Newsweek roasted after publishing fact-check denying existence of Antifa groups

Twitter users scorched Newsweek after it fact-checked Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for condemning "Antifa riots.

"An episode of The View posted Monday featured Cruz debating The View’s hosts on the existence of left-wing political violence. After Cruz called out the "Antifa riots" from 2020, host Whoopi Goldberg replied "I don't know what an Antifa riot is."

While the piece acknowledged that over a thousand businesses were damaged in Minneapolis and there were "reports of fires after Floyd protests" in places such as Washington D.C., St. Louis, Seattle, and more, it took issue with the senator’s wording.

"While many businesses were damaged or destroyed as a result of arson, Cruz's characterization that ‘cities’ burned for a year is significantly stretching the truth, even if taken figuratively," the fact-check wrote.

The piece objected that while there were buildings damaged by fire, "this did not carry on throughout the year." It followed by warning that while some protests lasted throughout the year, not all were characterized by arson.

"While protests did continue in Portland, Oregon for nearly a year, according to media reports, these were not all characterized by arson," they wrote.

After initially saying that "Antifa is not a formalized group or association" in the piece, the fact-check added that "labeling the protests as ‘Antifa riots’ is misleading too as there is no organization or group known as such."

However, Newsweek reported on Antifa groups or "Antifa cells" in the past. A story from spring 2021 explained that "Newsweek spoke with members of three Antifa chapters—one in Atlanta, Georgia; one in Corvallis, Oregon; and one in Portland."

Newsweek writer Tom Norton and Newsweek's Fact Check team’s apparent claim that "there is no organization or group" known as Antifa was met with widespread derision on Twitter.

Even its competition reported, The Rise of the Violent Left Antifa’s activists say they’re battling burgeoning authoritarianism on the American right. Are they fueling it instead?
The Atlantic ^ | September 2017 | Peter Beinart

...these activists appear to be linked to a movement called “antifa,” which is short for antifascist or Anti-Fascist Action. The movement’s secrecy makes definitively cataloging its activities difficult,.. By the 2000s, as the internet facilitated more transatlantic dialogue, some American activists had adopted the name antifa...Trump’s rise has also bred a new sympathy for antifa among some on the mainstream left. ... Since antifa is heavily composed of anarchists, its activists place little faith in the state, which they consider complicit in fascism and racism. They prefer direct action:..Such tactics have elicited substantial support from the mainstream left... Now, in the Trump era, Portland has become a bastion of antifascist militancy...What’s eroding in Portland is the quality Max Weber considered essential to a functioning state: a monopoly on legitimate violence. As members of a largely anarchist movement, antifascists don’t want the government to stop white supremacists from gathering. They want to do so themselves, rendering the government impotent. Demonstrators have interrupted so many city-council meetings that in February, the council met behind locked doors...“The police cannot stop us from shutting down roads.”

Also are sympathetic articles by CNN: Unmasking the leftist Antifa movement [From CNN! - note date] By Sara Ganim and Chris Welch, CNN Updated 9:46 AM EDT, Fri May 3, 2019

Also,

What is Antifa? By Jessica Suerth, CNN Updated 2:35 PM EDT, Sun May 31, 2020

Antifa is short for anti-fascists. The term is used to define a broad group of people whose political beliefs lean toward the left – often the far left – but do not conform with the Democratic Party platform. The group doesn’t have an official leader or headquarters, although groups in certain states hold regular meetings. A protester holds his hands up as police officers enter Lafayette Park during a demonstration against the death in Minneapolis police custody of African-American man George Floyd, as the officers keep demonstrators away from the White House during a protest in Washington, U.S. May 30, 2020. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

Trump slams White House protesters as 'just there to cause trouble' as DC mayor defends city Antifa positions can be hard to define, but many members support oppressed populations and protest the amassing of wealth by corporations and elites. Some employ radical or militant tactics to get their message across. Scott Crow, a former Antifa organizer, says the “radical ideals” promoted by Antifas are starting to be adopted by liberals. “They would never have looked at (those ideals) before, because they saw us as the enemy as much as the right-wingers.” The majority of Antifa members don’t fall into a stereotype. Since the election of President Donald Trump, however, most new Antifa members are young voters. How did the group start? The exact origins of the group are unknown, but Antifa can be traced to Nazi Germany and Anti-Fascist Action, a militant group founded in the 1980s in the United Kingdom. - https://www.cnn.com/2017/08/14/us/what-is-antifa-trnd/index.html

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