Key Points

Antifa: Definition and History

The anti-fascist protest movement known as antifa gainednew prominence in the United States after the white supremacist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, VA, in August 2017. In Charlottesville and at many subsequent events held by white supremacists or right-wing extremists, antifa adherents have confronted what they believe to be authoritarian movements and groups.

Most people who show up to counter or oppose white supremacist public events are peaceful demonstrators, but when militant antifa adherents show up, they can increase the chances that an event may turn violent.There have been instances where encounters between antifa supporters and the far-right have turned violent. Of those counter-protesters who do engage in violence, not all of them support the antifa movement. Likewise, not all antifa supporters engage in violence. Those violent counter-protesters who are militant antifa adherents believe in active, aggressive opposition to far right-wing movements.

The antifa movement is a loose collection of groups, networks and individuals. It began in the 1960s in Europe, and had reached the US by the end of the 1970s. The movements ideology is rooted in the belief that the Nazi party would never have been able to come to power in Germany if people had more aggressively fought them in the streets in the 1920s and 30s.

Most antifa adherents today come from the anarchist movement or from the far left, though since the 2016presidentialelection, people with other political backgrounds have also joined their ranks. Some antifa adherents have expanded their definition of fascist/fascism to include not just white supremacists and other extremists, but also many conservatives and supporters of former President Trump. Antifa supporters sometimes use a logo with a double flag, usually in black and red.

Today, antifa adherents focus on countering right wing extremists both online and on the ground. Antifas presence at protests is intended to intimidate and deter racists, but the use of violent measures by some militant antifa adherents against their adversaries can create a vicious, self-defeating cycle of attacks, counterattacks and blame.Antifa violence is problematic, in part because acts of violence serve to normalize violence more broadly, and can spark a dangerous cycle of retaliation with white supremacists and other right-wing extremists. Violence can also undermine and even delegitimize efforts of peaceful antifascist protesters.

The label antifa is often misapplied to include all counter-protesters. Violence perpetrated by anarchists or other unrelated actors is often misattributed to antifa supporters, which makes it especially critical that the public, reporters and law enforcement understand how antifa and the militant element of the movement fit within the larger counter-protest efforts. Doing so allows law enforcement to focus their resources on the small minority of actors who engage in violence without curtailing the civil rights of individuals who want their voices to be heard.

While violence can and does occur in conflicts between antifa actors and right-wing extremists, it is important to reject attempts to claim equivalence between antifa and the white supremacist and other right-wing extremist groups they oppose. Antifa adherents reject racism, and only a small, militant element use violent tactics to express this opposition. White supremacists and other right-wing extremists, on the other hand, use even more extreme violence to spread their ideologies of hate, to intimidate marginalized communities, and to undermine democratic norms. Right-wing extremists have been one of the largest and most consistent sources of domestic terror incidents in the United States for many years; they have murdered hundreds of people in this country over the last ten years alone. To date, there hasbeen only onesuspectedantifa-related murder, which took place on August 29, 2020, in Portland, Oregon.

On December 6, 2021, prosecutorscharged seven individualsdescribed as self-identified anti-fascists related to assaults that took place in January during the Patriot March at Pacific Beach in January 2021. The criminal complaint alleges that the self-identified antifa activists organized themselves in San Diego and LA respectively one week prior to the Patriot March. According to the complaint, those chargedreportedlyused pepper spray, flag poles, sticks, and other items to attack the pro-Trump protesters who assembled for the Patriot March.

Antifa: Scope and Tactics

Given that the antifa movement is leaderless and so decentralized, it is extremely difficult to pinpoint any governing plan.

Todays antifa adherents argue that they are the on-the-ground defense against individuals they believe are promoting fascism in the United States. Broadly speaking, antifa adherents tend to protest far-right events and their presence at these events is intended to intimidate and deter racists. There is evidence of violent clashing between antifa adherents who come out to counter-protest right-wing extremist events and right-wing extremists themselves. In these cases, it is often unclear which side starts the violence, but both can and do participate. Violent clashes between Proud Boys and antifa adherents on June 18, 2021, at Clackamette Park in Oregon are a clear recent example of this.

However, some actors who claim an affiliation with antifa have also targeted law enforcement and by extension police precincts because some antifa adherents perceive law enforcement as providing cover for far-right movements.

Businesses have also been targeted with vandalism, which in some cases may be an expression of some adherents anti-capitalist views. In addition, antifa adherents will sometimes focus on symbolic targets, by, for example, vandalizing an ICE office while protesting the mistreatment of children in ICE detention facilities. Both are examples of how the ideology of the antifa movement is blended, especially as the movement has gained more popularity.

Militant antifa adherents often use black bloc tactics, with participants wearing all black clothing and operating as a unified force; people with riot shields stay at the front while behind them, others move like water. Antifa social media channels often prohibit filming or streaming at events, presumably to protect the identity of participants, particularly of those engaging in criminal activity.

While some more militant antifa adherents fight with their fists, others have thrown projectiles or launched sling shots. Antifa adherents have also used noxious gases, and at various times they have pushed through police barricades and attempted to exploit any perceived weakness in law enforcement presence.

Away from rallies, they also engage in tactics that involve exposing their adversaries identities, addresses, jobs and other private information. This can lead to their targets being harassed or losing their jobs, among other consequences. Members of the alt right and other right-wing extremists have responded with their own doxing-related campaigns, and by perpetuating hateful and violent narratives using fake antifa social media accounts.

Because there is no unifying body for antifa, it is impossible to know how many adherents are currently active. Different localities have different antifa populations, but antifa adherents are also sometimes willing to travel hundreds of miles to oppose a white supremacist event.

Disinformation

Persistent disinformation campaigns have dramatically affected the public perception of antifa.

In the summer of 2020, disinformation was widely shared on social media which alleged that antifa was trying to use Black Lives Matter protests as cover to act violently, that they were planning violent attacks on white suburbs, and that they were working with Muslim groups to impose Shariah law (in three respective disinformation campaigns).

