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David
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<div class="">Just the two paragraphs below, belie the intent for “peaceful protest, or protecting protestors.” Like bar room brawls, punching someone for that which they say……Eric Draitser, someone I once supported with his anti-war podcasts also supports
punching a Nazi, or racist. It’s all over social media, dividing the nation. Preventing focus on the elites controlling the USG.</div>
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<div class="">Where does this vigilantism stop, after the government sends in the troops, known as police, given they have been militarized for a reason. We’re certainly giving them cause. Violence begets violence, not peace or progress. </div>
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<div class=""><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">"<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Sieradski said violence is a “last resort,” but added there is nothing wrong with responding to anti-Semitic or racist rhetoric with a punch.
Those who are advocating ethnic cleansing should be punched, he said, and showing white supremacists that their rallies will end with them being hurt will deter them from assembling.</span><font face="Times New Roman, serif" class="">” </font></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">“When Nazis are screaming epithets in our faces, should we just smile?” Sieradski asked. “They come into our towns and yell at us and threaten us and say they want to kill us. Should we take that sitting down because
fascists deserve free speech, too? When someone is threatening you with an existential threat, you fight back. You don’t stand there and take it.”</span></p>
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<div class="">I just had a Black Veteran, yelling at the police in front of my house that “if he had a gun, he would kill all white people." This after I provided him food, water and my cell phone. The police were questioning him, because someone in the neighborhood
called them, complaining he “appeared suspicious.” The police, thank god, just spoke with him and then left him alone. Had they taken the position of some, that he should be punched, things might have turned out differently for them, him and me. </div>
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<div class="">Turning the other cheek, takes a lot of courage, but its effective.</div>
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<div class="">On Oct 10, 2017, at 07:34, David Johnson via Peace-discuss <<a href="mailto:peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net" class="">peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net</a>> wrote:</div>
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<b class=""><span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">O.K. David,<o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b class=""><span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Since you posted your earlier article I am compelled to post this.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b class=""><span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">I do NOT support physically attacking someone for speech, however when fascist thugs come into a community well-armed, then self-defense is appropriate.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b class=""><span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">David J.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b class=""><span style="font-size: 24pt;" class="">What you need to know about antifa, the group that fought white supremacists in Charlottesville<o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></div>
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By<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.jta.org/author/ben-sales/" title="View All Posts by Ben Sales" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">Ben Sales</a>August 16, 2017 5:37pm<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p class=""></o:p></div>
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379shares<o:p class=""></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Protesters and counterprotesters clashing at Emancipation Park in Charlottesville, Va., Aug. 12, 2017. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">(<a href="https://www.jta.org/" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">JTA</a>) — Is it OK to punch a Nazi in the face?<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">That’s the question animating much of the discussion of Saturday’s white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which quickly devolved into a brawl between rally-goers and a contingent of anti-fascist counterprotesters
known as antifa. Following the clashes, a white supremacist rammed his car into the counterprotest, killing Heather Heyer, 32.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Leaders and activists across the spectrum — except President Donald Trump — have unequivocally condemned the racist, anti-Semitic rally. But they are divided on whether physically attacking white supremacists is justified
simply because they are white supremacists.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Some have celebrated the antifa activists for standing up to hate. But others have condemned them alongside neo-Nazis for engaging in violence. And on Tuesday, Trump appeared to equate them with the rabble of white supremacists,
branding antifa the “alt-left” and saying “there’s blame on both sides.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Here’s what you need to know about antifa, the loose network that fights fascists on the streets.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<b class=""><span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Antifa was born from groups that fought the original fascists.</span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">In 1934, Milwaukee police<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.jta.org/1934/06/27/archive/three-out-on-bail-as-aftermath-of-nazi-brawl-in-milwaukee" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">arrested</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>three
leftists who infiltrated a pro-Nazi meeting and began scuffling with supporters of Hitler. The leftists were part of a group of several hundred anti-fascists who entered the meeting, broke it up and pelted the keynote speaker with rotten eggs. The melee ended
only after 100 police arrived to restore order.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Today’s antifa (an abbreviation of “anti-fascist action”) sees itself as the ideological descendant of activists like these. Anti-fascist brawlers — many of them communists, socialists or anarchists — began organizing
in the 1920s and ’30s to oppose the rising dictatorships in Italy, Germany and Spain through demonstrations and street fights. The groups re-emerged in Europe in the ’70s and ’80s to combat white supremacists and skinheads, and the idea migrated to America,
