Kerby Anderson

The mainstream media has done a respectable job of identifying the alt-right and explaining who they are. I have devoted time on my radio program to do the same. But another group hasn’t been given much publicity. That would be the group “Antifa.” In fact, Ben Shapiro calls it “The Group That Got Ignored in Charlottesville.” The group is a loosely connected band of anti-capitalist protesters on the far left that also designate themselves as anti-fascist. They have been the center of many protests and street riots since the 1990s. We have seen them protesting globalization at the World Trade Organization meetings. But they are probably best known for two incidents. They were visible at the University of California, Berkeley riots that were protesting Milo Yiannopoulos. And they were visible at the Charlottesville riots where they clashed with the alt-right, white supremacists, and neo-Nazis. Even though Antifa engaged in street violence at Charlottesville, much of the media ignored their actions. It is easy to see why. Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times tweeted this comment: “The hard left seemed as hate-filled as alt-right. I saw club-wielding Antifa beating white nationalists being led out of the park.” It didn’t take more than a few minutes for the backlash. One responder tweeted: “Don’t buy into the false equivalency like Trump and sympathizers.” Soon Stolberg said she was “rethinking” her earlier tweet and modified the next tweets. In a recent column, Austin Petersen wrote that, “you can reject Antifa and Commies and Alt-Right Nazis at the same time.” Unfortunately, he observed that Antifa activists are gathering steam and seem to be protected from much scrutiny because of the way the press covers riots and street violence. The obvious solution is to condemn evil, hate, and violence wherever it occurs and from whatever source. Politicians and the media would be wise to learn.