There was also a fake antifa manual that was widely circulated, conspiracies connecting George Soros to BLM protests and antifa, and disinformation that antifa hosted a 4th of July flag burning event.

This tendency was amplified in the wake of the January 6th Capitol insurrection, as almost immediately false claims surfaced that antifa was the first to storm the Capitol not pro-Trump extremists. These allegations were spread even by mainstream right-wing media personalities who falsely claimed that there were reports of busloads of antifa infiltrating the ranks of the pro-Trump crowd and that it was antifa that was the first to break the police barrier.

The reality of the situation was that pro-Trump extremists and other right-wing extremists stormed the Capitol on January 6th. Additionally, there is evidence that the Proud Boys, one of the right-wing extremist groups present that day, disguised themselves as antifa to avoid detection.

In July 2021, it was revealed that disinformation was put forth regarding claims that anti-fascists or BLM started wildfires in Oregon, sparking a wide variety of rumors that leftists were starting wildfires. A family was allegedly attacked while camping in Washington by those who were influenced by these rumors and thought their camper may be an antifa transport vehicle.

There is no evidence to support any of these allegations, and all these false claims do is deflect blame for the insurrection and build antifa into a threat that is not reflected in reality.

Original post:

Who are Antifa? | ADL

Marie Gluesenkamp Perez has accused her Republican opponent for the 3rd Congressional District of Washington State, Joe Kent, of being an extremist, even while there is evidence that she herself supported far-left extremists.

Gluesenkamp Perezs auto body shop offered free help to Antifa rioters during the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020, according to an Instagram post on July 26, 2020.

The post, on the Instagram account of Deans Car Care, @deanscarcarepdx, showed a picture of her husband Dean getting a hair cut, with the caption:

If you and your leaf blower have been getting busy supporting human rights, wed like to do what we can to help keep that little machine working right (pro bono) shoot us an email and check your fluids.

According to numerous media accounts, members of Antifa used leaf blowers to try to clear tear gas used by law enforcement to control the crowds of rioters.

According to The Washington Post, a group of self-identified Portland dads known collectively as DadBloc and Leaf-Blower Dads turned up to the protests wearing orange shirts to compliment the Wall of Moms who formed human shields at the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse.

An account associating itself with the dads has identified itself as Antifa and has sent messages of support to other members of Antifa in other cities.

Meanwhile, Gluesenkamp Perez has tried to paint Kent as an extremist, calling him a radical right-wing extremist in numerous social media posts. She has not mentioned her support for Antifa or Black Lives Matter on her Twitter account.

A spokesman for Gluesenkamp Perez told Breitbart News in a statement that it was an employee at her shop who made the Instagram post:

This is a disingenuous and ridiculously misleading attack. Any claim Marie or her husband have ever supported Antifa is a lie. In 2020, as tear gas and pepper spray were causing harm to Portland residents, an employee at Maries shop once wrote an Instagram post offering to repair broken leaf blowers. Thats it.

Nothing Marie or her husband said or did was in any way anti-law enforcement. Lets be absolutely clear on this: Maries small business has suffered multiple break ins so she knows first hand the important work that police do to protect public safety and address crime. Marie supports fully-funding our police and opposes political violence in all its forms unlike her extremist opponent Joe Kent, who claims were at war with federal law enforcement officers and wants to defund the FBI along with other federal law enforcement.

Kents campaign responded to his opponent calling him extremist again.

The ad from Maries repair shop offering free repairs to those getting busy for human rights is an undeniable offer of material support for Antifa during the height of their riots and attacks on the police, a campaign spokesman said.

Marie pretends to support the police because shes running for Congress in a red district, but when it mattered, she turned her garage in Portland into an arsenal for Antifa, he said.

Local law enforcement has been unanimous in their public endorsements of Joe Kent, and the people of the Washingtons 3rd District know that Antifa belongs in prison, not in Congress.

Follow Breitbart Newss Kristina Wong on Twitter, Truth Social, or on Facebook.

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WA Dem Perez Calls Kent 'Extremist' But Has Supported Antifa Rioters

At the last Democratic presidential debate hosted by MSNBC and The Washington Post, moderator Kristen Welker asked the candidates what they would do about white supremacist terrorism. The question, though unsurprising for a Democratic debate, is symptomatic of America's myopic panic over right-wing extremism since the election of Donald Trump.

This week, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib blamed "white supremacy" for the Jersey City shootings that killed a detective and three citizens at a Jewish supermarket. The shooters were reportedly part of a black nationalist, anti-police religious sect.

While the threat from the far right is real, so is the violent threat posed by the far left.

Last January, Charles Landeros, 30, wearing a "Smash the patriarchy" t-shirt, went to his daughter's middle school in Eugene, Oregon, to discuss a custody dispute. When asked by two school resource officers to leave the building, Charles refused. They attempted to place him under arrest, and he pulled out a handgun and fired two rounds at them. He missed and was killed by returning gunfire from one of the officers. Charles' daughter was feet away. Authorities later found Landeros was carrying an extra magazine on his belt.

Soon after the news broke of his death, Popular Mobilization, the Portland anti-fascist group that organized the protest turned riot in June where I was beaten, claimed him as one of its own.

"Charlie Landeros, beloved comrade and street medic, was murdered by Eugene police 2 days ago," the group tweeted. "They were a non-binary activist of color who did amazing work in their community and were gunned down in front of their children's school."

While his death shocked the small college town, I knew it was only a matter of time before antifa adherents would kill or be killed. Since antifa gained prominence after the election of Donald Trump, there have been several violent instances involving people who are associated with the group or have expressed support for its ideology.

According to Charles' ex-wife, Shayla Landeros, he was radicalized after starting at the University of Oregon in 2014. They had divorced the year prior. There, she says, he was introduced to radical left-wing theories and became deeply involved in various social-justice groups on campus. In October 2017, Charles was part of a group of radical students who stormed the stage before the university president could speak. They complained about "fascism" on campus and tuition increases.

"He was a smart, loving, intelligent person who turned into a monster," she says. "There's the Charlie I married and then there is the antifa Charlie."

