Antifa the side of violent gays
Antifa's Tactics and Activities Counter-protests are a primary tactic employed by Antifa to disrupt gatherings they perceive as platforms for hate speech or extremist ideologies. Antifa's decentralized nature makes it difficult to categorize straightforwardly.
Violence ensued, with protestors throwing bottles, fireworks and incendiary devices at the police facility, eventually forcing the SPD to vacate the East Precinct. Antifa groups exist across the globe and most often claim common ancestry with anti-fascist partisan groups in World War II Europe.
The short-lived CHAZ was beset by infightingillustrating that the widely differing ideological goals and principles between Antifa members as well as apparently aligned left-wing movements can lead to disarray within groups, even when they have successfully achieved their objectives.
Antifa groups do share tactics and information with counterparts in other areas. Continental Europe groups are more directly descended from that lineage. These confrontational approaches often lead to tense situations and sometimes violence, which critics argue undermines their message.
What is Antifa and
The modern Antifa movement in the US and UK are more accurately traced to the anti-racist skinhead movement of the s. There is no regional, national or international leadership structure that makes decisions or governs the actions of Antifa groups or individuals.
Individual groups also commonly call on their counterparts to join in campaigns such as boycotts, protests or criminal activities. Some groups operate in a more formal manner with membership lists and leadership positions, while others simply exist as a collective of like-minded individuals.
Here's what you need to know about antifa; what it is, what it isn't, and what Trump could do. The exact structure of each group can vary widely from location to location. The shared characteristic of Antifa members and affiliates globally is the belief that they are collectively resisting fascist ideology.
Even in Antifa groups with more traditional structures, decision-making is generally done by consensus and participation in events or activities is rarely, if ever, considered mandatory for members. Members of ARA were largely self-described anarchists but the group also included communists, Maoists and others politically aligned with far-left movements 2.
Nearly all members subscribe to some form of anarchist or socialist ideology, though they often belong to different subsets of those ideologies including Maoism and anarcho-communism. Much like modern Antifa groups, ARA engaged in street brawling and doxxing of perceived opponents.
These techniques became prominent following events such as the Unite the Right Charlottesville march. The emergence of Nazi skinhead groups in the Midwest led to internecine fighting within the punk music scene. Are Antifa Members Domestic Terrorists? Antifa is best described as a collection of decentralized organizations, each comprised of a constantly shifting group of official or unofficial members.
Antifa Counter Extremism Project
Antifa is used as an umbrella term by media sources to refer to a milieu of radical anarchists, militant anti-fascists, and other left-wing anti-capitalist or anti-government activists. Figure 1: Common symbols used by Antifa groups.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has expressed increasing concern about violence perpetrated by antifa supporters. Popular campaigns may be imitated by Antifa groups nationwide, creating a coordinated appearance. Collaboration between Antifa groups is typically ad hoc and based on shared ideology and goals, rather than directed by a top-down strategy.
These figures highlight that Antifa and similar left-wing groups are active and have engaged in some violent confrontations. However, their role in domestic terrorism remains statistically small. Some Antifa groups will form networks to coordinate their actions.
Where and how antifa followers use such training and equipment likely depends partly on the threat posed by opponents at rallies or the risk of arrest and criminal conviction. This, along with a high degree of ideological alignment among the groups, leads to similar behaviors that create the illusion of unified action despite the lack of formal coordination.
Antifa groups and affiliates also engage in online activism, much of which involves infiltrating online chats of their ideological opponents and engaging in doxxing. The evidence does not, however, conclusively support a single, organization-wide characterization of Antifa as a uniform violent entity with centralized direction; academic and journalistic sources underscore decentralization and a mix of defensive and confrontational motives that complicate blanket labels [3] [4].
There is often disagreement between and within Antifa groups on their ultimate goals.