Fascism; one of the most misused terms in the modern age. The definition of fascism is as follows: a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition. Fascism is oppression. Fascism is the silencing of those who have opposing views to your own. Fascism is censorship. Fascism is violence. Fascism is not democracy. In the modern day, fascism is a destructive force, however, just who it is being perpetrated by is heavily misconstrued.

Fascism is often claimed to be a trait of the ‘radical right’. Whilst this may be true, it is not simply limited to one side of the political spectrum. In fact, contrary to what the Left would want you to believe, fascism has been displayed by both sides of the spectrum, including their own. In modern times, a group known as Antifa have began to draw more attention, claiming they are doing what is necessary to stop fascists. Antifa (which is a shortening of anti-fascist) have existed in some form since the early 20^th century when Mussolini came to power in Italy under his National Fascist Party. They began as the antithesis to his fascist party, which could be seen as making sense. However now, their view of fascism has become extremely distorted, to the point where Antifa themselves have become the fascists.

Antifa have a logo. On that logo are three phrases: ‘ANTI-FASCIST ACTION’, ‘SMASH FASCISM’, ‘ABOLISH CAPITALISM’. Now sure, it makes sense that they don’t like fascism. No one really does. But that is some strong language they’re using there, & you’d be forgive if you began to wonder if they’re really going about all this the right way. Additionally, there’s nothing explicitly wrong with capitalism. It’s clear they only want to abolish it so that they can then proceed to replace it with the system of shared misery that is socialism. Antifa are described as a ‘militant, anti-fascist’ conglomerate of Left-Wing individuals. This description is in most ways accurate. They are indeed militant, often carrying weapons of many varieties, & often engaging in violence. They are also all of the Left politically. In fact, & I’m sure many would agree, those who are members of Antifa are far Left. The only part of the aforementioned description that is no longer accurate is that the group is anti-fascist. Allow me to explain.

The antics of Antifa have become well known in recent years in particular. They regularly attempt to deplatform those with opposing viewpoints to their own, as well as disrupting & obstructing their events, defacing their propaganda, & committing violent acts. The major issue is that they are no longer going after true fascists. Nowadays, Antifa target those who simply disagree with them & have opposing viewpoints. Antifa practically labels any Conservative as a fascist in the modern world, even though the vast majority clearly are not fascists. They also claim to go after white supremacists, however those they target are, for the most part, not white supremacists. Those who are labelled as fascists by Antifa are likely not as such. Their idea of what a fascist is has become skewed, with the true definition of a fascist now being embodied by Antifa themselves.

In recent days, we have seen just how violent & deplorable these people have become. They hide behind masks, attacking those whose views they do not like. Case in point, Conservative journalist Andy Ngo. Ngo is clearly no white supremacist, being of Asian ethnicity, & an openly gay man. However, Ngo has previously been threatened by members of the violent militant group, & this came to head on the weekend. When Ngo attended a rally taking place in Portland, Oregon, to document & report on the events taking place, he was violently attacked by members of Antifa. These thuggish individuals not only threw milkshakes at him, but also beat him & stole his GoPro camera. They left him bloody & bruised, & without his recording device. In addition to this, the milkshakes thrown at Ngo contained quick drying cement, which resulted in lesions forming on Ngo’s body where the cement made contact. Once the Portland Police finally turned up, having not been present when the attack occurred even though the threat of violence was very real & Antifa were highly likely to commit acts of violence, Ngo was attended to, & was transported to hospital where it was found he had a brain haemorrhage, in simple terms, a brain bleed. Antifa are not only guilty of the assault & battery of this man who had done nothing wrong, who hadn’t even provoked them, who was simply there to do his job & document the events occurring, they are, in reality, guilty of the attempted murder of Andy Ngo.

It is disgraceful that the authorities allow this violence to continue to occur in their jurisdictions. This is not the first time Antifa have been violent or had the intent to be violent. And it likely will not be the last. In the past, Conservative commentator & comedian Steven Crowder has had his people successfully infiltrate Antifa, & has shown that they have the intent to deploy violence wherever they go. In his video, members of Antifa state they have guns & knives, amongst a range of other weapons, at the ready. In the case of Andy Ngo, Portland Police should have known, in fact it would be extremely difficult to see how they wouldn’t, that Antifa are dangerous & that they were likely to deploy violence when crashing the rally occurring. It also brings into question the intentions of higher authorities, particularly the Mayor of Portland, Ted Wheeler. In some sense, the police & authorities such as the Mayor are just as complicit in the violence as those who commit it, as they stand idly by & allow it to occur. It has also been claimed that Wheeler had a stand down order for Portland Police, which allowed Antifa to run rampant on multiple occasions, a despicable act if true. Not only was Andy Ngo violently attacked at that rally, but a number of others, civilians who had turned up to the rally, were also beaten, two men being attacked with a crowbar, leaving them with head injuries. None of this should have been allowed to have occurred, yet it was, & it is at the behest of a group who are no longer anti-fascist, but are indeed fascists themselves.

