I believe that the assertion that “anti-fascists” are “often just as fascist” as the right and will engage in the same behaviour if given power is factually untrue. While there are loud groups of authoritarian communists (tankies) on the left which could be arguably described as fascist, these are a fringe group that are unlikely to get anywhere near the levers of power. Anti-fascists are a wide coalition consisting of a wide array of political views.
I do not think that if the right loses the next election, that the left would be equally fascist. The current adminisatration flooded mineapolis with poorly trained thugs who made it unsafe to go outside as a non-white person. I do not believe that a President AOC or whoever will take actions of equivalent damage.
Thanks, that’s useful. I mostly agree with you, and mistakenly read the second bullet point as saying “work that opposes fascism should come from all sides of the political spectrum”, which is something I agree with. I think the OP somewhat assumed that opposing fascism will look like ‘work with your local anti-fascist network’, but I expect much of it could look more like ‘militarising Europe’ (something the political left would typically oppose).
A lot of these claims are subtly different from the ones I made (not claiming that you were necessarily asserting that I agreed with them).
Engage in the same behaviour if given power is factually untrue
I wouldn’t endorse this statement either. Left and right fascism express themselves differently. So I definitely wouldn’t predict the ‘same behaviour’.
Anti-fascists are a wide coalition consisting of a wide array of political views
There is a wide coalition against facism, but they don’t call themselves antifa. It’s a much narrower group that adopts that label.
I do not think that if the right loses the next election, that the left would be equally fascist
I don’t expect that either. But they may still ‘lock-in’ some of the backsliding which would become the new standard from which behaviour is measured, enabling continued escalation from there.
The claim I made was “‘anti-facist activists’ are often just as fascist as anyone on the right” and I believe that’s true. The impact of an election depends on the choices of a much broader set of people.
The current adminisatration flooded mineapolis with poorly trained thugs who made it unsafe to go outside as a non-white person. I do not believe that a President AOC or whoever will take actions of equivalent damage.
The damage that an action causes in the long-term has relatively little correlation with the damage that an action causes in the short-term. I’m not claiming ‘equivalently damaging short-term effects’.
I’m curious to understand better where people disagree with this comment.
I believe that the assertion that “anti-fascists” are “often just as fascist” as the right and will engage in the same behaviour if given power is factually untrue. While there are loud groups of authoritarian communists (tankies) on the left which could be arguably described as fascist, these are a fringe group that are unlikely to get anywhere near the levers of power. Anti-fascists are a wide coalition consisting of a wide array of political views.
I do not think that if the right loses the next election, that the left would be equally fascist. The current adminisatration flooded mineapolis with poorly trained thugs who made it unsafe to go outside as a non-white person. I do not believe that a President AOC or whoever will take actions of equivalent damage.
Thanks, that’s useful. I mostly agree with you, and mistakenly read the second bullet point as saying “work that opposes fascism should come from all sides of the political spectrum”, which is something I agree with. I think the OP somewhat assumed that opposing fascism will look like ‘work with your local anti-fascist network’, but I expect much of it could look more like ‘militarising Europe’ (something the political left would typically oppose).
A lot of these claims are subtly different from the ones I made (not claiming that you were necessarily asserting that I agreed with them).
I wouldn’t endorse this statement either. Left and right fascism express themselves differently. So I definitely wouldn’t predict the ‘same behaviour’.
There is a wide coalition against facism, but they don’t call themselves antifa. It’s a much narrower group that adopts that label.
I don’t expect that either. But they may still ‘lock-in’ some of the backsliding which would become the new standard from which behaviour is measured, enabling continued escalation from there.
The claim I made was “‘anti-facist activists’ are often just as fascist as anyone on the right” and I believe that’s true. The impact of an election depends on the choices of a much broader set of people.
The damage that an action causes in the long-term has relatively little correlation with the damage that an action causes in the short-term. I’m not claiming ‘equivalently damaging short-term effects’.