3 Questions About President Trump’s Really Bad Idea — Antifa and Terrorism
Despite a war on terror that is nearly two decades old, there is still no universally recognized definition for terrorism. The confusing and varied explanations for what a terrorist is meant nations like the US, Russia, China, and Syria not only disagree on the answer but their definitions often overlap with one another’s description of a freedom fighter. The word terrorist is an abstract label that comes loaded with political power for governments and state actors to employ against their enemies. Those enemies may be true psychopaths like the members of ISIS, al Qaeda, or Boko Haram, or dissidents like democratic protesters in Hong Kong, the Network in Russia, and now Antifa in the United States.
On Sunday, President Trump announced the United States would designate Antifa as a terrorist group. Critics suggest the President intended to divert attention from the growing violence of the protests spreading across the nation and the world this weekend. They also contend the President does not have the authority to make such a designation.
Who Is Antifa?
We don’t know who Antifa is. Unlike many organizations, the US government recognizes as a terrorist group; there is no formal structure, membership, or leader of Antifa. Antifa does not represent a specific cause or ideology. Antifa is more closely related to a movement than an organization, and frankly, even as a movement, Antifa is not very coherent.
Those who gravitate toward Antifa tend to be left-leaning, thuggish types, who often violate their own proclaimed values in the name of resistance to fascism. They will violate free speech in the name of eliminating hate speech. They will attack independent media representatives to support marginalized groups. Antifa, in general, believes violence is a form of self-defense and legitimate protest to oppose political ideals which the members of Antifa perceive as fascism.
Defining who is a member of Antifa, or if the President gets his way, an Antifa terrorist is an exercise in fluidity. While President Trump has argued that much of the weekend’s protest violence is the work of Antifa, there is no Antifa organization to claim responsibility. Adding to the confusion, many suggest much of the violent aspects of the weekend’s protest is the work of rightwing groups, not Antifa.
What To Do If You See ISIS or Antifa?
Assigning the label of terrorist group to an organization that is itself not really organized presents a multitude of complicated problems. Terrorism is already an abstract label, but when it is attached to a cause difficult to identify apart from its leftist ideology, abstraction crosses over into dangerous.
Any protester whose ideology falls left of my own could be a potential Antifa agent. A cluster of them is a possible terrorist cell! My opposition to them now has a hypothetically legal basis, if not a civic duty, to forcefully confront and oppose the suspected Antifa terrorists.
It is not difficult to imagine how various protests across the country could quickly escalate into violent combat warfare styled confrontations of right versus left. For any readers who suggest this perspective is jumping to conclusions, please recall only a few days ago wearing, or not wearing, a face mask in public was grounds for aggressive confrontations in places across the country — and that occurred in the middle of a pandemic! Do not underestimate our polarized environment’s potential for greater violence and danger, especially when given a license.
Who Is Not A Terrorist?
Perhaps understanding who is NOT considered a terrorist group by the US government may help shed light not only on the President’s perspective but also the frustration among many of the protesters.
The US government has never labeled the Klux Klux Klan as a terrorist group. Historically the organization that includes both membership and an organized hierarchy has terrorized African-Americans and minorities across the south. Still, somehow that terrorist violence never reached the threshold of terrorist group in the US government’s official view.
In fact, no white nationalist organization in the US has ever been labeled a terrorist group by the US government. Various violent acts from the Oklahoma City bombings to a host of less prominent violent domestic attacks have been carried out by such organizations, but historically the US government did not label domestic organizations as terrorists. So the fight against these organizations was not included in the fight against terrorism.
This historical fact begs the question, what is the difference between Antifa and the KKK or various white nationalist organizations in President Trump’s perspective. Answering that question not only helps us better understand the President but also the protests.
