Thursday 24 August 2017

Deconstructing Antifa


"If only it were also simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it was necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"

--- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

****



 As  I witness the breakdown of society and that's moral underpinnings, as well as the breakdown of the Living Planet,  as well as the breakdown of my own physical health I am looking back and try and sense of these rapid changes.

I was highly fortunate to grow up in a stable environment with clear boundaries and fairly conventional values with a little bit, but not too much religion.  As a teenager I rejected stability and rebelled, adopting Marxism as a creed. As I have got older I have returned to an appreciation of my roots. My only regret is my parents are not around to hear this.

I have been accused by a couple of people of supporting Trump and his putative army of white supremacist, fascist misogynists.

However, this could not be further from the case. I do not see things in a binary, or dualistic way of black vs white, good vs evil, but try to see the truth even from people I do not fully agree with.

For instance, in the video below there is almost as much that I disagree with as agree with.

I am not, for example, a Christian, so am not against abortion (but see it as a personal matter of conscience), I rebel against the idea of "apple pie" American patriotism and disagree strongly with his views on Israel.

But, for all that there is much that I agree with here.

For instance he states that whereas the Antifa people have principles that one could agree with (who is not against fascism?) they then go "left-of-field" and say things that reveal themselves to be violent and closer to the KKK neo-nazis they claim to be opposing.

Just see how they look in their masks and black clothes that give the impression that they are ISIS fascists, an impression that is not too far from the truth.

These are deluded young people, wet-behind-the-ears who are being manipulated by powerful, dark forces they do not understand.

They think they are opposing fascism. Apart from the relatively small numbers of real KKK and neo-nazis the whole movement totally ignores real nazis (as in Ukraine or other parts of Europe) and the fact that the real fascists are the ones that are giving sustenance to this movement.

I come from a more tolerant age and do not understand the "if you are not with us you are against us" approach which tars everybody who is not "with" them with the same brush - right up to women who do not identify with their identity politics of placing transsexuals (for example) and, like I do see only two genders - male and female.

I am a tolerant person and will stand up for the rights of my homosexual friends (right up their right to live together) but object strongly to the social engineering that places LGBT on a pedestal so that it becomes desirable and people who do not adopt this ideology are automatically painted as fascist, white supremacist, misogynists (usually all in the same breath).

The aim of the elitist people that are driving the agenda are trying, in my mind to set different groups against each other and destroy what little social stability is still left - hence the witness report (true or not) of KKK and Antifa members arriving in the same bus in Charlottesville.

In the current age (especially with the world hurtling for near-term human extinction with economic, political and social collapse on the way) it is impossible to talk about a progressive agenda. Progressing towards what, exactly? Towards extinction.

The "progressive" movement, liberalism, has turned toxic and instead of the liberation movements of the past which I adopted have degraded into identity politics which has become more and more extreme.

Anyone with more than a fragmentary knowledge of biology knows that "third" genders do not exist. The requirement of society to reproduce itself says otherwise (not that there will be another generation).

These are my reflections. I shall react harshly to anyone who attacks this as opposed to offering their own well-considered views.





College Professors Begin Direct 

Support For AntiFa Groups On 

Campuses



23 August, 2017


Authored by Jacob Grandstaff via Campus Reform,

Two professors, one from Purdue University and the other from Stanford University, are assembling a "Campus Antifascist Network" (CAN) to serve as a “big tent” for “anyone committed to fighting fascism.”


Despite the reputation Antifa groups have cultivated for employing violence to shut down opposing speakers, the professors insist that they only support "self-defense" by "those who are being threatened by fascists.”
Two professors are organizing a campus Antifa (Anti-Fascist Action) organization with the goal of confronting groups it considers fascist and “driv[ing] racists off campuses.”


According to Inside Higher Ed, the Campus Antifascist Network (CAN) was organized by Purdue University Professor Bill Mullen and Stanford University Professor David Palumbo-Liu with the intention of serving as a “big tent” for “anyone committed to fighting fascism.”






Since Trump’s election, fascists, neo-fascists, and their allies have used blatantly Islamophobic, anti-semitic, racist, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, and ableist messaging and iconography to recruit to their ranks and intimidate students, faculty, and staff,” Palumbo-Liu wrote in the group’s invitation letter.
The time to take action is now,” he maintained, saying, “we call on all interested individuals and organizations to support or join the Campus Antifascist Network (CAN).”

