The left seems pretty united in opposition to antifa

The left seems pretty united in opposition to antifa

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Paul Kuroda via ZUMA Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free _Mother Jones Daily_. Here’s an article that was posted prominently online


today in the _Wall Street Journal_: > HOW ANTIFA VIOLENCE HAS SPLIT THE LEFT >  > Broadly labeled antifa, for “antifascist,” such protesters are > part of a loose affiliation of


 far-left groups and individuals who > unite around a willingness to confront, sometimes violently, anyone > they perceive to be an agent of racism, anti-Semitism or > fascism….The 


antifa tactics are testing the liberal movement that > has galvanized in opposition to Mr. Trump—creating a rift among > its leaders, organizers and demonstrators about whether to 


denounce > a radical fringe, some of whose antidiscrimination objectives, if > not tactics, they share. I read the entire piece, which was apparently extensively reported since it


includes three bylines. The reporters quote one guy you’ve never heard of who credits antifa for rescuing him from an attack by white supremacists. About a thousand words later they note


that “some organizers” of a counter-protest in San Francisco last month declined to explicitly condemn “physical confrontations.” However, those same organizers “took to internet message


boards to ask protesters not to initiate any violence.” That’s it. That’s all they could dig up in the way of lefty sympathy for antifa. Every other person they quoted—including every single


Democratic politician—offered straightforward condemnation. So: has antifa really split the left? If by “split,” you mean that the far left disagrees with the mainstream left, just like it


always has, then I guess so. By any other measure, though, there appears to be nothing but unity. The vast majority of the left has no use for antifa and no use for violence on city streets.


It’s indefensible to suggest otherwise unless you can deliver some real evidence.