Anarchy vs fascism: How Democrats took advantage of Americans’ rage

Day after day, popular anger spreads wide throughout the United States following the murder of George Floyd by the police, an incident that has sparked a wave of violent protests that hit more than 25 American cities and all states.

Antifa

During the demonstrations, members of the Democratic Party have attempted to exploit the racism crisis in order to unite minorities and leftists in America to support Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, using various movements and organizations, such as the Antifa movement.

Anti-fascism

The word “Antifa” is an acronym for anti-fascism. This term is used to define a broad group of people whose political beliefs tend to the left but do not correspond to the agenda of the Democratic Party. It has been classified by some as a socialist, anarchist, communist organization.

Antifa members embrace socialist and anarchist ideas, while a few of them embrace liberal ideas, and they tend to wear black and keep their faces masked. They have no objection to forming alliances with other groups whose interests intersect with theirs, even if their ideologies differ.

Although the movement gained notoriety when President Trump came to the White House after winning the 2016 election, its roots go back many years. Political studies specifically refer to the period following the First World War, when the movement first appeared in Italy to fight fascism there beginning in 1919, which coincided with the escalation of repression of the socialist and workers' associations in the country at the time. The movement’s history was associated with former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, whom they confronted when he succeeded in unifying power under his National Fascist Party.

Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University in San Bernardino, has said that contemporary Antifa members have become more active in introducing themselves to public gatherings and within the progressive movement, noting that what they are trying to do now is not only to become prominent through spreading violence in notable marches, but also to communicate through small meetings and through social media to cultivate disenfranchised progressives who were hitherto peaceful.

Leaderless

The movement's members have admitted that it has no leaders and lacks any administrative or organizational structure, according to the New York Times, which revealed that it is difficult to number the actual number of members, whether inside or outside America, as there are no official statistics.

The BBC interviewed some members of the movement, and one of them said, "Not only is it resisting the federal administration, but it also resists the moves that could lead to fascism, and those occur locally, whether from local officials or from the right-wing movements."

Antifa members seek to prevent right-wing extremist groups from having a platform to promote their ideas. They believe that if these groups are allowed to carry out their activities freely, then “this will undoubtedly lead to violence against marginalized societies,” according to Mark Bray, a history lecturer as Dartmouth College and author of “Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook”.

Terrorist organization

In a series of tweets, Trump said that Washington would classify that anti-fascist group as a terrorist organization, just a few hours after Attorney General William Barr accused Antifa members of causing chaos and blamed them for aggravating the situation after Floyd was killed by police while being arrested in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Meanwhile, National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien also spoke out against that group, saying that what is happening in America’s cities and streets are acts of chaos, theft and looting by the leftist group.

“They did it in Seattle. They did it in Portland. They did this in Berkeley. This is a destructive, radical force. I don’t know if we can call them leftists. Whatever they are, they are gunmen who come and burn our cities, and we will reach the truth,” he said, calling on the FBI to pursue Antifa members.

Although the movement has existed since the end of the First World War, its violent activity has escalated in recent years to achieve their goals, both inside and outside the United States. Some of them participated alongside the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in Syria in 2017 and 2018.

Observers believe that Trump coming to rule gave Antifa the kiss of life, motivating its members to fight the president’s authority by various means, including violence. Experts believe that Trump himself is not entitled to call it a terrorist organization as he stated in his tweet.

"If such a law is passed, the matter will face a serious challenge to the first amendment in the constitution related to freedom of opinion," said Professor Mary McCord, a former official at the Department of Justice.