By 2017, Landeros started the Community Armed Self Defense group, a left-wing organization that teaches people of color to use guns for community "self-defense." Shayla alleges he was "stockpiling guns" and using the group to radicalize members to start a violent uprising. Charles posted a photo of their younger daughter in front of weapons on his private Instagram account. In 2018, the Federal Bureau of Investigation looked into him after it received a credible tip. The investigation ultimately failed to bring charges, however.

Two days before Landeros was killed on January 11, police in nearby Springfield received a screenshot of a Facebook comment by a "Charlie Landros" that read "Time to start killing pigs," according to investigators. An hour before the shooting at the school, someone reported to the manager of the Springfield Police Department's Facebook page that a "Charlie Landros" had commented "Death to all pigs" on a post, but when the manager "attempted to locate the comment, it had been removed," District Attorney Patty Perlow wrote.

According to Shayla, just days before her ex-husband's attack, he made their younger daughter watch him burn the U.S. flag.

Shortly after body camera footage and an investigation led the district attorney to clear police of wrongdoing in the death of Landeros, bombs were left outside the Eugene Police Department but failed to detonate. The investigation remains ongoing.

Six months later, in July, police shot and killed Willem van Spronsen, 69, after he attacked an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement facility in Tacoma, Washington. Police said he tried to ignite a 500-gallon propane tank attached to the building and was armed with a rifle and incendiary devices.

Shortly before the attack, van Spronsen sent a manifesto to friends. In it, he wrote "I am antifa" and referred to ICE facilities as "concentration camps." They did not report the manifesto to police.

After his death, antifa groups issued eulogies. The group Seattle Antifascist Action described van Spronsen as a "good friend and comrade" and "a martyr." Memorials were organized in Washington and Oregon.

I encountered van Spronsen the year prior at an antifa demonstration outside Seattle City Hall. He was part of a left-wing militia that patrolled the area while carrying guns.

One extremist who later referred to van Spronsen as a "martyr" on social media went on to carry out his own attack. On August 4, 24-year-old Connor Betts killed nine and injured dozens in a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio. He was shot dead by responding police officers.

Though the investigation into a motive remains ongoing, authorities have stated that Betts was exploring "violent ideologies" before the massacre. A Twitter account that appeared to belong to Betts retweeted content supporting antifa protesters. Offline, he even participated in armed black bloc tactics.

In October, Sean Kealiher, 23, was killed in Portland after being hit by a car that had bullet holes in it, police said. Kealiher was a prominent member of the local antifa movement.

On social media, the Pacific Northwest Antifascist Workers Collective warned members against cooperating with the media and "the pigs" in the investigation. Portland's Rose City Antifa said in a tweet that "our sources indicate that this was not related to fascist activity." Kealiher's homicide investigation remains ongoing.

With the election now less than a year away, the violence that swirls around antifa and those who fall victim to its ideology may only grow in 2020.

Andy Ngo is editor-at-large of The Post Millennial.

The opinions expressed in this essay are the author's own.

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Antifa's Deadly Year Shows the Extremism on the Far Left - Newsweek

A "kid friendly" drag brunch for all ages was guarded against protests by armed Antifa militants carrying AR-15s. The drag event was held at the Anderson Distillery and Grill in Roanoke, Texas.

The event called the Barrel Babes Drag Brunch was advertised as "Dancing Music and Laughs." Journalist Taylor Hansen said that the "kid-friendly" event featured "Vulgarity, Sexualization of Minors, and Partial Nudity."

Protestors outside the event were spit on and confronted by activists who support "kid friendly" drag brunches.

Upon learning of the event, Protect Texas Kids, founded by Kelly Neidert, organized a "pop-up protest" outside the venue.

In response, Antifa organized its members to support the drag event. According to The Post Millennials editor-at-large Andy Ngo "The local chapter of the John Brown Gun Club, an #Antifa militia linked to domestic terrorism, led the call to direct action."

Kris Cruz from Blaze TV reported that Antifa militants armed with AR-15s acted as "bodyguards" and escorted attendees to their vehicles. He added that Antifa and the staff worked together to provide "protection" for attendees.

Kruz also reported that Antifa was placed strategically during the "kid friendly" drag show and "was armed like snipers on the 3rd floor of the parking garage."

The militants were reportedly directly targeting Neidert and Protect Texas Kids. Antifa has consistently and persistently targeted Neidert.

Antifa posts criticized Neidert for "working with" Ngo, comedian and activist Alex Stein "and a host of other wannabe fashy (fascist) influencers." They even described her organization as a "terror crew."

According to Sara Gonzalez Host of "The News and Why It Matters" on Blaze TV, there were over 20 children in attendance as well as teachers. She added, "Aside from the children present, there were some safety concerns. The staff admitted they were violating fire code & over capacity." Gonzalez also reported that minors were given a "wristband that said, 'drinking age verified.'"

Gonzalez reported that the police were called about the issues but did not respond.

More:

BREAKING: Heavily armed Antifa militants 'stand guard' outside Texas ...

Far-left anti-fascist movement in Germany

Antifa is a political movement in Germany composed of multiple far-left, autonomous, militant groups and individuals who describe themselves as anti-fascist. According to the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Federal Agency for Civic Education, the use of the epithet fascist against opponents and the view of capitalism as a form of fascism are central to the movement.[1][2][3] The antifa movement has existed in different eras and incarnations, dating back to Antifaschistische Aktion, from which the moniker antifa came. It was set up by the then-Stalinist Communist Party of Germany (KPD) during the late history of the Weimar Republic. After the forced dissolution in the wake of Machtergreifung in 1933, the movement went underground.[4] In the postwar era, Antifaschistische Aktion inspired a variety of different movements, groups and individuals in Germany as well as other countries which widely adopted variants of its aesthetics and some of its tactics. Known as the wider antifa movement, the contemporary antifa groups have no direct organisational connection to Antifaschistische Aktion.[5]

The contemporary antifa movement has its roots in the West German Auerparlamentarische Opposition left-wing student movement and largely adopted the aesthetics of the first movement while being ideologically somewhat dissimilar. The first antifa groups in this tradition were founded by the Maoist Communist League in the early 1970s. From the late 1980s, West Germany's squatter scene and left-wing autonomism movement were the main contributors to the new antifa movement and in contrast to the earlier movement had a more anarcho-communist leaning. The contemporary movement has splintered into different groups and factions, including one anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist faction and one anti-German faction who strongly oppose each other, mainly over their views on Israel.