where groups were originally known as “Anti-Racist Action.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">While it’s hard to pin down numbers on antifa in the United States, members and experts say the movement has boomed since Trump’s election. Mark Bray, a lecturer on human rights and politics at Dartmouth College, estimates
that there are a couple hundred antifa chapters of varying sizes and levels of activity across the country.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">“The threat posed by the ‘alt-right’ in the context of empowerment through Trump made a lot of people concerned about fascist, neo-Nazi, white supremacist violence,” said Bray, author of the forthcoming book “Antifa:
The Anti-Fascist Handbook.” “They turned to the Antifa model as one option to resist it. The option of physically confronting these groups has spread among the left and been normalized.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<b class=""><span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">It has no formal organization or leadership structure.</span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Like the Occupy movement and Black Lives Matter, antifa has no institutional structure or unified plan of action. Much of its activism comes through informal collaboration around certain cities or regions, and individual
members taking initiative. Separate Facebook pages exist, for example, for New York antifa, New York City antifa and Western New York antifa.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Long before antifa gets to physical altercations with the far right, members will attempt to prevent white supremacists from assembling or spreading their message. Bray said some antifa members will pressure white supremacists’
employers to fire them.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Daniel Sieradski, a Jewish antifa member who became involved following the presidential election in November, said he and other activists try to pressure venues to cancel white supremacist events, and only show up to
counterprotest once that fails. (Sieradski formerly worked at JTA as the director of digital media.)<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">“I’ve always identified with the spirit of the movement, which is to challenge racists when they come into your community and try to incite hatred and violence,” Sieradski said. “Every effort is made to prevent the Nazis
from showing up in the first place. Once they manage to do so, the demonstrations do not get violent until confrontations are provoked.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<b class=""><span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Antifa tends to align with the left — and some members are anti-Zionists.</span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Because antifa is so loosely constructed, it has no formal ideological agenda beyond opposing fascism. But the movement has roots in left-wing movements like socialism or anarchism. Bray said that members may be part
of other left-wing activist groups, like the Occupy movement, and subscribe to ideas popular in progressive circles.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">The Torch Network, a group of antifa chapters, includes in its “<a href="https://torchantifa.org/?page_id=59" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">points of unity</a>” opposition to “all forms of
oppression and exploitation.” That includes fighting “against racism, sexism, nativism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia, and discrimination against the disabled, the oldest, the youngest, and the most oppressed people.” The group is also
pro-choice. Unlike the Movement for Black Lives platform, it does not single out Israel or Zionism.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Bray said that while anti-Zionism is not a focus of antifa, many members tend to be anti-Zionist as part of their far-left activism. Anti-Racist Action groups, he said, had taken part in anti-Zionist events in the past.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Sieradski said, however, that Jews play a significant role in the movement because “we’re fighting Nazis and anti-Semitism is the prime ideological viewpoint of Nazis.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<b class=""><span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Antifa has no problem with fighting Nazis …</span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Antifa has no qualms about scuffling with white supremacists. The group gained publicity in February when it physically fought alt-righters at the University of California, Berkeley, during a speech by alt-right provocateur
Milo Yiannopoulos. Tussles with the far right have followed at other events.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Sieradski said violence is a “last resort,” but added there is nothing wrong with responding to anti-Semitic or racist rhetoric with a punch. Those who are advocating ethnic cleansing should be punched, he said, and showing
white supremacists that their rallies will end with them being hurt will deter them from assembling.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">“When Nazis are screaming epithets in our faces, should we just smile?” Sieradski asked. “They come into our towns and yell at us and threaten us and say they want to kill us. Should we take that sitting down because
fascists deserve free speech, too? When someone is threatening you with an existential threat, you fight back. You don’t stand there and take it.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Antifa members also reject the notion that the movement instigated the violence in Charlottesville or is as guilty as its white supremacist foes. Spencer Sunshine, who counterprotested at the Charlottesville rally and
witnessed the deadly car ramming, said there certainly were fights, but there is no comparing antifa with the far right.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">“Any equivalence between antifa and fascists is a complete lie,” he said. “We were not armed the way the fascists were, and certainly did not drive a car into crowds. It was a total Nazi rally.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<b class=""><span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">… but has been criticized for its violent tactics.</span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Antifa has garnered its share of liberal critics who say nothing — even neo-Nazism — justifies violence and the suppression of free speech. Critics also say that antifa’s violence draws attention to the far right and
allows white supremacists to claim they are acting in self-defense.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">“They’re troubling tactically because conservatives use antifa’s violence to justify — or at least distract from — the violence of white supremacists, as Trump did in his press conference,” the liberal Jewish essayist
Peter Beinart<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/what-trump-gets-wrong-about-antifa/537048/" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">wrote Wednesday in The Atlantic</a>.
