Is antifa the greatest movement against free speech in America?
By: Jonathan Turley (TheHill)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
If you follow the news these days, the extremist movement known as antifa is either the new Al Qaeda or the new Big Foot. President Trump wants antifa classified as a terrorist organization, while various Democrats insist it is just a conservative phantom. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler has even insisted that violence by antifa is a myth and called the accounts imaginary.
While I oppose designating antifa as a terrorist organization, its existence is not a myth. Indeed, it may be the most successful movement against free speech in modern history. However, its structure and tactics avoid easy detection, which is why so many people claim the group is an apparition. It is true that whenever spontaneous and concentrated violence erupts, many people first look for antifa.
It is often the culprit on university campuses. In "The Usual Suspects," the character Virgil described the unseen villain Keyser Soze as "the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist." Antifa does exist and the last few weeks demonstrate how adept it is as the Keyser Soze of social unrest.
Antifa was founded on a rejection of formal structures and leaders. Many associated groups are part of Anti-Racist Action and a loose coordinating organization known as the Torch Network. This lack of structure not only appeals to the anarchist elements of the movement but serves to evade both law enforcement and legal challenges. The threat of antifa is not its role in civil unrest but its activities against free speech.
Both far left and far right groups have been identified in rioting in various cities. These extremist groups are adept at using social media and the internet to sow disorder, hide their identities, and frame opposing groups for their activities. Notably in the last week, Richmond police identified both antifa and the Boogaloo Boys in violent protests in that city. It is all part of what Attorney General William Barr referred to as the "witches brew of violent groups on both sides" such as antifa and other similar groups.
Antifa members have been arrested and the group has been involved in violence in cities such as Portland. The president of the Portland National Association for the Advancement of Colored People wrote in the Washington Post to denounce what he called a "white spectacle" of violence. He asked, "What are antifa and other leftist agitators achieving for the cause of black equality?"
The answer is that antifa is not an ally to Black Lives Matter. It is about revolutionary change and using demonstrations to trigger greater social unrest. It follows the same purpose once misstated (perhaps a Freudian slip) by former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley after the riots during the 1968 Democratic Convention: "The police are not here to create disorder, they're here to preserve disorder." Antifa fuels and feeds on violence.
Antifa has found ample allies as its movement has grown. Because it primarily targets conservatives and the free speech community, it has not been a major concern for some liberals or Democrats. Former Democratic National Committee deputy chairman Keith Ellison, now Minnesota attorney general, once posed with a copy of "The Antifa Handbook" and said antifa would "strike fear in the heart of DonaldTrump." This was after antifa had been involved in countless violent acts and its website was banned in Germany. Ellison's son, Minneapolis council member Jeremiah Ellison, declared his allegiance to antifa at the height of violent riots in that city in June.
That fact is that Antifa primarily works to "strike fear" not in the heart of Donald Trump but in the hearts of anyone who opposes the movement. "The Antifa Handbook" clearly states how the group rejects the basic premise of free speech and has spent years organizing violent protests to prevent opposing views — including conservatives, police, immigration officials and academics — from being heard. That practice, known as "no platforming," has been adopted up by other groups as well. Often, antifa violence gives universities or politicians cover for barring conservative speakers. Even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi previously called for the revocation of a permit for a conservative prayer group as a "security" matter in San Francisco.
Recently, George Washington University student Jason Charter was charged as the alleged "ringleader" of efforts to topple statues in Washington. Charter has been an active antifa member on GW's campus for years and, after his arrest, reportedly proclaimed: "The Movement is winning." He's right — it is winning . It is winning, in part, because local officials order police to stand down or drop criminal charges to avoid conflict. But it is winning mostly because too many people remain silent.
Silence kills free speech, and antifa knows that. It is the silence of professors who watch as colleagues are threatened, harassed, investigated, fired or assaulted. It is the silence of students as fellow students are attacked for dissenting views. It is the silence of reporters who watch as colleagues are fired or forcibly retired for challenging orthodox views of protests. It is the silence of politicians who dismiss the destruction of property as merely an example — in Speaker Pelosi's words — that "people will do what people will do."
Antifa will do a great deal, if allowed. That is why, for academics and writers, antifa's presence is menacing, not mythological. As Virgil explained in "The Usual Suspects," Keyser Soze became "a myth, a spook story that criminals tell their kids at night: 'Rat on your pop, and Keyser Soze will get you.' " Similarly, some politicians today want to portray antifa as a spook story that Republicans tell their kids at night — but it's no myth for those who have been targets of antifa and related groups.
Antifa has achieved its agenda against free speech to a degree that even longtime critics like me never imagined possible. It only took inaction from our government and silence from our citizens. Threats against free speech are now reaching a critical mass, from our schools to our streets. We either can act or remain passive bystanders to what inevitably comes next.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University who will testify today before the Senate Judiciary Committee on antifa and the movement against free speech in America.
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Enough said
Turley nails it here.
Indeed he does....
Like most Americans I've never seen an ANTIFA...
They are the boogeymen of rightwing nightmares!
One thing is for certain, nobody can shut them up.