German government institutions such as the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Federal Agency for Civic Education describe the contemporary antifa movement as part of the extreme left and as partially violent. Antifa groups are monitored by the federal office in the context of its legal mandate to combat extremism.[1][2][3][6] The federal office states that the underlying goal of the antifa movement is "the struggle against the liberal democratic basic order" and capitalism.[2][3] In the 1980s, the movement was accused by German authorities of engaging in terrorist acts of violence.[7]

Antifaschistische Aktion was established by the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) based on the principle of a communist front and its establishment was announced in the party's newspaper Die Rote Fahne (The Red Flag) in 1932. It functioned as an integral part of the KPD during its entire existence from 1932 to 1933.[8] A member of the Comintern, the KPD under the leadership of Ernst Thlmann was loyal to the Soviet government headed by Joseph Stalin to the extent that the party had been directly controlled and funded by the Soviet leadership in Moscow since 1928.[9][8]

The KPD described Antifaschistische Aktion as a "red united front under the leadership of the only anti-fascist party, the KPD".[10] The KPD had proclaimed that it was "the only anti-fascist party" during the elections of 1930.[9] Unlike the situation in Italy, no party regarded itself as "fascist" in Weimar-era Germany. Central to Antifaschistische Aktion was the use of the epithet fascist. According to Norman Davies, the concept of "anti-fascism" as used by the KPD originated as an ideological construct of the Soviet Union,[11] where the epithets fascist and fascism were primarily and widely used to describe capitalist society in general and virtually any anti-Soviet or anti-Stalinist activity or opinion. This usage was also adopted by communist parties affiliated with the Comintern such as the KPD.[12]

During the Comintern's Third Period (19281931), the SPD was included by the KPD in the category of "fascists"[13] based on the theory of "social fascism" proclaimed by Stalin and supported by the Comintern in the early 1930s, according to which social democracy was a variant of fascism and even more dangerous and insidious than open fascism.[8] The KPD doctrine held that the communist party was "the only anti-fascist party" while all other parties were "fascist".[14] The KPD did not view fascism as a specific political movement, but primarily as the final stage of capitalism and the KPD's anti-fascism" was therefore synonymous with anti-capitalism. Throughout this period, the KPD regarded the centre-left Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) as its main adversary.[8] Thlmann "took his instructions from Stalin and his hatred of the SPD was essentially ideological".[15] In his sympathetic history of Antifaschistische Aktion, published by the Association for the Promotion of Antifascist Culture, Bernd Langer notes that "antifascism was always a fundamentally anti-capitalist strategy" and that "communists always took antifascism to mean anti-capitalism. Therefore all other parties were fascist in the opinion of the KPD, and especially the SPD".[16] A 1931 KPD resolution described the SPD, referred to as "social fascists", as the "main pillar of the dictatorship of Capital".[17] Consequently, anti-fascism and anti-fascist action in the language of the KPD also included the struggle against the social democrats.[8] In the early 1930s, the KPD had stated that "fighting fascism means fighting the SPD just as much as it means fighting Hitler and the parties of Brning".[14] While some KPD members initially believed Antifaschistische Aktion should include other leftists, this opinion was quickly suppressed by the KPD leadership which made it clear that Antifaschistische Aktion would also oppose the SPD and that "Anti-Fascist Action means untiring daily exposure of the shameless, treacherous role of the SPD and ADGB leaders who are the direct filthy helpers of fascism".[18]

Occasionally, the KPD cooperated with the Nazis in attacking the SPD and both sought to destroy the liberal democracy of the Weimar Republic.[18][19] While also opposed to the Nazis, the KPD regarded the Nazi Party as a less sophisticated and thus less dangerous fascist party than the SPD. In December 1931, KPD leader Ernst Thlmann declared that "some Nazi trees must not be allowed to overshadow a forest" of the SPD.[20][21] In 1931, the KPD under the leadership of Ernst Thlmann internally used the slogan "After Hitler, our turn!", strongly believing that a united front against Nazis was not needed and that a Nazi dictatorship would ultimately crumble due to flawed economic policies and lead the KPD to power in Germany when the people realised that their economic policies were superior.[22][23]

The relationship between the KPD and the SPD was characterised by mutual hostility. The SPD had itself adopted the position that both the Nazis and the KPD posed an equal danger to liberal democracy[24] and SPD leader Kurt Schumacher famously described the KPD as "red-painted Nazis" in 1930.[12] The SPD-dominated Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold described itself as a "protection organization of the Republic and democracy in the fight against the swastika and the Soviet star" and both the Reichsbanner and the Iron Front opposed both the Nazis and the "anti-fascist" KPD.[25][26] In 1929, the KPD's paramilitary organisation, Roter Frontkmpferbund (Alliance of Red Front-Fighters), an effective predecessor of Antifaschistische Aktion, had been banned as extremist by the governing SPD.[27] In December 1929, the KPD founded Antifaschistische Junge Garde as a successor to Roter Frontkmpferbund, which was banned.[28]

Despite this animosity between party leaderships, on the ground there was considerable co-operation against the Nazis between rank and file activists of the KPD, SPD and other left groups such as in local anti-fascist committees and militias, particularly in 1932 as the fascists gained ground and calls for a united front by Leon Trotsky, August Thalheimer and other left leaders became more urgent.[14] It was in this context that the KPD began to emphasise the specific threat of Nazism, leading to the formation of Antifaschistische Aktion and later the turn away from the "social fascism" doctrine. The 1932 congress organised by KPD dedicated energy to attacking the SPD. It featured a large Antifaschistische Aktion logo flanked by imagery that showed the KPD fighting the capitalists next to imagery openly mocking the SPD.[29]

