PyramidHead
Contributor
Ted Cruz submits resolution to designate antifa as terrorists
This is the wedge that opens the door to criminalizing dissent. Like BLM, there is no defining characteristic or membership charter that applies to all and only antifa protests. The term "antifa" is an umbrella that covers any leftist organizing that is meant to counter far-right activity in public. Cruz demonstrated his ignorance of this fact by hilariously requesting that the FBI open a RICO investigation into antifa.
That's like asking for a RICO investigation of "environmentalism" or "animal rights activism". There's nothing to investigate except an ideological position. There's no consolidated membership, no pool of shared resources, no dedicated communications network, and no official party to speak of. The only thing that's usable as an identifier, then, is the act of organizing in public to oppose far-right activity. Trump had this to say about the resolution:
Note that no RICO investigation has been called for in the context of the far right's acts of terrorism, which have claimed many lives. Even extending the scope of antifa to include anyone who claims to represent the anti-fascist movement, nobody has been killed by antifa. People have been injured, usually in minor ways or by implements of humiliation rather than by bullets or bludgeons. But there are already laws against assault, and these apply to anyone in public regardless of context--except in self-defense, which is arguably the rationale for antifa movements wherever they appear, whenever they have formed.
Antifa is societal self-defense against fascism, manifested as physical resistance to fascists. In literally every historical instance of fascism rising in a nation, antifas have risen in parallel to combat it. The term "antifa" doesn't mean anything more than that, just like the term "abolitionist" can refer to any of the anti-slavery movements that naturally appeared whenever slavery was prevalent in a society. Opposition movements like this are always characterized by a degree of violence in response to the threat they are trying to defend against. This includes civil rights-era protests, even those organized under Dr. King.
We all know how the FBI dealt with that situation.
Back a little further, there is ample evidence of the same anti-leftist policy in the actions of Hitler in 1933, when he used false rumors of "violent bolsheviks" to argue for the opening of the Dachau concentration camp, where he assured Germany thousands of communists and Marxists would be held.
Right now, before our eyes, the President who is checking all the boxes on the path to fascism is coming out in support of the only movement in America that opposes it. If you care about our country, you should not support this resolution; you should support antifa, communists and all, militants and all, or admit that you are doing nothing to contribute to the fight against fascism.
This is the wedge that opens the door to criminalizing dissent. Like BLM, there is no defining characteristic or membership charter that applies to all and only antifa protests. The term "antifa" is an umbrella that covers any leftist organizing that is meant to counter far-right activity in public. Cruz demonstrated his ignorance of this fact by hilariously requesting that the FBI open a RICO investigation into antifa.
Ted Cruz said:
That's like asking for a RICO investigation of "environmentalism" or "animal rights activism". There's nothing to investigate except an ideological position. There's no consolidated membership, no pool of shared resources, no dedicated communications network, and no official party to speak of. The only thing that's usable as an identifier, then, is the act of organizing in public to oppose far-right activity. Trump had this to say about the resolution:
Donald Trump said:
Note that no RICO investigation has been called for in the context of the far right's acts of terrorism, which have claimed many lives. Even extending the scope of antifa to include anyone who claims to represent the anti-fascist movement, nobody has been killed by antifa. People have been injured, usually in minor ways or by implements of humiliation rather than by bullets or bludgeons. But there are already laws against assault, and these apply to anyone in public regardless of context--except in self-defense, which is arguably the rationale for antifa movements wherever they appear, whenever they have formed.
Antifa is societal self-defense against fascism, manifested as physical resistance to fascists. In literally every historical instance of fascism rising in a nation, antifas have risen in parallel to combat it. The term "antifa" doesn't mean anything more than that, just like the term "abolitionist" can refer to any of the anti-slavery movements that naturally appeared whenever slavery was prevalent in a society. Opposition movements like this are always characterized by a degree of violence in response to the threat they are trying to defend against. This includes civil rights-era protests, even those organized under Dr. King.
We all know how the FBI dealt with that situation.
Back a little further, there is ample evidence of the same anti-leftist policy in the actions of Hitler in 1933, when he used false rumors of "violent bolsheviks" to argue for the opening of the Dachau concentration camp, where he assured Germany thousands of communists and Marxists would be held.
Right now, before our eyes, the President who is checking all the boxes on the path to fascism is coming out in support of the only movement in America that opposes it. If you care about our country, you should not support this resolution; you should support antifa, communists and all, militants and all, or admit that you are doing nothing to contribute to the fight against fascism.
