rally outside an event on the Cal campus featuring conservative speaker Ben Shapiro, said she’s been harassed for being transgender. “We don’t think fascism deserves free speech,” Bonnie said. “You give a platform to fascism, they will kill you. We want to shut that down before we get killed.”
While white supremacists and the alt-right are a main target of Antifa, those we spoke to in the movement believe that the entire system of government in United States is corrupt. “We have so many issues with our economy, with our government,” says Bonnie, “it’s leaving homeless people behind, it’s leaving black people behind, it’s leaving gay people behind, it’s leaving trans people behind.”
Fascism is usually associated with Adolf Hitler in Germany, Benito Mussolini in Italy - dictators who focused on national strength and a master race, and used force to put down opponents. It’s unclear how many people are part of Antifa because it’s not organized with a leader or members. “To borrow from millennial jargon, “ Daniel said, “Antifa is really more of a hashtag.” Demonstrators use social media to monitor white supremacist activities and mobilize against them.
President Trump has condemned Antifa, and the US. Department of Homeland Security classified their activities as “domestic terrorism.”
“No one gets to use violence. I'm sorry. That's unacceptable,” professor Jonathan Roth said. Roth protested on the Berkeley campus in the 1970s. Today he teaches History at San Jose State University and studies anti-fascist groups. The Fulbright scholar believes Antifa and fascists are fringe groups, comprised of fewer than 10 thousand followers. “Hate speech is a bad thing, but there is absolutely nothing that justifies their using violence. And in so far as they use violence, they're thugs,” says Roth.
In August, Berkeley mayor Jesse Arreguin said Antifa should be treated as a street gang. But he wouldn’t agree to be interviewed by NBC Bay Area about his position, and when asked if he has backed off his original comments about Antifa being treated as a gang, the mayor walked into a private room at City Hall without answering. When asked if Antifa could be considered a gang under California law, the Berkeley Police Department and Alameda District Attorney’s office both declined to comment.”
Daniel and his friend Victor said while violent acts by Antifa garner headlines, the majority of their activism is focused on their community. They invited NBC Bay Area to a Sunday morning event bagging lunches for the homeless with the East Oakland Collective.
“I usually focus more on community service than I do being militant in the streets,” Victor said.
Daniel said he will keep fighting, with his words, his actions, and if necessary, his body.
“Antifascism is not just violence. It is also building community and building solidarity with one another because when you build solidarity and communities there's no need for anyone to hate.” If you have a tip for the Investigative Unit email theunit@nbcbayarea.com or call 888-996-TIPS.
Follow Vicky Nguyen on Twitter @VickyNguyenTV and Facebook on Facebook.com/vickynguyenTV.
A Burka?
Fixed.
Short for “anti-fascist,” it draws people clad in black, wearing masks, who say they are willing to use force to silence hate speech.
Gee, isn’t that Fascism??
Antifa = Profa
Daniel is a certified dumb@ss.
I’m guessing he got accepted to fill a quota? Certainly not for his intelligence.
This unqualified gutless thug that hides behind a mask like a criminal and a coward. Anyway, he childishly thinks he is really fighting fascism. Yet he does not know he is pushing for fascist policies like Obamacare where government and corporate powers come together. The very definition of fascism.
If he pushes for Socialism, then he is pushing the same thing as the National Socialist Workers Party (aka Nazi).
What a dumb@ss!
Instead of calling themselves Antifa they should be calling themselves Procomfa. Notice how 6, count them 6 writers of this article didn’t once mention the fact that they never did anything to Obama, AND, what their political affiliation is.
If he pushes for Socialism, then he is pushing the same thing as the National Socialist Workers Party (aka Nazi).
But only those well over 50 knows that, We are talking about today’s dumber than dirt, proud moron generation, they believe anything.
What a vapid empty piece of utter garbage.
No mentions of the decades of violence from Antifa during the cold war.
The original site needs to be inundated with clarifications as to who Antifa is.
just so people know, Anon has condemned antifa as terrorists. Anyone wearing a Guy mask as part of an antifa gathering, is not Anon. Expose them.
Antifa are led by muslims (Nation of Islam/Muslim Brotherhood) in a loose confederacy with communist stooges, who, although they hate them to the core, have coopted the weak-minded gays and trannies to do their work disrupting and destroying as much of American culture as possible.
A murder I’m following has a few characters involved. One who claims himself a sjw, has, against the wishes of the deceased’s Christian relatives, made a big deal of “trying to get the Nation of Islam here” to escalate their protest so he can get street cred and ‘climb up socially’ (within the sjw community). The family asked for peaceful demonstrations; the protestors spent their time trying to harass people and get arrested. The sjw was also fundraising outside the knowledge of the family (and had done it before for his own relative’s death) so that the protestors could get paid for their protesting and bailed out of jail. This fellow is the second ‘sjw’ that showed up out of the blue and that the family has chased away, but it sure shined a light on what the ‘sjw’ community is all about. Because the family rejected the NOI and sjws, they are now being degraded for collecting donations for attorney fees, in stark contrast to the Charlottsville incident, where the family raised over 100K without a peep of criticism from the sjws.
There are similarities between Antifa and the Weathermen. Antifa is much like the early Weathermen before they began openly advocating violence, defying authority, communist rhetoric, etc.
I heard someone calling them “Panty-fa”. I think it would help if we continue to mock them like that. Not the solution, but every little bit helps.
AntifaINOs
No it is not.
Read the intelligence reports from the cold war. Antifa is like the weatherman after they hit their stride.
What a nutty totally fact-less comment...
When the Weathermen hit their stride there openly calling for revolution, for violence against everything government, openly defying authority of all types, bomb making, and dynamiting government buildings, killing police and more. Antifa is getting there but has a way to go.
I was in the S2 shop of a Marine Corps infantry battalion in the early eighties. I read the damned intelligence briefs. No Antifa does not have any “ways to go.”
Antifa was already there decades ago (operating throughout Europe from behind the iron curtain) and ignorance on their past within the American civilian populace who are quite content at the time to ignore the world around them does not make them babes in the woods. They are a firmly established communist paramilitary front.
I don’t know if there are books from the time available in english or not, but before you underestimate them further you might at least try to research them.
Cordwood.
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