After the forced dissolution in the wake of the Machtergreifung in 1933, the movement went underground.[4] Theodore Draper argued that "the so-called theory of social fascism and the practice based on it constituted one of the chief factors contributing to the victory of German fascism in January 1933".[13][15]

After the defeat of Nazi Germany, groups called Antifaschistische Aktion, Antifaschistische Ausschsse, or Antifaschistische Kommittees, all typically abbreviated to antifa, spontaneously re-emerged in Germany in 1944, mainly involving veterans of pre-war KPD, KPO and SPD politics[30][31][32][33] as well as some members of other democratic political parties and Christians who opposed the Nazi rgime.[34] Communists tended to make up at least half of the committees.[34] In the western zones, these anti-fascist committees began to recede by the late summer of 1945, marginalized by Allied bans on political organization and by re-emerging divisions between communists and others and the emerging state doctrine of anti-communism in what became West Germany.[35] In East Germany, the antifa groups were absorbed into the new Stalinist state.[30]

In the Soviet occupation zone which later became East Germany, the Soviet occupation authorities pressured the KPD and the remaining Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) to merge into the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) while those within the SPD who resisted the Stalinization were persecuted and often fled to the western zones.[36] The repression in the Soviet occupation zone and the onset of the Cold War quickly exacerbated the conflict between the SED and the SPD. The term anti-fascism was widely used by MarxistLeninists to smear their opponents, including democratic socialists, social democrats and other anti-Stalinist leftists.[36]

Anti-fascism was part of the official ideology and language of the communist state[1] and Antifaschistische Aktion was considered an important part of the heritage of the governing SED along with the KPD itself. Eckhard Jesse notes that anti-fascism was ubiquitous in the language of the SED and used to justify repression such as the crackdown on the East German uprising of 1953.[37][38] Anti-fascism generally meant the struggle against the Western world and NATO in general and against the western-backed West Germany and its main ally the United States in particular which were seen as the main fascist forces in the world by the SED.[12] From 1961 to 1989, the SED used Anti-Fascist Protection Wall (German: Antifaschistischer Schutzwall) as the official name for the Berlin Wall. This was in sharp contrast to the West Berlin city government which would sometimes refer to the same structure as the Wall of Shame.[39][40]

The anti-Zionist struggle was seen as an important part of the anti-fascist struggle and Israel was regarded by East Germany as a "fascist state"[41] alongside the United States and West Germany. Jeffrey Herf argues that East Germany was waging an undeclared war on Israel[42] and that "East Germany played a salient role in the Soviet bloc's antagonism toward Israel".[43] According to Herf, after becoming a member of the United Nations (UN), East Germany "made excellent use of the UN to wage political warfare against Israel [and was] an enthusiastic, high-profile, and vigorous member" of the anti-Israeli majority of the General Assembly.[42] Anti-fascism as interpreted by East Germany served as a "legitimizing ideology" and "state doctrine" of the regime.[1][5][38] When the regime crumbled during the Revolutions of 1989, the SED intensified its use of anti-fascist rhetoric directed at the West to justify its existence.[37][38]

The contemporary antifa movement has its origins in West Germany, in the student-based Auerparlamentarische Opposition (extra-parliamentary opposition) of the 1960s and early 1970s which opposed the alleged "fascism" of the West German government.[5] Major factors that formed the backdrop of this movement were criticism of the Vietnam War and the United States, students' anti-authoritarian rebellion against their parents' generation, criticism of professors' dominance of universities and continuity of the societal relations of power, especially the continuity in the civil service since the Nazi era, and the criticism of the centre-left SPD by those to the left of the SPD.[44]

The earliest contemporary antifa groups that were inspired by the left-wing student movement were founded by the Maoist Communist League in the early 1970s. During the 1970s, parts of the Auerparlamentarische Opposition were radicalized, culminating in the formation of terrorist groups like the Red Army Faction, the 2 June Movement and the Revolutionary Cells.[45] Some of the more radical elements within antifa groups of the late 1970s had contact with the Red Army Faction and the Revolutionary Cells.[46] From the late 1980s, the squatter scene and autonomism movement were important in an upswing of the antifa movement.[30]

The contemporary antifa movement in Germany comprises different anti-fascist groups which usually use the abbreviation antifa and regard Antifaschistische Aktion of the early 1930s as an inspiration. Contemporary antifa "has no practical historical connection to the movement from which it takes its name, but is instead a product of West Germany's squatter scene and autonomist movement in the 1980s".[30] Many new antifa groups formed from the late 1980s onwards. One of the biggest antifascist campaigns in Germany in recent years was the ultimately successful effort to block the annual Nazi-rallies in the east German city of Dresden in Saxony which had grown into "Europe's biggest gathering of Nazis".[47] Unlike Antifaschistische Aktion which had links to the Communist Party of Germany and which was concerned with industrial working-class politics, the late 1980s and early 1990s autonomists were instead independent anti-authoritarian libertarian Marxists and anarcho-communists not associated with any particular party. The publication Antifaschistisches Infoblatt, in operation since 1987, sought to expose radical nationalists publicly.[48]

Most contemporary antifa groups were formed after the German reunification in 1990, mainly in the early part of the 1990s. In 1990, Autonome Antifa (M) was established in Gttingen. Antifaschistische Aktion Berlin, founded in 1993, became one of the more prominent groups. Antifaschistische Aktion/Bundesweite Organisation[de] was an umbrella organisation at the federal level that coordinated these groups across Germany. Aside from their violent clashes with ultra-nationalists, these groups participated in the annual May Day in Kreuzberg which resulted in large-scale riots in 1987 and which have been characterized by a significant police presence.[49][50] In 2003, Antifaschistisches Infoblatt joined Antifa-Net, part of an international network, including the likes of Britain's Searchlight and Sweden's Expo magazine.[51]

Steffen Kailitz notes that "the difference between the autonomist scene and terrorist networks gradually lost importance from the 1990s" and that a number of antifa groups were involved in violent activities from the 1990s.[52] In October 2016, antifa in Dresden campaigned on the occasion of the anniversary of the reunification of Germany on 3 October for "turning Unity celebrations into a disaster" to protest this display of new German nationalism whilst explicitly not ruling out the use of violence.[53] Antifa protesters were involved during the 2017 G20 Hamburg summit confrontations.[54][55]

After German reunification, the antifa movement gradually fractured into three main camps:[56]

Diverging opinions on Israel has caused a split in the movement since the 2000s.[57] The Antifaschistische Aktion/Bundesweite Organisation dissolved in 2001 and it splintered into different groups and factions as a result of these political differences.