What worsens this situation is that there are people out there, including those in media positions, such as commentators & journalists, who are defending the actions of Antifa & blaming the victims for the attacks. A number of Left-Wing journalists & media commentators shared messages over the weekend & the days following, many on Twitter, accusing Ngo of bringing this on himself. For example, journalist for The Guardian Jason Wilson dismissed the claim that the milkshakes contained quick-drying cement, claiming ’Left-Wing protesters’ used ‘actual milkshakes’, whilst also whitewashing the assaults & implying that Andy Ngo exaggerated his injuries. This is gutter journalism. The fact that those in the media would defend actions such as those taken by Antifa is appalling, & continues to show that truth in journalism is still hard to come by, particularly when that journalism comes from those on the Left. Unsurprisingly, Democratic candidates running for President have failed to condemn the violent actions of Antifa & the attack on Ngo. Gay rights organisations have also remained silent, with absolutely zero condemnation of the terrible acts of violence. On the other hand, Republican Senator Ted Cruz has condemned the violence, & has called for action to be taken against those involved. Those who have in the past called for individuals to be milkshaked, including Vox’s Carlos Maza (who, you’ll remember, recently attempted to deplatform Steven Crowder, managing to create the Vox Adpocalypse in the process), still have their posts up on Twitter, & have not yet had any action taken against them, which is entirely unsurprising considering Twitter never seem to take action against those on their own side of the political spectrum. Antifa also still have a platform on Twitter & Facebook, who have banned a number of Conservative commentators & journalists from their platform simply for their Conservative views, which they have deemed as ‘hate speech’, & speech that is dangerous. It is clear that Antifa’s speech would likely be far more dangerous than that of any one Conservative commentator.

Antifa are clearly becoming more violent in their actions. It is past time action was taken to stop this group from hurting more people. In their so-called battle to stop ‘white supremacists’ & ‘fascists’, Antifa themselves have become what they loathe. They may wear masks to hide their identities in an effort to commit violent acts without being caught, but Antifa cannot hide from the darkness that is enveloping them from the inside out. Authorities must take action, & declare Antifa as a domestic terrorist conglomerate. Indeed, in recent days it has come to light that evidence of a working relationship between American Antifa activists & terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda & ISIS is emerging. Antifa may be dangerous individuals, however they do Conservatives a great favour. They are the epitome of everything that is wrong with the Left: They have no interest in respectful reasoned debate, they label anyone with opposing views, even those that may in fact be Left-Wing themselves for the most part, as fascists, racists, white supremacists & more, they resort to insults & extremely foul language, & ultimately, turn to violence when facing those who hold opposing views. It is clear that the meaning of fascism has been lost on these individuals, indeed even on those on the Left who are slightly less Left than those of Antifa are. Many on the Left make the bold & completely misinformed claim that fascism is purely a trait of the Far Right. In reality, fascism has become more aligned with Far Left ideology. That isn’t to say there are individuals on the Far Right who aren’t necessarily fascists themselves. But it’s not something that is limited to one side or another. Fascism is in no way a good ideology. But in some sense, it’s more aligned with Communism, & the Left would know all about that. All in all, violence is never the answer. Violence only shows that you cannot logically defend your argument. And those who commit acts of violence, especially those that occurred over the weekend, should be charged & prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Those that defend violence are just as complicit. Even if it’s an egg or a milkshake, it’s still violence, it’s still assault, & it can escalate from there if it’s condoned. It may start with an egg, or a milkshake, but once those are said to be harmless, the contents of the milkshake can change. It can escalate to a milkshake containing acid, or rocks, or, as was seen over the weekend, quick-drying cement. And soon enough, it’s a knife, or a gun. Violence is never acceptable, no matter what form it comes in, & it has absolutely no place in society. Whoever those were from Antifa that clearly committed assault & battery over the weekend, particularly those who almost killed Andy Ngo, should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law without leniency. Otherwise, their actions will be justified by the authorities, & will continue to occur, likely to greater extremes.