zlacker

Isn't having a loose association of slightly-organized people who vehemently oppose fascism be declared as a "terrorist organization" already starting down the authoritarian path?

>>jachee+(OP)
They don't oppose fascism. Antifa is literally fascism and differs only in its mandate of which speech is allowed and which is not. Indeed the mechanism which you see in all totalitarian movement, from Nazis to ISIS. It's completely at odds with democracy and free speech.

>>jachee+(OP)
It's dangerous, even if it has no teeth.

>>pingpo+i1
The mission statements of every Antifa group of which I'm aware start with "Protect peaceful protests from violent counter-protestors."

Where do you get your information from?

>>pingpo+i1
This has not been my experience with antifa. This seems to mostly be a strategic opinion championed almost exclusively by the people who hate them as part of the social politics "war".

>>dicknu+G1
Unlike those upstanding citizens who brandish guns on the capitol steps...

Funny story about that, open carry is illegal in Washington state because the BPP did that exactly once.

>>jachee+92
It's the it's okay to punch a NAZI that I don't like. I think it's only okay to use violence in self defence or the defence of others. Not as a method of combating an ideology.

>>xupybd+1G
Ok you don’t like it, but how does it compare to having open Nazis marching in your country (presuming you’re American)? Surely you dislike that a lot more?

Ideally we don’t have people punching genocidal racists because they don’t exist to punch. But if they exist and they’re marching in the streets, often protected by a police force which is (certainly now) quite obviously full of far right-wing violent authoritarians, I’d have other priorities than condemning the anti-fascist.

>>thunde+sc1
You may not like it, but in this country, if they're not punching people, they have the right to march.

I disagree with Nazis. I abhor their ideology. I also disagree with punching peaceful marchers, even if they espouse a hateful ideology. "I'm going to use violence to take away your right to peaceful demonstrations" is also an ideology I despise.

>>xupybd+1G
Nazis—by simply existing as a hateful-rhetoric-fueled, racist organization—are threatening to the lives and livelihoods of others.

Punching them is just proactive defense of those others.

>>Animal+qP1
The Paradox of Tolerance[0] begets a proactive response.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance