How Antifa Violence Has Split the Left
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Tactics of the group are creating a rift among liberals about whether to denounce a radical fringe whose objectives, if not methods, they often share
Thousands of protesters converged on Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park one Sunday late last month to confront far-right activists. Among them were dozens dressed in black with faces masked.
Organizers on bullhorns called for the crowd to be “defensive,” but matters didn’t stay nonviolent for long. Using clubs and wooden shields emblazoned with “no hate,” groups of around half a dozen of the masked protesters beat and chased some of the small number of far-right activists who showed up at the “No to Marxism” rally, even though it had been canceled.
Broadly labeled antifa, for “antifascist,” such protesters are part of a loose affiliation of far-left groups and individuals who unite around a willingness to confront, sometimes violently, anyone they perceive to be an agent of racism, anti-Semitism or fascism—whether white nationalists, far-right extremists, or in some cases members of the media or the police they claim protect those groups. At times, antifa activists have been credited with defending peaceful protesters; they have also been criticized as instigators.
Last month, demonstrators wearing black and promising violence in self-defense showed up at major rallies in Charlottesville, Va., Boston and Berkeley and at President Donald Trump’s Phoenix campaign rally. Berkeley is bracing for more clashes starting this weekend, when conservative activists have said they are planning a series of “free speech week” events.
The antifa tactics are testing the liberal movement that has galvanized in opposition to Mr. Trump—creating a rift among its leaders, organizers and demonstrators about whether to denounce a radical fringe, some of whose anti-discrimination objectives, if not tactics, they share.
James Hannon, a psychotherapist and seasoned liberal organizer in Massachusetts who marched at a recent Boston rally against racism, said elements of the antifa movement that use confrontational tactics allow others to blur the line between leftist groups and the hate groups against which they protest.
“The social justice, the peace movement, the left or just progressives really have to start calling out the antifa and say, `Hey, hey, hey, you don’t represent us,’ ” said Mr. Hannon, 67 years old. “We’re surrendering a moral high ground.”
Following the Berkeley outbursts, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, condemned “the violent actions of people calling themselves antifa.” Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin, a Democrat, said “progressives need to disavow black bloc,” a term used broadly for protesters wearing black who in recent years have used violent tactics like those espoused by some in the antifa movement.
Others on the left, however, are uncomfortable condemning such activists, particularly after last month’s “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville. Seth Wispelwey, a United Church of Christ pastor, said he and a group of clergy who tried to block white supremacists from entering a city park were attacked and were saved only because protesters he identified as antifa stepped in and fought back.
“If antifa had not been there,” said Mr. Wispelwey, who helped organize the Charlottesville clergy protest, “we could have been trampled.”
Conservatives have blamed antifa for violence at a series of recent protests. Mr. Trump has consistently blamed “both sides” after confrontations, including in Charlottesville, where a driver with a history of Nazi sympathies allegedly rammed his car into a crowd, killing a woman.
“Especially in light of the advent of antifa,” Mr. Trump said last week, “if you look at what’s going on there, you know, you have some pretty bad dudes on the other side also.”
Antifa protesters are even more loosely organized than the far-right-wing groups they clash with, but they are united in their willingness to use physical force. And while some groups identify themselves by that name, the term also is used more broadly to describe the tactics used by a range of groups—some of whom may reject the antifa label.
Most people associated with the movement appear to be young men, but women and older activists also take part. Many are involved in other causes, such as socialism or anarchism. The term also can denote opposition to capitalism.
Some come in groups. Others are lone protesters.
Their protests attract people such as Morgan Bennett, a 26-year-old from Tucson at the gathering outside Mr. Trump’s Phoenix rally. Mr. Bennett, who said he “works with kids” for a living, joined a group of others dressed, like him, in all black, most with covered faces. Asked if the group was antifa, he said: “Everyone should be antifascist.”
Mr. Bennett called a commitment to nonviolence “a little naive,” saying he came unarmed but prepared to use his hands. “We have to defend ourselves.”
Tactics of people calling themselves antifa have ranged from shouting down those they deem bigots to more-aggressive measures. Police linked them to damaging property and throwing Molotov cocktails in February demonstrations that led University of California, Berkeley, to cancel an appearance of a speaker who was a Breitbart News Network writer at the time.
Protesters calling themselves antifa often say they are acting defensively and are protecting demonstrators. Many point to antifa’s efforts to keep people in Charlottesville safe.
Yet at more-recent protests, such as in Boston and Berkeley, they also initiated confrontations, leading to bipartisan complaints that antifa is imposing mob rule and denying others their rights to assemble—even though antifa protesters have made up only a small proportion of the crowds.
The Berkeley rally showed the dilemma the antifa movement presents the left. The “No to Marxism in America” event was planned for Sunday, Aug. 27. Groups planning to protest organized counter-rallies.
n Boston, masked counterprotesters distributed fliers titled “WHY ANTIFA?” The leaflets criticized the “liberal” approach of believing that elections, courts, the Constitution, a free press and other institutions would “prevent things from going too far.” They called for “uncompromising militancy” against fascists and said antifa “must force their hate out of public spaces by any means necessary.”
The approach worries Democratic political consultant and activism trainer Stefanie Coxe, 35, who joined more than 30,000 in Boston to counter a “free speech” rally.
Boston’s police commissioner said the event was overwhelmingly peaceful. Ms. Coxe agreed but said she felt unsettled at times by aggressive, masked activists. Any time one of them spotted someone they considered a “fascist,” she said, they rushed to “get in people’s faces.”
“I had never felt unsafe because of my own side before,” said Ms. Coxe. “I really think we have to ask ourselves, ‘Are we helping to put down white supremacy, or are we helping to give them talking points?’ ”
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