Senators Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) have introduced a non-binding resolution that would designate antifa members as “domestic terrorists.
Antifa are terrorists, violent masked bullies who ‘fight fascism’ with actual fascism, protected by Liberal privilege,” Cassidy said in a statement. “Bullies get their way until someone says no. Elected officials must have courage, not cowardice, to prevent terror.”
An exaggeration?
Though known for their hallmark masks and black uniforms, antifa isn’t a formal, centralized group. Its “members” operate as a loose grouping of militant Marxists and anarchists drawn from various autonomous far-left groups. Political violence is a feature, not a bug, of antifa, which believes itself to be in an existential struggle with latter-day fascism.
The worst part is how prominent media figures and politicians glamorize and even promote antifa as a movement for a just cause. CNN’s Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon have defended antifa on-air. Chuck Todd invited antifa ideologue Mark Bray on “Meet the Press” to explain why antifa’s political violence is “ethical.”
Keith Ellison gleefully posted — and recently deleted — a selfie of himself holding Bray’s antifa handbook. Rep. Maxine Waters met hard-left political operative Joseph Alcoff in 2016. Alcoff is currently facing felony charges for his alleged involvement in an antifa mob beating of two Marines in Philadelphia.
Yes, I would say that qualifies as being “protected by liberal privilege.”
Make no mistake about it; antifa uses violence as a means to an end. It is not random. Their confrontations with “fascists” are theatrical productions, not demonstrations that “get out of control.”
It is sick, twisted street theater, the ultimate goal of which is the overthrow of an orderly, lawful society. “Fascists,” of course, are an enemy of convenience. Antifa is no more “anti-fascist” than my pet cat Snowball. And at least Snowy is discriminating in who she hangs around with. Antifa is a mish-mash of anarcho-communists, thugs, radical communiatarians, and gimlet-eyed revolutionaries who use the rhetoric of the left to sway addle-brained young people to be stage props in their street wars.
The violence they initiate is designed to terrorize ordinary people. But are they truly “terrorists” like al-Qaeda?
While conservatives and centrists have long blasted antifa activists, who have been involved in street brawls with right-wing groups and left conservative journalist Andy Ngo bloodied in Portland, Ore., last month, critics of the measure have cited antifa’s lack of a formal organizational structure and said this could open the door to overly-broad enforcement, according to the Post.
“It is dangerous and overly broad to use labels that are disconnected [from] actual individual conduct,” Hina Shamsi, director of the national security project at the American Civil Liberties Union, told the Washington Post. “And as we’ve seen how ‘terrorism’ has been used already in this country, any such scheme raises significant due process, equal protection and First Amendment constitutional concerns.”
Osama Bin Laden showed what an organization with no formal structure and independent sources of income could do on September 11, 2001.
I think the ACLU’s caution is unwarranted. Certainly the surveillance state should be watched closely to make sure constitutional protects are maintained. And government overreach in their zeal to protect American citizens is not uncommon.
But antifa thugs are motivated to disrupt and terrorize the political system, not target symbols and landmarks. That makes them incredibly dangerous. Addressing the threat should be a top priority of law enforcement.
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