Site icon The Punching Bag Post

Chomsky: Antifa’s Tactics Are a ‘Gift’ to the Right

<p class&equals;"MsoNormal" style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;" align&equals;"center">After the violence at Charlottesville&comma; Antifa&comma; one of the groups responsible&comma; just proves that the far left also uses violence to promote its cause&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">Noam Chomsky&comma; famed left-wing philosopher and political activist&comma; argues that the Antifa movement is only exacerbating the fiery political atmosphere&period; &nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">&&num;8220&semi;As for Antifa&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s a minuscule fringe of the Left&comma; just as its predecessors were&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said Chomsky to the&nbsp&semi;<em style&equals;"mso-bidi-font-style&colon; normal&semi;">Washington Examiner<&sol;em>&period; &&num;8220&semi;It&&num;8217&semi;s a major gift to the Right&comma; including the militant Right&comma; who are exuberant&period;&&num;8221&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">President Donald Trump was met with tremendous criticism after calling out &ldquo&semi;both sides&rdquo&semi; for the violence in Charlottesville&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">&&num;8220&semi;There was a group on this side&comma; you can call them the Left&comma; you&&num;8217&semi;ve just called them the Left&comma; that came violently attacking the other group&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said Trump last week&period; &&num;8220&semi;So&comma; you can say what you want&comma; but that&&num;8217&semi;s the way it is&period;&&num;8221&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">But both groups came with shields and weapons&comma; ready to fight&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">&ldquo&semi;Counter-protesters fought back&comma; also swinging sticks&comma; punching and spraying chemicals&period; Others threw balloons filled with paint or ink at the white nationalists&period; Everywhere&comma; it seemed violence was exploding&period; The police did not move to break up the fights&comma;&rdquo&semi; said Joe Heim&comma; a <em style&equals;"mso-bidi-font-style&colon; normal&semi;">Washington Post<&sol;em> reporter at the scene&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">Then several government officials described the violence at Charlottesville as an act of domestic terrorism&period; Apparently&comma; almost 200&comma;000 Americans see Antifa as a terrorist group&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">A petition to &ldquo&semi;formally recognize AntiFa as a terrorist organization&rdquo&semi; was put up on August 17 on the White House petition site and has collected almost double the 100&comma;000 signatures needed to get a response from the White House in 30 days&period; &nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">Chomsky referred to the Antifa movement as &ldquo&semi;generally self-destructive&period;&&num;8221&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">&&num;8220&semi;When confrontation shifts to the arena of violence&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s the toughest and most brutal who win &ndash&semi; and we know who that is&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said Chomsky&period; &&num;8220&semi;That&&num;8217&semi;s quite apart from the opportunity costs &ndash&semi; the loss of the opportunity for education&comma; organizing&comma; and serious and constructive activism&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">Antifa came to Trump&rsquo&semi;s inauguration and used violent tactics like window smashing while rioting through Washington&period; &nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">Since then&comma; left groups have become more organized and have demonstrated that using force against other groups is standard protocol&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">&&num;8220&semi;I&&num;8217&semi;m seeing more concrete productive discussion between anti-fascists and others on the Left these days than ever before in my life&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said Mark Lance&comma; professor of justice and peace at Georgetown University&period; &&num;8220&semi;There is reason to think that it will become integrated into an emerging coalition that includes Sanders supporters&comma; democratic socialists&comma; dreamers&comma; the Movement for Black Lives&comma; environmentalists&comma; &lbrack;and&rsqb; Native American organizers&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal"><strong>Author&rsquo&semi;s note&colon;<&sol;strong> Chomsky even recognizes Antifa for what it is&ndash&semi; a dangerous group that is anything but civil&period; White supremacy groups&comma; Antifa&comma; and ANY group that uses violence should be condemned&period; I am not sure why Trump continues to be criticized for calling out all of these groups&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal"><strong>Editor&&num;8217&semi;s note&colon;<&sol;strong> We normally don&&num;8217&semi;t cover commentator&&num;8217&semi;s on events like Chomsky&comma; but he is so far to the left&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s like when the fat director guy predicted that Trump would win&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Exit mobile version