Right-wing regime must be challenged physically
A masked anti-fascist protester holds up a flag as hundreds of anti-facist protesters march unto Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park with a sign reading “Smash Racism” to counter protest the “No to Marxism in America” rally on August 27 in Berkeley, California.
Oct 11, 2017
It’s not exactly happiness that I feel when I see violence breaking out at
right-wing demonstrations between black clad “antifa” and right-wing extremists.
It’s gratitude.
I’m thankful for the “antifa” violence at right-wing demonstrations.
Not because I fear that right-wing hate speech is going to spread like wildfire in Berkeley or San Francisco, or that we are going to wake up tomorrow with uniformed Nazis marching down the streets (like in Charlottesville).
I long to see an appropriate response to the brutal regime that we already live under. I’m thankful in just the same way when I see bank windows being smashed or trash cans burning in the streets next to police cars damaged by angry mobs.
To me, it feels like people are waking up to incredible acts of violence, fueled by right-wing conservatism and finally coalescing into a defensive stance.
The violence in this country against black and brown people has gone on for too long.
From the murderous theft of this lands from Native Americans to Jim Crow and COINTELPRO, the FBI’s mission to destroy the political organizing of brown people have been relentless.
However, poverty and environmental pollution remain as some of the worst forms of violence.
Too big to fail banks and multinational corporations decide whether oil pipelines will ruin the water supply of indigenous people in this nation.
Mortgage redlining and real estate speculation decide when it’s time for entire communities of African-American families to move along. Inequitable rules cement the message that the economic development that pours into their neighborhoods is not intended for them.
Somehow, it’s OK for toxic industries to exist right next to the poorest communities.
Somehow, it’s OK for the children of migrant workers to be taught in schools that are bombed with the same toxic pesticides that their parents work in.
The ruthless environmental destruction of a failed global economy, propped up by U.S. military might, is the only disaster that compares to this immense human suffering.
Rivers are polluted, choked with dams and toxic algae. Mountains become leveled and ocean floors get coated in oil while ancient and intricate forest ecosystems are burned up in smoke.
Our government’s only concern is the tick that signifies the price of rising stock on Wall Street.
Groups like “antifa” that are beginning to take on a physical component in the defense of our communities against violence from right-wing nut jobs, racist police or corporate profiteers are an important political development.
We do have to confront militarized right-wing power in this country, not only for the safety of our communities, but for a survivable planet.
Free speech is not a reality for anyone when it is drowned out by deafening violence.
The deep-rooted sentiments in this country that allow for the continuation of the most callous U.S. policies are symbolized in the rhetoric of the “alt-right.”
I dream of the day that peace loving people overcome ideologies of violent dominance.
When that happens, it will most surely involve physical defense.