Antifa Civil War November 4, 2017?
The notorious “Antifa,” the would-be leftist movement and Trojan horse of the revolution in the United States, are rumored to be planning a civil war. According to some sources, Antifa has promised that it has a grand day in store for November 4, 2017. Infowars suggests that on November 4, far left militants will gather in the streets on the main cities in the United States. They will demand regime change, potentially sparking a civil war. (Source: “Antifa Plans ‘Civil War’ to Overthrow Government,” Infowars, September 29, 2017.)
Infowars are basing their suspicions of civil war from a ‘Revolutionary Communist website‘ that supposedly proves Antifa does not want the Trump-Pence presidency to reach its political conclusion in 2020. They say the leftists, or Antifa, want to skip elections altogether and throw the country into a state of struggle as Bob Avakian, the Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, has discussed in his book: The Coming Civil War. (Source: Ibid.)
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October 25 will be the 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. Now an American political group may have decided it wants to add “Antifa Civil War November 2017” to the annals of history.
Antifa portrays itself as some kind of 21st-century anti-fascist heroes. After all, Antifa doesn’t do nuance well. The very term “Antifa” stands for “anti-fascism.” As for what they think fascism is, they don’t seem to study history textbooks. They seem to decide on their own what fascism is, and they’ve done a bang-up job of persuading young idealists that Antifa have truly become the modern heroes of anti-fascism. They are the knights who will save the world from racism, sexism, and a litany of other “isms” and “als” (as in millennials).
Others, perhaps some lucky observers still capable of critical thought, think otherwise. They don’t consider the self-described anti-fascists as the Antifa civil rights movement. Rather, they see Antifa as the vanguard of a generation of spoiled children demanding freedom (a rather confused version of it) for…everything. Certainly, Antifa has suggested, through its actions, that it wants to fuel social chaos in America.
As an example of the way Antifa promotes civil rights (more like Antifa civil rights violations), consider the episode of September 26 in Los Angeles. It was rush hour, when many people use their cars to get to and from work. The vast majority of these drivers are not Hollywood executives, movie stars, or tech millionaires; most are just regular people trying to earn a living. Enter Antifa, deus ex-machina. As if by magic, Antifa protesters shut down Highway 101—a key highway running north and south of the west coast—for half an hour. They used the ominous occasion to warn about a day that could end up being the beginning of the Antifa civil war, November 4, 2017. (Source: “November 4, 2017 Protests: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know,” Heavy.com, September 30, 2017.)
Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Staff
In some ways, you can admire Antifa. The Bolshevik wannabees (though it’s anyone’s guess whether they’ve read Karl Marx or Vladimir Lenin) have learned from the finest marketers and corporations that capitalism can muster. They learned the value of a catchy jingle and advertising.
One American Antifa group has promoted its supposed revolution with the slogan “Nov. 4, It Begins,” and others have yelled chants like “No Trump! No KKK! No Fascist USA!” (Source: “November 4 It Begins: The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go!” Refuse Fascism, August 6, 2017.)
Forget for a moment the fact that fascist leaders in the 1920s and ’30s used similar techniques. Interestingly, Antifa would be surprised—not happily, I fear—that Benito Mussolini, the father of 20th-century fascism, was one of the finest practitioners of this. Mussolini was also a keen student of Gustave Le Bon, who wrote a book on the power and strength of the masses. But there’s more. Antifa is allegedly planning to start a civil war on what was an actual Fascist holiday.
Indeed, the first Mussolini government celebrated November 4 as the “Day of Memory” in honor of World War I. Admittedly, during the Italian Fascist regime, November 4 was not the most important holiday. It was partially eclipsed by the celebration of the March on Rome, whose date falls only a few days earlier. It was October 28, 1922 when Mussolini’s fascists blocked the highway into Rome…
What Is Antifa?
Antifa is a general classification that different autonomous groups use in order to claim an anti-fascist aspiration. Antifa groups use direct action to oppose the extreme right. They sometimes use such tactics as destruction of property and physical violence, when they deem it necessary. Most of these groups claim to be anti-government and anti-capitalist. But there’s little evidence they understand either concept. They emphasize a direct struggle against extreme-right white supremacist movements, forgetting that you don’t need to be a radical Marxist-Leninist or an anarchist to abhor racism.