In an interview with Campus Reform, Palumbo-Liu reiterated that the groups that concern [CAN] the most are fascist in the sense they espouse a hateful ideology that targets particular groups based on race, ethnicity, religion, [or] sexuality, and wish to dominate, exclude, drive out, and harm members of those groups with force and violence.”


As part of its efforts, CAN provides a syllabus which labels fascism as a “historical expression of capitalism’s tendency to dominate the poor, working class, and oppressed people.”


Mullen told IHE that the network has grown to 200 members, including students and faculty, in the wake of the events in Charlottesville, Virginia, adding that CAN will “build large, unified demonstrations against fascists on campuses” and protect groups that are vulnerable to attack.


While Mullen and Palumbo-Liu do not advocate direct violence, Antifa has been criticized for engaging in violent protests around the country, including riots against conservative speakers.


When asked about violent elements within Antifa, Palumbo-Liu told IHE that CAN would reject some elements of the movement and would only “advocate self-defense and defense in various forms of those who are being threatened by fascists.”


Palumbo-Liu likewise told Campus Reform that “physically attacking speakers is not [within the law],” and therefore is not something that his organization promotes.







The issue really is not speech, but rather the kinds of actions a group is known to engage in that precisely impinge upon others’ free speech, academic freedom, and civil liberties,” he said.
We are organizing to protect members of campus communities from groups that come to campus to provoke physical confrontations, purposefully destroy property, invade individuals’ privacy.”


The professor also pushed back on the view that President Trump is not a fascist, branding it as “literally an academic argument in the worst sense of the word” and declaring that “we need to pay attention to what is happening, not the labels that we feel are most fitting.”


Mullen did not respond to Campus Reform’s request for comment.
*  *  *
As Ron Paul explained earlierthe alt-right and its leftist opponents are two sides of the same authoritarian coin.


The alt-right elevates racial identity over individual identity. The obsession with race leads them to support massive government interference in the economy in order to benefit members of the favored race. They also favor massive welfare and entitlement spending, as long as it functions as a racial spoils system. Some prominent alt-right leaders even support abortion as a way of limiting the minority population. No one who sincerely supports individual liberty, property rights, or the right to life can have any sympathy for this type of racial collectivism.

Antifa, like all Marxists, elevates class identity over individual identity. Antifa supporters believe government must run the economy because otherwise workers will be exploited by greedy capitalists. This faith in central planning ignores economic reality, as well as the reality that in a free market employers and workers voluntarily work together for their mutual benefit. It is only when government intervenes in the economy that crony capitalists have the opportunity to exploit workers, consumers, and taxpayers. Sadly, many on the left confuse the results of the “mixed economy” with free markets.
*  *  *


FakeNews: Reuters Issues Retraction after Labeling Antifa ‘PeaceActivists’


Left-leaning media outlet Reuters was forced to issue a retraction Wednesday after labeling violent demonstrators outside a Trump rally in Phoenix “peace activists.”
A tweet sent out from the news agency’s official Twitter account Tuesday night claimed, “Pro-Trump supporters face off with peace activists during protests outside a Trump rally in Phoenix.”
Reuters’ “peace activists” were immediately thrown into question by numerous Twitter users, who pointed out Phoenix rally counter-demonstrators were caught staging violence towards police, as well as Trump supporters leaving the venue.
On Wednesday, the Reuters official Twitter account announced a “CORRECTION,” adding they “inaccurately characterized the anti-Trump protesters as ‘peace activists.'”
As Infowars has highlighted, the media attempted to portray violent alt-left protesters in Phoenix as “peaceful,” despite footage showing them lobbing canisters at police and punching Trump supporters.




What happened #2:
Trump supporters in Phoenix blocked from leaving rally before being assaulted by left-wing rioterspic.twitter.com/iSFog0JnjH
Over the weekend, cable outlet CNN also retracted a headline after criticism that it referred to Antifa as activists seeking “Peace Through Violence.” An editor’s note admitted CNN altered their story after members of Antifa claimed they had not committed violence at a rally in Charlottesville.

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