Writing in 1993, political scientist Antonia Grunenberg described "anti-fascism" as a "strange term, that expresses opposition to something, but no political concept" and points out that while all democrats are against fascism, not everyone who is against fascism is a democrat. In this sense, Grunenberg argues that the term obscures the difference between democrats and non-democrats.[5] Many contemporary antifa groups include their understanding of various forms of oppression or general and loosely defined topics such as homophobia, racism, sexism and war in their understanding of fascism. Frequently, corporate interests, the government and especially the police and military are also included in their understanding of fascism. In German, the terms antifa and anti-fascism are often used interchangeably.[3] According to political scientist and CDU politician Tim Peters, usage of the term anti-fascism in contemporary Germany is mainly limited to the far-left while the term and ideology are viewed critically by many.[57]

Many contemporary antifa groups have adopted variants of the aesthetics of Antifaschistische Aktion. Its two-flag logo was originally designed by Max Gebhard[de] and Max Keilson[de] of the KPD-associated Association of Revolutionary Visual Artists.[58] While the original logo of Antifaschistische Aktion featured two red flags representing communism and socialism, contemporary antifa logos since the 1980s usually feature a black flag representing anarchism and autonomism, in addition to the red flag.[48]

Government of Germany's institutions such as the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Federal Agency for Civic Education describe the contemporary antifa movement as part of the extreme left and antifa groups are monitored by the federal office in the context of its legal mandate to combat extremism under the provisions allowed for by the German system of a Streitbare Demokratie ("fortified democracy").[1][2][3][6]

The Federal Agency for Civic Education claims that antifa groups sometimes call for violence not only against police or skinheads but also against bishops and judges. According to the agency, there are slogans such as "antifascism means attack" not only against the far-right but also against the political system of the Federal Republic of Germany.[1] Writing for theFederal Agency for Civic Education, extremism expert Armin Pfahl-Traughber, a former director with the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, notes that "even if every convinced democrat is an opponent of fascism, anti-fascism is not per se a democratic position". According to Pfahl-Traughber, one must distinguish between "fascism in a scholarly sense" and "fascism in a far-left extremist sense".[1]

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution describes the field of "anti-fascism" or "Antifa" as extremist[3] and includes it and associated groups in its annual public reports on extremism as part of the topic "far-left extremism".[6] The federal office further notes that "[t]he field of 'anti-fascism' has for years been a central element of the political activity of far-left extremists, especially violent ones. [...] Far-left extremists within this tradition only superficially claim to fight far-right activities. In reality the focus is the struggle against the liberal democratic basic order, which is smeared as a 'capitalist system' with 'fascist' roots".[2]

The contemporary antifa or anti-fascist movement in the Federal Republic of Germany has been mentioned in the Annual Report on the Protection of the Constitution since 1986 as part of the main chapter on "far-left extremism" and was described as a group engaged in terrorist acts of violence.[7] In 1995, public prosecutors in Lower Saxony charged 17 members of antifa with belonging to a criminal organization ("Antifa") and with supporting terrorism as part of a sweeping investigation into antifa by Lower Saxon police and security agencies known as the anti-antifa investigation that started in 1991 until the case was dropped in 1996.[59] A report by the German Bundestag from 2018 determined that due to the lack of a formal organizational structure or leadership, it is only possible to prosecute members of antifa on terrorism charges in individual cases.[60]

According to the 2018 Annual Report on the Protection of the Constitution, antifa's actions against right-wing extremists included arson, the outing of personal information, vandalism and more rarely causing personal injuries.[61] In 2020, Die Welt reported that at least 47 organised antifa groups are monitored by German federal and state offices for the protection of the constitution and labelled as "extremist". However, not all monitored groups are mentioned in the federal or state annual reports on the protection of the constitution and the list is therefore not exhaustive.[62]

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Antifa (Germany) - Wikipedia

A Texas Republican lawmaker said Tuesday on "Fox & Friends First"that a so-called "kid-friendly" drag show near Dallas-Fort Worth was totally inappropriate.

"It's shocking to a lot of Texans and we just need to stop it. We need to let children be children and protect them from any sexualization," State Rep. Bryan Slaton (R) told Ashley Strohmier and Todd Piro.

Masked, black-clad Antifa protesters showed up brandishing weapons at the Sunday morning "drag brunch" in Roanoke.

TEXAS LEGISLATOR TO INTRODUCE BILL BANNING CHILDREN FROM DRAG SHOWS AFTER DRAG THE KIDS TO PRIDE EVENT

A masked protester holds a sign that reads "Keep Roanoke Gay" outside Anderson Distillery & Grill in Roanoke, Texas. (@realKrisCruz/Twitter)

Police maintained a presence at the event, which took place at the Anderson Distillery and Grill in Roanoke, Texas, and led at times to tense stand-offs between protesters and counter-protesters.

Approximately 20 children and multiple self-proclaimed teachers attended the event where drag queens performed and collected dollar bills, according to footage of the event obtained by journalist Tayler Hansen

Armed protesters stand guard outside a drag show at Anderson Distillery & Grill in Roanoke, Texas. (Kelly Neidert)

In June, Slaton introduced legislation that would ban minors from attending drag shows in the state after footage went viral showing children attending a drag show at Mr. Misster, a gay bar in North Dallas.

Slaton said "kid-friendly drag shows" do not exist. He believes that children need to be protected and allowed to have a childhood and prevented from being sexualized at a young age.

