Antifa no longer makes headlines because Biden fails to effectively condemn it
The left won’t talk about Antifa because it doesn't fit their narrative: Gabriel Nadales
Former Antifa member Gabriel Nadales weighs in on Democrats' Antifa denial and Atlanta protesters throwing bricks and Molotov cocktails at police outside of a 'Cop City' training facility on 'Jesse Watters Primetime.'
This election cycle's Super Tuesday voters might have thought they were ensuring Donald Trump would be the Republican nominee for president. But with Trump comes something else perhaps unexpected. American cities can soon expect the return of Antifa as well.
Americans were first introduced to the radical faction known as Antifa when Donald Trump first ran for president in 2016. And for the next half decade, every time widespread violence broke out in any of America’s cities, Antifa was often one of the likely culprits.
But news during the Biden era seldom makes mention of Antifa. This doesn’t mean Antifa is merely an anti-Trump movement nor is it a scapegoat for the Republican Party as too many claim.
Antifa no longer makes national headlines because President Biden continually fails to condemn it and other far-left violence. But that should surprise no one who remembers Joe Biden calling Antifa "just an idea, not an organization" during the first presidential debate in 2020.
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It is true that Antifa is not an organization in the traditional sense. Antifa does not have official membership rosters nor official leadership. There’s nothing "official" about Antifa. But denying the very real nature of Antifa allows it and other far-left violent anarchist groups to run amok behind the scenes without being held accountable.
Two of the most active anarchist movements today are the Weelaunee Defense Society and the Protect the Atlanta Forest Autonomous Movement. The latter recently hosted more than 30 chapters for a national summit in Tucson, Arizona. Its purpose is to mount a national effort to stop the building of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, derisively nicknamed "cop city" by the anarchists.
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Instead, more than 100 "activists" wore black masks while they rioted in Tucson. After it was all said and done, three anarchists were arrested who altogether caused more than $100,000 in property damage. Still another six were arrested in Fountain Hills, Arizona. This anti-police group is familiar to Atlantans who haven’t yet forgotten a shooting with police in which the anarchist seriously wounded a state trooper. The shootout ultimately cost the anarchist his life.
The Weelaunee Defense Society and the Defend the Atlanta Forest Autonomous Movement are not technically "Antifa" groups. Their traditions more closely align with the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), a separate green-anarchist organization. In the 1990s, members of the ELF along with Animal Liberation Front members, were routinely prosecuted under domestic terrorist statutes. Yet, while a separate movement, these two factions march in solidarity with Antifa and often share many of the same members.
According to Ngo’s lawsuit, filed by the Center for American Liberty, Ngo’s "unfavorable" reporting on members of Rose City Antifa led to violent retaliation. (Moriah Ratner / Stringer)
In the end, the name is not important. Many Antifa groups do not go under the Antifa moniker and instead opt for localized names like "Bay161"—each number representing the letter's position in the alphabet corresponding to AFA or Antifascist Action. I know this because I was once foolishly part of the anarchist movement. I know this is done with the intent of confusing journalists so they have a hard time identifying a national narrative while anarchists and their supporters insist there is no nationwide coordination.
But this is a bald-faced lie. Anarchists claim there is no nationwide coordination despite participating in a national summit which hosts thirty chapters from across the country. What’s more, the same "Stop Cop City" activists are being arrested across the country in Atlanta, in Tucson, and in San Francisco. Some of the anarchists setting fire to America’s cities are not even American—they’re coming from countries such as Canada and France.
Antifa is an idea, all right. And its members are putting the idea into action—too often violently. Just ask those who try to live and make ends meet in America’s cities. They’ll tell you Antifa didn’t go away simply because a new president and his allies in the media refuse to mention nor do much about its violence.
Biden has thus far failed to effectively condemn Antifa and has failed to assist state officials with combating violent extremism on the left. More and more voters are fed up. As they should. Because Antifa and other anarchist groups are very real threats to every American.
But now that former president Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee, someone may finally call Antifa out after years of deafening silence.
Gabriel Nadales, author of Behind the Black Mask: My Time as an Antifa Activist, is national director of Our America.