Antifa activists have blocked people’s freedom of movement. They have also earned a well-deserved reputation for blocking freedom of speech. Not only do they not appreciate hearing different points of view, they don’t like it if others choose to do so. And why not? After all, Antifa portrays themselves as the vanguard of liberty. They pride themselves on defending all freedoms.
Some say that Antifa are inspired by Marxism. I disagree. Marxism has run its course in the 20th Century. The Russians, at their own expense, performed the experiment that Marx proposed in his seminal work “Das Kapital.” They realized too late that any ideology, even one which has as its goal the economic and social emancipation of the people, comes at a heavy price.
One of them, Mikhail Gorbachev, remained a true believer in the original spirit of communism into the 1980s. He represented the left wing of the Communist Party. He was the Antifa, if you will, of the Soviet system. He gave the people freedom of speech and freedom to exploit their fellow man in a capitalist style.
Gorbachev remains an idealist, but he was the leftist who smashed communism because he realized that it had never gone past the point of dictatorship. Antifa would do well to study a little, especially 19th- and 20th-century history. Instead, Antifa are little better than the Black Bloc; they preach “freedom” and “equality” among other things, but they practice little more than nihilism and social hatred.
Unfortunately, Donald Trump’s election as president—and the increased visibility of white nationalist activism—has given impetus to Antifa. Its members and sympathizers—and I say this as someone who identifies as part of the Left (the old-fashioned kind)—feel ennobled by the struggle.
Yet, Antifa and anti-fascism’s nobility leaves much to be desired. Rather, Antifa does nothing less than to legitimize new fascist practices such as media and lecture shutdowns. They have sent squads of “peace-loving” activists against the unarmed, and they defame any kind of thought they deems unorthodox. Of course, it begins and ends all arguments with opponents dismissing them as “fascists.”
Antifa Rumors
Antifa in the United States have benefited from the Trump election; they have gained worldwide prominence and visibility. Antifa in Europe have also benefited from increased media coverage.
This kind of fame naturally produces rumors. Not surprisingly, the latest Antifa rumors are related to its supposed November 4 Revolution. Frankly, that was the very point of the Antifa stunt on Hwy 101 in Los Angeles.
The website “Snopes.com” has been discussing Antifa’s alleged November 4 revolution plan, but has dismissed it as false. The site notes that, despite the rapid spread of Antifa rumors starting in August, there’s nothing to suggest that the various groups who come together as Antifa are planning anything noteworthy. (Source: “Is ‘Antifa’ Planning a Civil War?,” Snopes, last accessed October 11, 2017.)
The website “Heavy.com” has a more neutral take. It says that November 4 might, or might not, see a massive anti-Trump protest—but not a violent revolution, nor a civil war. (Source: Heavy, op cit.)
Of course, discussions on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have been inevitable.
Social protests and social media have gone hand in hand. They became most powerful during the 2011 revolt that brought down governments in Tunisia and Egypt; the so-called Jasmine Revolution. It’s no accident that groups like Antifa have acquired a powerful (not necessarily useful) voice in the past five years. They were probably inspired by the perceived effectiveness of social media in the so-called Arab Spring.
Yet, one of the most-discussed Antifa rumors lately involves the Las Vegas shooting: the rumor of Las Vegas Antifa. “Infowars” and Alex Jones were first past the post with an article claiming that the Las Vegas killer, Stephen Paddock, was either a member of the far left (Antifa) or an Islamist. The website made a strong statement to this effect, insinuating that Paddock had a heavy Democrat and anti-Trump past. (Source: “Breaking! Sheriff Says Vegas Shooter May Have Been Radicalized: FBI Found Antifa / Islamic Material In Room,” Infowars, October 3, 2017.)
The Infowars video brings no evidence and no name, however; just the opinion that, since the shooter targeted a country music festival—music appreciated by many conservatives and Trump voters—the author of the shooting must certainly be from the Left or Islam. This is the flipside of the coin when one form of extremism (Antifa) triggers and feeds another (far Right).
