Anarchist Federation opposes "non-defensive violence" towards fascists

Submitted by Jim on June 30, 2019

What the fuck is this about?

https://twitter.com/AnarchistFed/status/1145286258756919302

Fozzie

4 years 9 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Fozzie on June 30, 2019

It may just be badly worded - I.e. either we do milkshaking OR more robust physical debate. Not both at the same time.

Which is perhaps a tactic worthy of discussion but probably unworkable?

Jim

4 years 9 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Jim on June 30, 2019

I think that's quite generous. It looked like it was saying militant anti-fascism 'feeds' the far-right and is to blame for subsequent fascist violence. It's shocking to see the AF's official Twitter account expressing this opinion, especially at a time when there is a major online backlash towards militant anti-fascism from the American right-wing. You would expect the AF to be expressing solidarity with our militant comrades in the US and not throwing them under the bus.

Khawaga

4 years 9 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Khawaga on June 30, 2019

I can't access the tweet, seems to have been deleted? Do you remember the wording? The account tweeted this, which I assume is in reference to the one Jim is referring to:

By popular request last (rushed ofc) hot take tweet deleted :p Poorly worded as it was the topic of contextual use of violence is vital and needs exploring. We remain not particularly liberal intolerant anarchos x

Jim

4 years 9 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Jim on June 30, 2019

It was these two tweets:

Re The Andy Ngo video.
Mixing violence with milkshakes undermines the milkshake.

Non-defensive violence only feeds the right and this will be the defense next time someone kicks shit out of someone Milkshaking them.

Learn the lesson and use the right tool at the right time.

Further... understand that tho you may have context of who he is and what he does... the people watching the video don't and mix in the cognitive dissonance around similar videos of fash violence and you've got some bad press indeed.

Anti fascist tactics need to be contextual.

Andy Ngo is an alt-right "journalist" who has been with fascist gangs who've attacked anti-fascist events and he's an editor of an alt-right website which recently published a so-called study of the links between anti-fascists and journalists which has led to those journalists getting death threats from Nazis. He's also the author of the really Islamophobic Wall Street Journal article about supposed 'no go zones' in London. That's the context to the video.

The context to the AF's tweets is every alt-right/hard right American outlet on the internet are running stories claiming this was Antifa attacking a journalist who should have been able to report on them without being attacked, rather than describing Ngo as an alt-right provocateur who was looking for trouble. There is a sizeable backlash towards anti-fascism at the moment.

This is the video - https://twitter.com/Jimryan015/status/1145067852375851008

Fozzie

4 years 9 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Fozzie on June 30, 2019

Jim

I think that's quite generous. It looked like it was saying militant anti-fascism 'feeds' the far-right and is to blame for subsequent fascist violence. It's shocking to see the AF's official Twitter account expressing this opinion, especially at a time when there is a major online backlash towards militant anti-fascism from the American right-wing. You would expect the AF to be expressing solidarity with our militant comrades in the US and not throwing them under the bus.

I agree and am glad they deleted it.

Khawaga

4 years 9 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Khawaga on June 30, 2019

Thanks, Jim. I had figured it could have been in reference to Ngo.