“They’re troubling strategically because they allow white supremacists to depict themselves as victims being denied the right to freely assemble. And they’re troubling morally because antifa activists really do infringe upon that right.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Following Saturday’s rally, Anti-Defamation League National Director Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted “Whether by #AltRight or #Antifa, no excuses for violence and, keep in mind, this is exactly the response that the bigots
seek to provoke.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Mark Pitcavage, an ADL senior researcher, said his group cannot condemn one side’s violence and condone the other. He added that the attention Charlottesville gained is also energizing the “alt-right” to hold more rallies.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">“I don’t know how you can put together a calculus of violence where some sort of act of violence is unacceptable if one group does it but if another group commits it, that’s acceptable,” he said. “We’d just rather not
see violence.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">But Pitcavage added that right-wing violence has been far more destructive than antifa’s, which to his knowledge has not led to any deaths. According to a 25-year<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/terrorism-deaths-ideology-charlottesville-anomaly" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">study<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></a>by
the Cato Institute, nationalist and right-wing terrorists have killed about 10 times as many people since 1992 as left-wing terrorists, which may or may not include those who identify with antifa.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">“That doesn’t mean that the sides are equal, the causes are equal,” he said. “It’s important to realize that their violence does in no way compare in numbers or severity to the far-rightist violence in the United States.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<b class=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;" class="">From:</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;" class=""><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Peace-discuss [<a href="mailto:peace-discuss-bounces@lists.chambana.net" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">mailto:peace-discuss-bounces@lists.chambana.net</a>]<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b class="">On
Behalf Of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b>David Green via Peace-discuss<br class="">
<b class="">Sent:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Tuesday, October 10, 2017 8:39 AM<br class="">
<b class="">To:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Peace-discuss List<br class="">
<b class="">Subject:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>[Peace-discuss] Antifa according to D. Johnstone<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<strong class=""><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">-<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">www.counterpunch.org</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>-<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">https://www.counterpunch.org</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>-<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></strong><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Antifa in Theory and in Practice<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p class=""></o:p></span></h1>
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<span class="ydpf6f52f5bentry-date"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Posted By<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><cite class=""><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Diana Johnstone</span></cite><span class="ydpf6f52f5bentry-date"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class=""><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>On
October 9, 2017 @ 2:05 am In articles 2015,Leading Article |<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/10/09/antifa-in-theory-and-in-practice/print/#comments_controls" target="_blank" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 204);" class="">Comments
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Photo by jcrakow |<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 204);" class="">CC
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<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">“<a href="http://www.azquotes.com/quote/803052" target="_blank" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 204);" class="">Fascists are divided into two categories:
the fascists and the anti-fascists</span></a>.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">– Ennio Flaiano, Italian writer and co-author of Federico Fellini’s greatest film scripts.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
</blockquote>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">In recent weeks, a totally disoriented left has been widely exhorted to unify around a masked vanguard calling itself Antifa, for anti-fascist. Hooded and dressed in black, Antifa is essentially a variation
