Is political violence acceptable if perpetrated against someone that you don't agree with?
Oh good! It’s that time of the year when a dipshit Anon asks us a loaded question we’ve answered a hundred times already in a ham-fisted attempt to “own” us.
Let’s start with the idea that opposition to fascism = merely a disagreement. Sorry Anon, but when fascism is founded on the notion that some people should not be treated as humans/exist, then our opposition isn’t a mere disagreement - it’s a fight to secure the existence of ourselves, our families, and our friends in the face of a force that is determined to ultimately exterminate us. In the words of Bernie Farber, “genocides do not begin in gas chambers or with machetes or bullets - genocides begin with words.”
If you actually believe that fascism is just a viewpoint that some don’t agree with and therefore it should be treated like any other viewpoint and never be met with violence, please tell that to some WW2 vets or Holocaust survivors and see what they think.
So, given that fascists are real and intent on organizing the dehumanization and mass murder of people they believe are inferior to them; and given that by our count so far this year they’ve murdered 240 people and injured over 900 others in 466 separate attacks, what the fuck would you have us do?
a) Ignore them and hope they just magically go away? History has very clearly shown us that ignoring violent racist extremists doesn’t make them go away; on the contrary, it gives them license to intimidate, attack, and eventually murder the people belonging to groups they’ve targeted - racialized people, LGBTQ people, people with disabilities, religious minorities, etc. This is because fascists take your total disregard of their presence as a sign that you agree with them. It also lets the people they target know that no one will defend or support them. As novelist Joy Kogawa put it, “if there’s just one thing that history teaches us, just one thing, it’s that bystanders and perpetrators are both on the same side.“
b) Debate them?
b) Report them to the proper authorities? he old saying “cops and the Klan go hand-in-hand” doesn’t just come from police going out of their way to protect fascists and racists while viciously attacking those brave enough to confront fascists. It also comes from decades of evidence of police involvement as members of fascist and racist groups themselves (some examples of which can be found here).
In fact in most places, the group responsible for the murder of the most racialized people are the police. So not a great option, this.
c) Take up some form of passive protest against them? The problem with pacifism is that it only works when the opposing side has a conscience. Fascists not only lack that, but they actively fetishize and valorize violence as a legitimate political mechanism, a preferred political tactic, and a philosophical principle that builds group cohesion and commitment. Pacifists quickly discover that they have to then choose whether or not they wish to be the victims of fascism, because opposing fascists necessitates self-defence. Those that don’t understand this wind up making the same mistakes of people like the White Rose Society. This essay by a pacifist who went to Charlottesville in August 2017 really explains the problem here. Or you could ask Dr. Cornel West:
So clearly the only option is to defend ourselves and our communities from fascists by any means necessary. Which you apparently take exception to because that = “political violence” in your mind.
Which is an interesting position for you to take, to be very concerned about antifascist violence but to not show an equal concern for fascist violence. Especially when you look at the data:
Seems like your concern about “political violence” is a tad misplaced, doesn’t it Anon?
Equating antifascists defending their communities from fascism as equivalent to fascist violence = the classic logical fallacy of false equivalence, Anon. It’s a bad look because it makes you out to be campaigning in favour of fascists. Don’t be that person. Let us leave you with this excellent essay on the impossibility of anti-fascist non-violence, Anon, instead of asking you to go fuck yourself.