Antifascist vs antifa

The most recent No Kings protest, and Ana Marie Cox reporting from New Braunfels, is reason to wade in again on the difference. And, yes, there is.

Here's Cox:

One older gentleman held a simple sign: “I am anti-fascist,” handwritten in large letters and “Not Antifa” in parentheses at the bottom. Another gracious senior told me, “I don’t even know what antifa is.” His wife added, “We don’t belong to any organization. We’re just against what they’re doing. We’re anti-fascist.” Another guy wore a homemade frog getup paired with an assertion I saw elsewhere on social media: “I don’t even have an “Aunt Tifa.” 

I can almost hear folks who do identify as “antifa” grinding their teeth at the naïve rejection of the label; antifa is shorthand for a point of view, not an organization, that’s the point.

OK, here's me.

First, a number of left-liberal sites, like her own New Republic, IIRC, have reported how in places like Portland, Black-owned businesses just want these people to go away, rather than destroying their Black-owned businesses; this goes back to 2020 George Floyd protests. Some White and Black residents, like this one White person, support the movement in general but don't like the protests in their back yard.

Second, there's pretty much a straight line from the 1998 Black Bloc destructive, anti-property marches in Seattle to today's antifa. It had various stops on the way, like Occupy Wall Street and all of its legend vs reality, part of why I opposed it. I said this eight years ago at the start of Trump 1.0 and nothing has changed my mind. Two-plus years ago, I called out the anarchism nature of much of the so-called "antifa" and got in a Twitter tussle.

Third, the name itself comes off as pretentious. 

So, as a point of view, it's one I see as generally counterproductive, per point one, and also reject. 

Second, contra the likes of her and Ken Klippenstein, while it's not Proud Boys, I wouldn't consider it totally unorganized, either. 

Third, back to the first point and my new tag? It's cosplay, in many cases. To put it another way? These are the US equivalent of British yobs out wilding.

Pass. And, this is yet another reason I call myself a skeptical leftist. 

Finally? Cox's piece was submitted as part of the weekly Texas Progressives roundup. I removed it from the feed. Why? I again remind you that Charles Kuffner, aka Off the Kuff, loves No Kings protests and hates pro-Palestinian ones.