Rightwingers, that is. They do just go on and on...
Here let me enlighten you:
Jason Charter (antifa activist) arrested by the FBI for being the "ringleader" in the well organized effort to tear down the statue of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square.
He doesn't look so tough in that photo, does he?
Like some spoiled kid living in mom's cellar. Then he puts on that black mask & costume and he becomes bold & brazen. He climbs up that statue with all kinds of tools & materials to aid in its removal and destruction. Meanwhile a group composed of scum, just like him, prevents anyone from entering the area.
Soy boy ....
Can you imagine the books on his bookshelf? Ahh, those dreams of revolution!
And a drawer full of Che, Lenin and Mao t-shirts ......
I'm sure, alongside the black mask and matching outfit.
don't forget the bike lock and spray bottles full of his own custom mixture of bleach and urine ..... the soy boy equivalent to Punji sticks
Oh he had it all, even the P&J sandwich mom packed for him. I doubt you would have ever run into this kid in some of the paces you've been.
Ignorance is bliss i hear ....
And they know bliss so very well...
The answer is a resounding "NO!". Obviously they should be held responsible for any violence or vandalism they cause, but it's a ridiculous straw man argument Turley is making without actually examining the biggest threat against free speech which is obviously right wing extremism. He mentions "far right groups" and "Boogaloo boys" once, but then drones on non-stop about the less violent Antifa. You can't limit someone else's free speech more than killing them and right wing extremists murder dozens of Americans every year. All those scum bag white supremacist's and fucking worthless bigots like Dylan Roof who permanently silenced 9 innocent Americans voices in just a few seconds. The above seed is full of lies and bullshit spread by a rabid conservative dog who is desperate to keep being fed table scraps by his conservative Republican masters.
Each autonomous self-appointed ANTIFA groups who commit crimes or incites violence should be held accountable for their crimes, but they are certainly not the biggest threat to free speech. That dishonorable distinction goes to dishonest Donald and those who support him as he tries to dismiss facts as "fake news" and suggests stripping media organizations who don't bow to him of their licenses and wanting "his people" to stand up and listen to him when he speaks like the vile murderous despot Kim Jong Un's oppressed people do. Right wing extremists and right wing fascism are definitely the biggest threats to free speech that America has encountered in decades. That's why it is so vitally important for Americans to vote this year and kick all these disgusting fascist conservatives out of our government.
Dylan Roof wasn't denying speech. He committed a hate crime. He murdered because he was a racist.
The proof is in the pudding - Nobody is afraid to speak out against racism.
We have polling that tells the tale:
"Strong liberals stand out, however, as the only political group who feel they can express themselves. Nearly 6 in 10 (58%) of staunch liberals feel they can say what they believe."
However, centrist liberals feel differently. A slim majority (52%) of liberals feel they have to self‐censor,
as do 64% of moderates,
and 77% of conservatives.
This demonstrates that political expression is an issue that divides the Democratic coalition between centrist Democrats and their left flank.
It is clear to see who is being intimidated!
It shows you right there that even the more moderate democrats are intimidated by the far left.
"(Roof) also often claimed that "blacks were taking over the world"
"Roof confessed to committing the Charleston attack with the intention of starting a race war"
"According to his roommate, Roof expressed his support of racial segregation in the United States and had wanted to start a civil war"
How exactly is murdering those you believe are "taking over the world" not silencing their free speech? It is the ultimate denial of free speech. How is desiring segregation and trying to start a race war not pushing to deny certain groups their voice?
Yes, it's obvious right wing pieces of shit are intimidated as they continue to refuse to even admit systemic racism exists. They are so fucking fearful they snivel and whine saying everything is fine as long as we just ignore their deep seated prejudices. They claim they hate those who try to be "PC" but then throw tantrums if anyone calls white supremacists "deplorable" or make an offhanded comment about some clinging to their bibles and guns. You can't get more cowardly than a bigot who closes their eyes and covers their ears and hums whenever confronted by the realities of systemic inequality or claims their "free speech" is being attacked simply because the majority around them rightly tell them their ideology is full of shit.
The right will no doubt gloat for another three months before they break down in a whiny sniveling cry when Trump loses in a landslide.
Ya, that is a racist.
Antifa is denying free speech - that's the point here.
Ahhh, you admit it!
The "justifiable" denial of speech!
Finally!
READ THE ARTICLE!
Do you not understand the difference between racism and free speech?
Yes he just declared certain speech can be prohibited via rightly tell them their ideology is full of shit.
Those were his words Tess.
It does if you can't counter his argument.
Of course it does Tess. Look at all those logical conclusions Turley has come to. You can't respond to any of it?
That leaves it to our readers.
Um-hum....Like the fact that "Speaker Nancy Pelosi previously called for the revocation of a permit for a conservative prayer group as a "security" matter in San Francisco."
Preventing group prayer?
A denial of 1st Amendment rights?
As shown by the backlash the more moderate liberals got for signing that letter against the intolerance of the cancel culture, intolerance struck back!
He’s one of those liberals who still believe in an exchange of ideas and free speech this he must be discounted/canceled because he chooses to coexist.