Anti-Fa fails again
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Tommy Robinson has left the EDL. Was it the 4 years of Anti-Fascism protests that changed his opinion? Nope it was sitting down with moderate muslims and talking. Here's an interesting clip from newsnight about it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVF5doGZqFE
As per usual Anti-Fa tactics only help to cement the ideologies they fight against and alienate ignorant and confused workers from a socialist message.
Also a good bit in there about police targetting political leadership. It's always nice for our tactics to be proven right but I just wish we'd taken a crack at talking to them ourselves.
Antifa, the tribalism even conservative-minded militant workers can use to exclude dissenting voices.
You may have missed it but our blog drew had this post on antifahttps://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2017/10/anti-antifa.htmlThe writer Diana Johnstone (no relation) has just written another critique of antifa. It, too, is worth quoting from https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/10/25/the-harmful-effects-of-antifa/
Quote:Antifa contributes to this confusion by giving precedence to the suppression of “bad” ideas rather than to the development of good ones through uninhibited debate… Antifa is notoriously generous in distributing the fascist label. Most of the people Antifa targets are not fascists …By claiming to defend helpless minorities from a rising fascist peril, Antifa arrogates to itself the right to decide who is, or might be, “fascist”…Actual defense of a truly threatened community is best done openly by respected members of the community itself, rather than by self-styled Zorros who arrive in disguise… Antifa claims that it is in favor of free speech in general, but racists and fascists are an exception, because you can’t reason with them, and hate speech is not speech but action. This amounts to an astounding intellectual surrender to the enemy. It is an admission of being unable to win a free argument. The fact is that speech is indeed speech, and should be countered by speech. You should welcome the chance to debate in public in order to expose the weaknesses of their position.alanjjohnstone wrote:You may have missed it but our blog drew had this post on antifahttps://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2017/10/anti-antifa.htmlThe writer Diana Johnstone (no relation) has just written another critique of antifa. It, too, is worth quoting from https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/10/25/the-harmful-effects-of-antifa/Quote:Antifa contributes to this confusion by giving precedence to the suppression of “bad” ideas rather than to the development of good ones through uninhibited debate… Antifa is notoriously generous in distributing the fascist label. Most of the people Antifa targets are not fascists …By claiming to defend helpless minorities from a rising fascist peril, Antifa arrogates to itself the right to decide who is, or might be, “fascist”…Actual defense of a truly threatened community is best done openly by respected members of the community itself, rather than by self-styled Zorros who arrive in disguise… Antifa claims that it is in favor of free speech in general, but racists and fascists are an exception, because you can’t reason with them, and hate speech is not speech but action. This amounts to an astounding intellectual surrender to the enemy. It is an admission of being unable to win a free argument. The fact is that speech is indeed speech, and should be countered by speech. You should welcome the chance to debate in public in order to expose the weaknesses of their position.Some perrceptive comments in that critique. Perhaps a detailed postion paper needs to be put out by the SP given the influence of antifa on the left. I have posted various articles on FB forums such as ALB's excellent peice on "From No Platfrom to Safe Spaces" but to mixed reception
Yes, our position is not a popular one. And Diana Johnstone's second article describes the attacks on those who criticise Antifa.But ever since Mosley we have been consistent in defending democracy and freedom of expression. And we always pay a price for abiding by our principles.Our blog also posted this https://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-right-way-to-fight-right.htmlNot sure if i'm 100% right but after they passed the anti-paramilitary uniform law against the Blackshirts, in Scotland the first time it was used was against someone in the Troops out of Ireland…for having on a black beret and a combat jacket, IRA-style. I mention this because it is so easy for crackdowns on freedom to have unintended consequences
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