"We have porn in our school libraries and there's pushback on removing those. There are the drag queen shows with children, and there's pushback on us for wanting to stop that. Then there's the gender modification of children. And the left is pushing back on that," he added.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Slaton said it was "alarming" that Antifa members showed up with guns to protect "grown men wearing ladies' underwear that have to dance provocatively in front of children."

"They're protecting that and trying to intimidate those that were there to speak out against it and bring attention to it that way. But, yes, Antifa apparently is getting involved, and you've crossed the line if you want to protect children, and they want to intimidate you."

Slaton lamented a lack of action by law enforcement, including failing to shut down the event for being over capacity according to the local fire code.

Fox News' Jon Brown contributed to this report

Elizabeth Heckman is a digital production assistant with Fox News.

Excerpt from:

Texas lawmaker on armed Antifa members showing up at 'kid-friendly ...

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) A former Wyoming man who climbed through a broken window at the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection has been sentenced to 30 days in jail and ordered to pay $1,500 in fines and restitution.

Andrew Galloway, 34, pleaded guilty in March to a misdemeanor charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing inside the Capitol for entering the Capitol about 11 minutes after supporters of then-President Donald Trump were able to overpower Capitol police and break into the building.

Galloway spent about 10 minutes inside, according to prosecutors and his attorney.

He was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Washington.

Galloway followed a crowd to the Capitol with no intention of doing anything but having his voice join those of thousands of other peaceful protesters, attorney Allen Orenberg wrote in requesting a probationary sentence. Galloway regrets his role in the events, his attorney wrote.

The FBI received a tip about Galloways participation in the breach, which happened as Congress was certifying the Electoral College votes that showed Joe Biden won the November 2020 presidential election over Trump. Investigators obtained a video that showed Galloway saying: Yeah, that was us today; no that wasnt Antifa, court documents state.

Galloway, who previously lived in Cody, Wyoming, now lives in Nashville, Tennessee. He will be allowed to self-report to serve his jail time.

About 900 people have been arrested for their roles in the breach of the U.S. Capitol. More than 400 people have pleaded guilty to federal charges, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Original post:

Former Wyoming man gets 30 days for role in Capitol breach - The Associated Press - en Espaol

One morning last year, around 60 sheriffs and deputies gathered outside Houston for a training that proved to be less about enforcing laws than about subverting them. After a prayer from a pastor dressed like George Washington (wig, frilly collar, musket), the crowd heard from Gary Heavin, the founder of the Curves International fitness chain, who called the 2020 presidential election of Joe Biden blatantly, in-our-faces stolen. Then he turned to the reporters in the room (propagandists) identifiable by our masks (diapers), and said, I dont know whether this is going to scare you or comfort you, but just about every person in this room is armed. The room erupted in cheers.

Heavin was helping the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association fund this training, but the dominant presence that day was the groups founder and director, Richard Mack. With his Reaganesque swoosh of dark hair and the cadence of a country preacher, he delivered his organizations central message: that sheriffs, within their counties, are more powerful than any state or federal authority, and that they can resist tyranny by refusing to enforce laws they believe violate the U.S. Constitution. This is a peaceful and effective process, la Martin Luther King, la Gandhi, la Rosa Parks, he said.

The Anti-Defamation League calls Macks organization an anti-government extremist group, while he prefers to invoke Barry Goldwaters 1964 battle cry: Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Since founding the group in 2011, Mack estimates it has trained at least 800 sheriffs. Agencies in several states, including Texas and Virginia, have allowed officers to use these events for professional education credits.

While Mack once focused on gun rights, now hes pushing sheriffs to investigate the 2020 election. One of his sheriff allies is facing a state investigation over his role in seizing a voting tabulator, while others are talking about boosting surveillance during future elections, raising concerns that they will try to intimidate voters. I dont think any sheriff is trying to intimidate people not to vote, Mack recently told The New York Times.

But how influential are Macks views? Very, as it turns out.

The Marshall Project collaborated with political scientists Emily Farris and Mirya Holman on a survey of Americas 3,000-plus sheriffs last year. More than 500 responded, and more than a dozen agreed to be interviewed after taking the survey. (Read about our methodology at the end of the accompanying story.) Though only a handful claimed membership in Macks group, more than 200 (nearly half of the respondents) agreed with him that their own authority, within their counties, supersedes that of the state or federal government. (Another 132 clicked neutral.) More than 300 which account for one-tenth of Americas roughly 3,000 sheriffs said they are willing to place themselves between a higher government authority and their constituents, an action they call interposition.

Macks group has successfully radicalized a generation of sheriffs to believe that the office has seemingly unlimited power and autonomy.

Political scientists Emily Farris and Mirya Holman

Mack was once a board member of the Oath Keepers, the militia group whose members are currently on trial for invading the U.S. Capitol. He said he left the group years ago, but some sheriffs have appeared on leaked member lists. Our survey demonstrates the groups wider popularity: 11% of responding sheriffs said they personally support the Oath Keeperss positions, though we did not ask for specifics. (More than a quarter said they didnt know the groups positions or had never heard of it.)

Macks group has successfully radicalized a generation of sheriffs to believe that the office has seemingly unlimited power and autonomy, Farris and Holman write in a forthcoming book on sheriffs that draws on this survey.

Certainly Mack sees the results as validating. I was surprised by some of that, and pleased, he told me. The people of the country are getting behind us.

How much do you agree or disagree with the following statements?

The sheriffs authority supersedes the federal or state government in my county.

440 respondents answered this question.

I am willing to interpose on behalf of county residents when I believe a state or federal law is unjust.

437 respondents answered this question.

Source: The Marshall Project with Emily Farris (Texas Christian University) and Mirya Holman (Tulane University), 2021

Over his long, peripatetic career, Mack has learned to persuade people: Hes been a car salesman, high school history teacher, reality show contestant (on the 2004 season of Showtimes American Candidate), recruiter (for Gun Owners of America) and unsuccessful entrant into Republican primaries for governor of Utah and congressperson from Texas. In the early 1980s, as a young police officer in Provo, Utah, he attended a training conducted by W. Cleon Skousen on the basics of the U.S. Constitution. (Skousen was known for saying the document had divine origins, but Mack didnt recall any religious content in the training he attended.)

