General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: To The Atlantic, Media and Others Who Get Antifa Twisted [View all]ancianita
(35,948 posts)Lots of solidarity tweets go on across the planet. They came out of Tunisia, Egypt, The G7 and other protests. We just have to refrain from judging anti-fascist groups as monolithically authoritarian left, because many, many are not. And by doing that we show ourselves to fall for media frames.
For instance, the Women In White (Las Damas de Blanca, I think) in Cuba, during days of Batista's worst behavior, inspired much national support for their daily protests against the jailing of men in the resistance. Women inspire a lot of solidarity because of worldwide respect for motherhood. I'm just taking the great idea -- from James Weldon Johnson in his Autobiography of An Ex-Colored Man, -- about how races --and today, groups -- should be judged by their best members, not their worst. We'd all do well to keep trying to "read" protests that way.
As for the US, I believe that it's not antifa who have common cause with anarchists, but rather, anarchists who seek protests out to infiltrate and use to hide in plain sight. They make it harder for justice protests to gain credibility when Black Block (most of whom are very conscious about their targets) out there ready to strike blows against neoNazis, rather than just show them up for who they are. I've read up on this stuff, and I believe that anarchists are not communist-, neoNazi- or authoritarian-based. They believe they help restrain violent groups by "giving as good as they get," when peaceful protestors are their context. Of course most of us are nervous about their real goals, which are meant to topple bourgeois capitalism. They don't have any good models, that I know of, of what comes after they win. They fail on messaging -- though I've read from some groups that really try -- and thus make everyone around them look as bad as their opponents.
Then the media. Owned by right wingers and of course they're going to blame any and all violence that emerges on the left. Media hang with capitalists, don't give a flyin' tweet about solidarity. Right this minute they refuse to call all the public help response to Harvey solidarity. Profit- and content-driven media are afraid of that word. We have to keep trying to use social media to straighten out the hooliganism and media slop. I don't believe there's ever been any viable protest in America or elsewhere that hasn't had to deal with this bullshit.
Ever seen the movie, No,(2012) with Gael Garcia Bernal? It's about an Argentinian paper that tries to do the right thing against the advance of a right wing candidate. It's a great watch.
Thanks for your thought and effort around here. I appreciate your posts.