of the Black Bloc, familiar for introducing violence into peaceful demonstrations in many countries. Imported from Europe, the label Antifa sounds more political. It also serves the purpose of stigmatizing those it attacks as “fascists”.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Despite its imported European name, Antifa is basically just another example of America’s steady descent into violence.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<strong class=""><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Historical Pretensions</span></strong><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Antifa first came to prominence from its role in reversing Berkeley’s proud “free speech” tradition by preventing right wing personalities from speaking there. But its moment of glory was its clash with rightwingers
in Charlottesville on August 12, largely because Trump commented that there were “good people on both sides”. With exuberant Schadenfreude, commentators grabbed the opportunity to condemn the despised President for his “moral equivalence”, thereby bestowing
a moral blessing on Antifa.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Charlottesville served as a successful book launching for<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1612197035/counterpunchmaga" target="_blank" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class=""><em class=""><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; color: rgb(0, 102, 204);" class="">Antifa:
the Antifascist Handbook</span></em></a>, whose author, young academic Mark Bray, is an Antifa in both theory and practice. The book is “really taking off very fast”, rejoiced the publisher, Melville House. It instantly won acclaim from leading mainstream
media such as the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em class=""><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">New York Times</span></em>,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em class=""><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">The
Guardian</span></em><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and NBC, not hitherto known for rushing to review leftwing books, least of all those by revolutionary anarchists.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<em class=""><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">The Washington Post</span></em><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class=""><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>welcomed Bray as spokesman for “insurgent activist movements” and
observed that: “The book’s most enlightening contribution is on the history of anti-fascist efforts over the past century, but its most relevant for today is its justification for stifling speech and clobbering white supremacists.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Bray’s “enlightening contribution” is to a tell a flattering version of the Antifa story to a generation whose dualistic, Holocaust-centered view of history has largely deprived them of both the factual and
the analytical tools to judge multidimensional events such as the growth of fascism. Bray presents today’s Antifa as though it were the glorious legitimate heir to every noble cause since abolitionism. But there were no anti-fascists before fascism, and the
label “Antifa” by no means applies to all the many adversaries of fascism.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">The implicit claim to carry on the tradition of the International Brigades who fought in Spain against Franco is nothing other than a form of innocence by association. Since we must revere the heroes of
the Spanish Civil War, some of that esteem is supposed to rub off on their self-designated heirs. Unfortunately, there are no veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade still alive to point to the difference between a vast organized defense against invading fascist
armies and skirmishes on the Berkeley campus. As for the Anarchists of Catalonia, the patent on anarchism ran out a long time ago, and anyone is free to market his own generic.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">The original Antifascist movement was an effort by the Communist International to cease hostilities with Europe’s Socialist Parties in order to build a common front against the triumphant movements led by
Mussolini and Hitler.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Since Fascism thrived, and Antifa was never a serious adversary, its apologists thrive on the “nipped in the bud” claim: “if only” Antifascists had beat up the fascist movements early enough, the latter would
have been nipped in the bud. Since reason and debate failed to stop the rise of fascism, they argue, we must use street violence – which, by the way, failed even more decisively.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">This is totally ahistorical. Fascism exalted violence, and violence was its preferred testing ground. Both Communists and Fascists were fighting in the streets and the atmosphere of violence helped fascism
thrive as a bulwark against Bolshevism, gaining the crucial support of leading capitalists and militarists in their countries, which brought them to power.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Since historic fascism no longer exists, Bray’s Antifa have broadened their notion of “fascism” to include anything that violates the current Identity Politics canon: from “patriarchy” (a pre-fascist attitude
to put it mildly) to “transphobia” (decidedly a post-fascist problem).<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">The masked militants of Antifa seem to be more inspired by Batman than by Marx or even by Bakunin.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<strong class=""><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Storm Troopers of the Neoliberal War Party</span></strong><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Since Mark Bray offers European credentials for current U.S. Antifa, it is appropriate to observe what Antifa amounts to in Europe today.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">In Europe, the tendency takes two forms. Black Bloc activists regularly invade various leftist demonstrations in order to smash windows and fight the police. These testosterone exhibits are of minor political
significance, other than provoking public calls to strengthen police forces. They are widely suspected of being influenced by police infiltration.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">As an example, last September 23, several dozen black-clad masked ruffians, tearing down posters and throwing stones, attempted to storm the platform where the flamboyant Jean-Luc Mélenchon was to address
the mass meeting of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em class=""><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">La France Insoumise</span></em>, today the leading leftist party in France. Their unspoken message seemed to be that nobody is
revolutionary enough for them. Occasionally, they do actually spot a random skinhead to beat up. This establishes their credentials as “anti-fascist”.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">They use these credentials to arrogate to themselves the right to slander others in a sort of informal self-appointed inquisition.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">As prime example, in late 2010, a young woman named Ornella Guyet appeared in Paris seeking work as a journalist in various leftist periodicals and blogs. She “tried to infiltrate everywhere”, according to
the former director of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em class=""><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Le Monde diplomatique</span></em>, Maurice Lemoine, who “always intuitively distrusted her” when he hired her as an intern.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Viktor Dedaj, who manages one of the main leftist sites in France,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em class=""><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Le Grand Soir</span></em>, was
among those who tried to help her, only to experience an unpleasant surprise a few months later. Ornella had become a self-appointed inquisitor dedicated to denouncing “conspirationism, confusionism, anti-Semitism and red-brown” on Internet. This took the
form of personal attacks on individuals whom she judged to be guilty of those sins. What is significant is that all her targets were opposed to U.S. and NATO aggressive wars in the Middle East.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Indeed, the timing of her crusade coincided with the “regime change” wars that destroyed Libya and tore apart Syria. The attacks singled out leading critics of those wars.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Viktor Dedaj was on her hit list. So was Michel Collon, close to the Belgian Workers Party, author, activist and manager of the bilingual site Investig’action. So was François Ruffin, film-maker, editor
of the leftist journal Fakir elected recently to the National Assembly on the list of Mélenchon’s party<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em class=""><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">La France Insoumise</span></em>. And so on.
The list is long.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">The targeted personalities are diverse, but all have one thing in common: opposition to aggressive wars. What’s more, so far as I can tell, just about everyone opposed to those wars is on her list.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">The main technique is guilt by association. High on the list of mortal sins is criticism of the European Union, which is associated with “nationalism” which is associated with “fascism” which is associated
with “anti-Semitism”, hinting at a penchant for genocide. This coincides perfectly with the official policy of the EU and EU governments, but Antifa uses much harsher language.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">In mid-June 2011, the anti-EU party<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em class=""><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Union Populaire Républicaine</span></em><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>led
by François Asselineau was the object of slanderous insinuations on Antifa internet sites signed by “Marie-Anne Boutoleau” (a pseudonym for Ornella Guyet). Fearing violence, owners cancelled scheduled UPR meeting places in Lyon. UPR did a little investigation,
discovering that Ornella Guyet was on the speakers list at a March 2009 Seminar on International Media organized in Paris by the Center for the Study of International Communications and the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University.
A surprising association for such a zealous crusader against “red-brown”.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">In case anyone has doubts, “red-brown” is a term used to smear anyone with generally leftist views – that is, “red” – with the fascist color “brown”. This smear can be based on having the same opinion as
someone on the right, speaking on the same platform with someone on the right, being published alongside someone on the right, being seen at an anti-war demonstration also attended by someone on the right, and so on. This is particularly useful for the War
Party, since these days, many conservatives are more opposed to war than leftists who have bought into the “humanitarian war” mantra.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">The government doesn’t need to repress anti-war gatherings. Antifa does the job.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">The Franco-African comedien Dieudonné M’Bala M’Bala, stigmatized for anti-Semitism since 2002 for his tv sketch lampooning an Israeli settler as part of George W. Bush’s “Axis of Good”, is not only a target,
but serves as a guilty association for anyone who defends his right to free speech – such as Belgian professor Jean Bricmont, virtually blacklisted in France for trying to get in a word in favor of free speech during a TV talk show. Dieudonné has been banned
from the media, sued and fined countless times, even sentenced to jail in Belgium, but continues to enjoy a full house of enthusiastic supporters at his one-man shows, where the main political message is opposition to war.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Still, accusations of being soft on Dieudonné can have serious effects on individuals in more precarious positions, since the mere hint of “anti-Semitism” can be a career killer in France. Invitations are
cancelled, publications refused, messages go unanswered.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">In April 2016, Ornella Guyet dropped out of sight, amid strong suspicions about her own peculiar associations.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">The moral of this story is simple. Self-appointed radical revolutionaries can be the most useful thought police for the neoliberal war party.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">I am not suggesting that all, or most, Antifa are agents of the establishment. But they can be manipulated, infiltrated or impersonated precisely because they are self-anointed and usually more or less disguised.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<strong class=""><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Silencing Necessary Debate</span></strong><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">One who is certainly sincere is Mark Bray, author of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em class=""><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">The Intifa Handbook</span></em>. It is clear
where Mark Bray is coming from when he writes (p.36-7): “… Hitler’s ‘final solution’ murdered six million Jews in gas chambers, with firing squads, through hunger an lack of medical treatment in squalid camps and ghettoes, with beatings, by working them to
death, and through suicidal despair. Approximately two out of every three Jews on the continent were killed, including some of my relatives.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">This personal history explains why Mark Bray feels passionately about “fascism”. This is perfectly understandable in one who is haunted by fear that “it can happen again”.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">However, even the most justifiable emotional concerns do not necessarily contribute to wise counsel. Violent reactions to fear may seem to be strong and effective when in reality they are morally weak and
practically ineffectual.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">We are in a period of great political confusion. Labeling every manifestation of “political incorrectness” as fascism impedes clarification of debate over issues that very much need to be defined and clarified.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">The scarcity of fascists has been compensated by identifying criticism of immigration as fascism. This identification, in connection with rejection of national borders, derives much of its emotional force
above all from the ancestral fear in the Jewish community of being excluded from the nations in which they find themselves.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">The issue of immigration has different aspects in different places. It is not the same in European countries as in the United States. There is a basic distinction between immigrants and immigration. Immigrants
are people who deserve consideration. Immigration is a policy that needs to be evaluated. It should be possible to discuss the policy without being accused of persecuting the people. After all, trade union leaders have traditionally opposed mass immigration,
not out of racism, but because it can be a deliberate capitalist strategy to bring down wages.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">In reality, immigration is a complex subject, with many aspects that can lead to reasonable compromise. But to polarize the issue misses the chances for compromise. By making mass immigration the litmus
test of whether or not one is fascist, Antifa intimidation impedes reasonable discussion. Without discussion, without readiness to listen to all viewpoints, the issue will simply divide the population into two camps, for and against. And who will win such
a confrontation?<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">A recent survey* shows that mass immigration is increasingly unpopular in all European countries. The complexity of the issue is shown by the fact that in the vast majority of European countries, most people
believe they have a duty to welcome refugees, but disapprove of continued mass immigration. The official argument that immigration is a good thing is accepted by only 40%, compared to 60% of all Europeans who believe that “immigration is bad for our country”.
