Official Protest Thread

[sundin13]

SpokenTruth said:

John2290 said:

You fail to understand Antifa's purpose  they use "antifa" as a recruiting tool but they are in reality communists, like left of Stalin types, and some are anarchists. It's really just the fools at the lowest level who think they are fighting fascists but hey, 99.9% of people aren't facists in the western world. 

Who is they, John?

And you really expect these anti-fascists to just slip on down to the road of communism?  Government owned means of production and central economic planning?

John2290 said:

And that is by design to avoid the law, thwy admit it in their guidebook. Their guidbook, rules and what not is their unifying factor and there are many organized groups, some who even take up arms like the far right but yeah, the majority are just spoiled, white rich kids who think they're fighting back Hitler like fascism when in fact the leaders of these sects want to dismantle society and rebild it with their own ideaolgy and systems akin to communism. 

Guidebook?  Leaders?  Rebuild society into a commune?  Where the hell do you get this stuff?

John2290 said:

Ya need to do some research, lad. It's not nearly as simple as that. 

The irony. So much irony my clothes are pressed, my blood is highly oxygenated and metals keep sticking to me.

melbye said:
They tore down a statue of Thomas Jefferson
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/06/protesters-take-down-thomas-jefferson-statue-in-front-of-portlands-jefferson-high-school.html

Really doubt this is gonna go over well with a majority of Americans

As a descendant of Jefferson (my heritage is in the Library of Congress - he's my cousin), I can tell you it needs to go. His accomplishments should not overshadow his misdeads upon others.

Since we are talking about Antifa and I think it is relevant to the first point you made, I'll post the message I sent to John a few days ago here. It may be a bit controversial because I was somewhat generous to the idea of libertarian communism, but my opinion is far from made up on this subject so I'd love to hear more opinions:

While Antifa is not exclusively communist, there are certainly a lot of individuals within Antifa who support communism. That said, they largely support a version of libertarian communism which is in itself a criticism of Leninism or other forms of authoritarian communism. While Leninism was all about state power and the centralization of government, which made it susceptible to abuse, libertarian communism is about decentralization of government and direct democracies providing power to the people. In many ways, this branch of libertarian communism is just as much a rebuttal of authoritarian communism, as authoritarian capitalism.

As far as I am aware, we have not yet seen this political philosophy in practice on a large modern scale so you cannot honestly describe evils done it its name, but even still, to refer to communism as evil due to historical injustices seems as nonsensical as referring to capitalism as evil due to historical injustices. I think you could make quite a strong case for the evils of capitalism, and the harm done its name. The institution of racial slavery as seen in America is an extension of capitalism, for example as are virtually every other labor abuse committed. The evil that sprouts forth from both communism and capitalism is often an extension of state power and the abuses of authoritarianism.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that your ire is misplaced. While I don't support communism personally, I believe these criticisms of communism as "evil" are largely the result of the same bogeyman formation as the fears regarding Antifa. Taking several steps away from pure capitalism towards democratic socialism, as many Antifa members support, would help alleviate many of the injustices they are fighting against, to an extent. While inequality will always be a consequence of capitalism, we can still do a lot to make a more just society even if we choose to remain under its banner.