"Antifa is a terrorist organization." Yeah, that's the narrative coming from the Whitehouse and the Justice Department, but is it really?
Part one examined antifa's history, structure, objectives, and strategies. We didn't see a cohesive, well-oiled organizational machine, but rather a loose and diverse confederation of activists who oppose fascism and want to do something about it. Now let's take a closer look at what they're accusing us of - and who, exactly, is doing the accusing.
What is terrorism, exactly? The Center for Strategic & International Studies defines terrorism as "...the deliberate use - or threat - of violence by non-state actors in order to achieve political goals and create a broad psychological impact."
Defining violence and the threat of violence should be easy. We can easily recognize it in the El Paso Walmart, the Pittsburgh synagogue, the Unite-the-Right rally in Charlottesville, and the Emanuel AME in Charleston. That's violence. We can also recognize it in the weapons and body armor of white militias promoting racial dominance. That's the threat of violence. If you don't feel threatened, you might be white and you might even lack empathy. Antifa does not do things like this. Our weapons are words and symbols, and the very most militant among us might use fists and sticks in your defense - not assault weapons.
Even so, we scare real fascists, religionists (mainly anti-Semites) and racists, and they do what they can to turn others against us with hatred and fear. Identity Evropa, for example, created a fake twitter account posing as antifa and called for violence in the suburbs of Washington DC. Such subterfuge occurs regularly, and antifa crews are advised to call out fake accounts quickly.
In other cases, fake news stories and notices are created to arouse fear. Gettysburg, PA was recently inundated with white militia groups after fake notices were posted of an antifa rally. No such event was planned, and no such event occurred. The only effect was to flood the town with pissed-off fascists who were there to "protect" the townspeople.
In still other cases, fake news stories and memes seek to reframe actual news events as crimes by antifa. In several examples, protesters and demonstrators are conflated with rioters and redefined as antifa. A common strategy is to insert "ANTIFA" in a headline above an article about rioters - lacking any indication or evidence that antifa was even present.
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