Culture Warlords

Summary, part 4

Chapter 9: Antifa Civil War

In 2017, the far-right were gearing up for a civil war against antifa. Bob Avakian, leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party, was set to hold a protest on November 4, 2017, which white supremacists wanted to counter protest. They took to websites like RefuseFascism.org to mobilize enough people to surpass the turnout of the Women’s Marches, create an ever-expanding network, and spread fear and conspiracy theories. 

When InfoWars inserted the phrase ‘Civil War’ in the headline, it brought back images of the United States’ bloodiest conflict and white supremacists began preparing as if it was a real civil war. On the day itself, right-wing publication Newsweek reported that 300,000 people showed up, when there had really been only three.

From this example, what we learn is that there is a conservative furor around antifa, which…

“serves a psychological need: As evidence of far-right violence accrues, right-wing media needs a foil, a foe to minimize its own responsibility in the peddling of violent, xenophobic politics. Antifascists, who are most famously depicted with black masks and signs that would upset a grandmother in Des Moines (or Long Island), serve as the perfect scapegoat. And this portrayal has bled over from the right-wing sphere into centrist media like CNN and MSNBC.” (p. 166)

What is antifa anyway?

Antifa, which is short for ‘antifascists’ and ‘antifascism,’ is a leaderless movement whose primary purpose is to “block, outmaneuver, and dismantle far-right and fascist organizing” (p. 158). They are, by definition, a reactive movement that responds to the far-right. That said, they are more an ideology than a movement: 

“Antifascism is a way of looking at the complex relationship between extremists, their opponents, and the state that doesn’t necessarily mesh with a comfortable liberal worldview. But more than anything, it’s a way to keep ourselves—and our more vulnerable friends and neighbors—safe in a world where hate wants to swallow us whole.” (p. 168)

Antifa works to achieve its goal by doing things that include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Identifying and publicizing the names of far-right activists,

• Infiltrating far-right groups in the hope of sabotaging them from the inside,

• Counter-protesting at fascist rallies,

Traditional, centrist media is prone to both sidesism, which is partially why the public’s view of antifa is exclusively the black clad counter-protesting than anything else. 

Chapter 10: We Keep Us Safe

In August 2019, two years after the Unite the Right rally was held in Charlottesville, VA, Lavin attended a memorial service. The far-right had planned a sequel to the events of 2017, but plans fell through due to infighting. Lavin attended, but was still concerned they would be in danger. The interfaith memorial was attended by a mixed race audience, activists, clergy members, and antiracist community members. Where would the gunman stand? Lavin asked herself. 

She went outside to smoke a cigarette where she met Molly Conger, an antifascist activist who has seen it all. Conger explained to her that they were “using the antifa phone tree to organize community protection” (p. 172). Looking around Lavin saw several people, mostly men, dressed in inconspicuous clothing forming a line around the church. We keep us safe. 

While there, Lavin spoke to activists and found that they describe themselves as having “come through hell charred with their fists still balled to spar; they were scared, but unbroken” (p. 174).

Antifa’s methods

The majority of antifascist organizing is nonviolent. Antifa organizations sprung up around the 2016 election trying to prevent violence from occurring, although there is an antifascist history that dates back to Europe in the 1930s. In 2016, antifa organized by doing research, infiltration, and doxing (i.e., “revealing the names, locations, and occupations of members of hate groups”) (p. 174). To dox, they reviewed footage of fascist events, matched faces to Facebook profiles, and reported it to the authorities.

Antifa and the police

Antifa, however, does not have a good relationship with the police. The police are much harsher with left-wing protestors than they are right-wing protestors. This was seen in Portland, OR, where right-wing groups came into the city to protest. When left-wing protests were counter-protested, the police threw stun grenades at them. When dealing with the far-right, on the other hand, the police discovered Patriot Prayer (a far-right group) supporters on a roof watching a protest route with rifles, but made no arrests. 

One reason police are sympathetic to right-wing protestors is because “police forces in America are near-uniformly aligned with the political right” (p. 176). 

Perception

Liberals might think that this means antifascists are on the same side as them, but they would be wrong. 

“Antifascists have specific targets; act in self-defense and in defense of their communities; and, far from evolving into some enormous power that seeks to constrain speech to greater and greater degrees, antifascist organizing has waned or even disappeared when various waves of far-right organizing recede.” (p. 179)

Because journalists rely on healthy relationships with the police and many antifa members remain anonymous, it is hard to get accurate coverage. The media portrays antifa as a series of white male college bros acting tough, but in reality, the only antifa members Lavin has ever met have been women, people of color, or both. 

Afterward

“Writing about hate changes you. Living in a world where organized hate is aware of you changes you, too” (p. 184).

To write this book, Lavin needed to think about self-defense plans and pay for a service that erased family info off the internet in case she was ever doxxed. She was also herself a subject of neo-Nazi propaganda.

“Every day I was reading and writing about hatred: hatred of my people … Although I opposed it, I internalized the depth of their hate and its vitriol: It changed the way I saw myself when I looked in the mirror.” (p. 184)

The best weapon against hate is love, so to fill her life with love, she began cooking for those she loves. 

Lavin closes the book with an excerpt from the Talmud:

“You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.” By the end, this is how I came to feel about my work. Dismantling the rise of fascism is best not left to lone vigilantes, nor to the punitive mechanisms of the state, but to people working together to stamp out hate wherever it arises.” (p. 185-186)