Extremes: Antifa and the Alt-Right
Commonly known as Antifa (an-tee-fa), it stands for “(militant) antifascists”. The followers lean left, typically far left, but do no necessarily prescribe to the Democratic Party. They are noted for their “willingness to physically defend themselves”. There is a misnomer that Antifa rose out of the Democratic party in opposition to the right and particularly President Donald Trump, but these types of groups have been around for a while and it appears that liberals are adopting Antifa ideals rather than the other way around.
The Antifa movement notes a 1936 event that led to the rise of militant anti-fascism movements world wide. In October 1936, “tens of thousands of Zionists, Socialists, Irish dockworkers, Communists, anarchists, and various outraged residents” in London went to the streets to prevent a union of fascists from marching in their neighborhood. In doing so, they beat back 3,000 self-described fascists and 7,000 police officers in what became called the Battle of Cable Street. Antifa are “ a loose collection of groups, networks and individuals who believe in active, aggressive opposition to far right-wing movements” and whose foundation stems from the theory that Nazis would not haven risen and gained so much power had people actively and physically resisted them.
They’ve begun making headlines in their harsh opposition to Donald Trump and are in fact associated with riots, assault and other loathsome, undemocratic actions. Some notable events include assaulting police officers with rocks and bottles on Inauguration Day, preventing far right speakers from appearing at Berkeley University (Milo Yiannopoulos and Ann Coulter). They also showed up to Charlottesville in response to the Neo-Nazis that took to the streets after the threat of tearing down Confederate statues. While the media hype of Antifa has died down, they still continue to utilize violent means to deter unwanted political thought, seen in Oregon earlier this year at a rally for right-wing activists.
“Alt-right” (Alternative Right) is a new political movement that “encompasses a range of people on the extreme right who reject mainstream conservatism in favor of forms of conservatism that embrace implicit or explicit racism or white supremacy”. They believe in white superiority and see political correctness and social justice as threats to their society. They seem less dangerous or less radical than the KKK or Nazis because they are utilizing social media and politics to convey their message, coming off as just opinionated Americans. This makes them more dangerous. They want the same things as Nazis, as the KKK, the subjugation of Americans. Richard Spencer is the leader of the Alt-Right. He targets wealthy, educated white students to join the Alt-Right. This demography mixed with the new name is part of the reason the Alt-Right isn’t deemed dangerous.
The Alt-Right is just a new term for typical white supremacist organizations like the KKK and Nazis. By creating this new name under supposedly new pretenses, the Alt-Right (and thus all it stands for) has entered the mainstream. People argue that civil rights are int he past and equality is the now, because there are shared schools, no more lynchings, no curfews or abusive police. They are missing all the microaggressions that pervade American society and preserve racist and bigoted sentiments, as though these are American sentiments. Taking down feminazis and discouraging mixed race celebrity dating are the new forms of white supremacist aggression.
In 2017, 110 people were injured or killed in attacks related to the Alt-Right. A profile conducted reveals all where white men, with the majority of the being under the age of 30 (the average was 26). Mental illness could be attributable to some of them, but all of them had run-ins or associations with Alt-Right, Neo-Nazi, and/or other white supremacist groups. The rise in violence is indicative of partisan differences and is argued that they’re political differences.