A left whose principal cause is open borders will become increasingly unpopular.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<strong class=""><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Childish Violence</span></strong><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">The idea that the way to shut someone up is to punch him in the jaw is as American as Hollywood movies. It is also typical of the gang war that prevails in certain parts of Los Angeles. Banding together
with others “like us” to fight against gangs of “them” for control of turf is characteristic of young men in uncertain circumstances. The search for a cause can involve endowing such conduct with a political purpose: either fascist or antifascist. For disoriented
youth, this is an alternative to joining the U.S. Marines.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">American Antifa looks very much like a middle class wedding between Identity Politics and gang warfare. Mark Bray (page 175) quotes his DC Antifa source as implying that the motive of would-be fascists is
to side with “the most powerful kid in the block” and will retreat if scared. Our gang is tougher than your gang.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">That is also the logic of U.S. imperialism, which habitually declares of its chosen enemies: “All they understand is force.” Although Antifa claim to be radical revolutionaries, their mindset is perfectly
typical the atmosphere of violence which prevails in militarized America.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">In another vein, Antifa follows the trend of current Identity Politics excesses that are squelching free speech in what should be its citadel, academia. Words are considered so dangerous that “safe spaces”
must be established to protect people from them. This extreme vulnerability to injury from words is strangely linked to tolerance of real physical violence.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<strong class=""><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Wild Goose Chase</span></strong><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">In the United States, the worst thing about Antifa is the effort to lead the disoriented American left into a wild goose chase, tracking down imaginary “fascists” instead of getting together openly to work
out a coherent positive program. The United States has more than its share of weird individuals, of gratuitous aggression, of crazy ideas, and tracking down these marginal characters, whether alone or in groups, is a huge distraction. The truly dangerous
people in the United States are safely ensconced in Wall Street, in Washington Think Tanks, in the executive suites of the sprawling military industry, not to mention the editorial offices of some of the mainstream media currently adopting a benevolent attitude
toward “anti-fascists” simply because they are useful in focusing on the maverick Trump instead of themselves.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Antifa USA, by defining “resistance to fascism” as resistance to lost causes – the Confederacy, white supremacists and for that matter Donald Trump – is actually distracting from resistance to the ruling
neoliberal establishment, which is also opposed to the Confederacy and white supremacists and has already largely managed to capture Trump by its implacable campaign of denigration. That ruling establishment, which in its insatiable foreign wars and introduction
of police state methods, has successfully used popular “resistance to Trump” to make him even worse than he already was.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">The facile use of the term “fascist” gets in the way of thoughtful identification and definition of the real enemy of humanity today. In the contemporary chaos, the greatest and most dangerous upheavals in
the world all stem from the same source, which is hard to name, but which we might give the provisional simplified label of Globalized Imperialism. This amounts to a multifaceted project to reshape the world to satisfy the demands of financial capitalism,
the military industrial complex, United States ideological vanity and the megalomania of leaders of lesser “Western” powers, notably Israel. It could be called simply “imperialism”, except that it is much vaster and more destructive than the historic imperialism
of previous centuries. It is also much more disguised. And since it bears no clear label such as “fascism”, it is difficult to denounce in simple terms.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">The fixation on preventing a form of tyranny that arose over 80 years ago, under very different circumstances, obstructs recognition of the monstrous tyranny of today. Fighting the previous war leads to defeat.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Donald Trump is an outsider who will not be let inside. The election of Donald Trump is above all a grave symptom of the decadence of the American political system, totally ruled by money, lobbies, the military-industrial
complex and corporate media. Their lies are undermining the very basis of democracy. Antifa has gone on the offensive against the one weapon still in the hands of the people: the right to free speech and assembly.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
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<strong class=""><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Diana Johnstone</span></strong><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class=""><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>is author of the introduction to her father’s memoir,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em class=""><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">From
MAD to Madness: Inside Pentagon Nuclear War Planning</span></em>, by Paul H. Johnstone (Clarity Press). She can be reached at<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:diana.johnstone@wanadoo.fr" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">diana.johnstone@wanadoo.fr</a><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
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<strong class=""><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Notes.</span></strong><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">* «Où va la démocratie?», une enquête de la Fondation pour l’innovation politique sous la direction de Dominique Reynié, (Plon, Paris, 2017).<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class=""> <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class=""> <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Article printed from<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">www.counterpunch.org</a>:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><strong class=""><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class=""><a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">https://www.counterpunch.org</a></span></strong><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">URL to article:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><strong class=""><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class=""><a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/10/09/antifa-in-theory-and-in-practice/" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/10/09/antifa-in-theory-and-in-practice/</a></span></strong><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class=""><a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/10/09/antifa-in-theory-and-in-practice/print/#Print" target="_blank" title="Click here to print." style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 204);" class="">Click
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div>
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