Saturday, September 02, 2017

Lots of labels, but so similar in action.

Violent clashes between right wing white supremacists and left wing Antifa supporters at Charlottesville in Virginia, US last month ended when a man drove his car into the crowd of protesters, killing a woman and injuring many more. Naturally, stories differ according to the political beliefs of those who were interviewed. President Donald Trump got a lot of stick, including from Republicans, when he blamed both sides for the violence. Of course, it would be political suicide for white politicians not to condemn whites, very politically incorrect. Who are Antifa? Antifa stands for anti-fascists who apparently originated in London in 1936 against a British Fascist, named Oswald Mosley and his group, called the Black Shirts. This was a time, just before World War II, when Hitler was in power and Jews were being killed in gas chambers. Fascists want a one party state where the government has total control. White supremacists are splintered into many groups with a confused ideology of white superiority, and many of them against the government, which they see as controlled by Jews. Strangely, white supremacists believe in Christianity so they should be supporting Judeo- Christian values. At a protest in Berkeley, California Antifa activists, clad in black with bandannas over their faces, fought with far right protesters. But this is what Oswald Mosley's Black Shirts were doing. A news anchor trying to take pictures of Antifa activists at Berkeley was threatened and shouted at. At an interview an Antifa activist, Daryl Jenkins described himself as an anarchist. He said that Antifa people are peaceful but then said, "My view is that you have got to be aggressive." And, "But look, white supremacists are more afraid of us than we are of them. They know we can cause more damage to them than they can cause to us." Anarchists are against any government or state imposing the rule of law, and believe that people should be allowed to make their own rules in cooperatives. Gavrilo Princip, the man who killed Archduke Franz-Ferdinand and started World War I, described himself as an anarchist, among other things. So, is Antifa the alt-left, just as the white supremacists are the alt-right? If communism is to the left of the political spectrum then the left has killed just as many people as the far right. Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution killed over 45 million people over 4 years. Already the FBI and Homeland Security deem Antifa as domestic terrorists. Racism is bad. But by resorting to violence so easily the Antifa activists are losing the argument, giving the supremacists the chance to say "We told you so". 

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