Mack then moved back to his hometown in Graham County, a sparsely populated stretch of southeastern Arizona, where he was elected sheriff in 1988. Five years later, Congress passed the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, which temporarily required sheriffs and other local law enforcement officials to run background checks on people who wanted to buy guns. Mack and several of his peers mounted a lawsuit, with the help of the National Rifle Association, and the Supreme Court ruled in their favor, with Justice Antonin Scalia declaring that the provision violated state sovereignty.

Mack became a hero to Second Amendment activists. By then, a smaller cohort on the right had come to argue for sheriff supremacy, an idea that scholars trace back to the Posse Comitatus movement (power of the county, in Latin) a generation earlier. (The movements founder, William Potter Gale, argued the Constitution was divinely inspired to elevate White people above other racial groups, and some of his followers attacked government officials.) Mack regularly disavows racism and violence, and said he knows nothing about Gale. But the image of a county sheriff standing up to federal tyranny grew increasingly popular amid anger at how federal agents handled early 1990s sieges at the Branch Davidian compound, in Waco, Texas, and Ruby Ridge, in rural Idaho.

At Ruby Ridge, a white separatist named Randy Weaver faced arrest after having sold two sawed-off shotguns to a government informant. In the ensuing standoff, federal agents fatally shot his wife and son. Mack wrote a foreword to Weavers book about these events.

Although he lost his campaign for a third term as sheriff, Mack traveled around the country as a public speaker and author. He worked closely with the family of Ammon Bundy during a 2014 armed confrontation with agents from the federal Bureau of Land Management over unpaid fees and cattle grazing rights. We were actually strategizing to put all the women up at the front, Mack told Fox News at the time, according to The Blaze. If they are going to start shooting, its going to be women that are going to be televised all across the world getting shot by these rogue federal officers. (He later backtracked, telling Talking Points Memo that this wasnt an explicit strategy and the women did this on their own, despite his misgivings.)

In a 2019 study, political scientist Zoe Nemerever found that the presence of a sheriff with Constitutionalist views was associated with a higher likelihood of violent confrontation between their constituents and federal Bureau of Land Management employees. Who has been violent in our country? Mack told me. The federal government has, quite often.

Many of the sheriffs I interviewed after they took our survey said they have a fine working relationship with state and federal law enforcement. But others complained about them, particularly in Western states with lots of federal land. My backyard is a national forest, said Sheriff Cameron Noel of Beaver County, Utah (population 7,250). Wed have forest rangers that would come in. They dont live here and if a guy is up there with his family to recreate, if hes got a taillight out, theyre going to write him a federal violation.

The Constitutional sheriff movement gave such conflicts over authority a more right-wing cast, according to Mark Pitcavage, a senior research fellow with Anti-Defamation Leagues Center on Extremism. Mack is successful in part because he plays to conceptions sheriffs have of themselves already, but with an ideological twist, he said.

Who has been violent in our country? The federal government has, quite often.

Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association founder Richard Mack

Macks early focus on gun rights proved prescient. Following the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress began discussing background checks and bans on assault weapons. My phone [started] ringing off the hook, recalled Sheriff Brad DeLay of Lawrence County, Missouri (population. 38,300). People [were coming] to me and [saying], Hey, Obama says hes going to take away our guns.

Some sheriffs said they learned about Macks movement from constituents. Ive been asked Are you a Sheriff Mack follower? said Noel.

Mack went on to compile the names of nearly 500 sheriffs who rejected gun control measures and encouraged others to join them. He had hit the right issue for the right audience. According to our survey, sheriffs as a whole tend to be skeptical of gun laws: 79% said they should be less strict than they are today. (21% said they should be more strict.)

Please tell us if you would favor or oppose the following policies related to firearms:

A requirement that your office confiscates firearms from people flagged as a danger to themselves or others.

427 respondents answered this question.

Allowing people to open carry firearms in government buildings in your county.

426 respondents answered this question.

A government database that requires your participation as sheriff in maintaining a gun registry and performing background checks.

426 respondents answered this question.

A national ban on assault-style weapons.

426 respondents answered this question.

Source: The Marshall Project with Emily Farris (Texas Christian University) and Mirya Holman (Tulane University), 2021

After a mass shooting at a Las Vegas concert in 2017, Nevada lawmakers created a process to take guns from people who threatened themselves or others, and some sheriffs in the state refused to participate. In Germany prior to WWII we saw Hitler place restrictions on the publics right to bear arms, wrote Sheriff Sharon Wehrly of Nye County (population 53,500), a member of Macks group, in a viral letter to the governor.

Many Constitutional sheriffs got their first taste of fame in early 2020, defiantly promising via viral Facebook posts and Fox News appearances to ignore statewide COVID-19 lockdown orders. (At the time, we found statements from 60 sheriffs across the country.) In an April 2020 Facebook post, at least one invoked Nazism again. Others spoke of budgets and staffing. In our survey, almost one-third of sheriffs said they chose not to enforce mask mandates, and some said this was because they didnt have the resources to do so, regardless of their political views.

Since then, such rhetoric has continued to grow beyond Macks group. Sheriff Mark Lamb of Pinal County, Arizona (population 449,600), a conservative media star who is not officially a member, often uses similar language: Our County Sheriffs are the last bastion of freedom against government overreach on a local and federal level, reads the description of his 2020 book, American Sheriff: Traditional Values in a Modern World.

A lot of [Constitutional sheriff] talking points are squarely among the center of the Republican party now, said Jessica Pishko, a former researcher at the University of South Carolina Law School and author of The Highest Law in the Land, a forthcoming book on sheriffs. She argued that Mack focuses on issues that are already popular on the right, rather than driving the agenda.

Although Mack maintains the group is non-partisan, his views have occasionally been a litmus test: In Colorado Springs this January, a moderators first question to Republican sheriff candidates was whether they were members of Macks group, and two of the five candidates said they were.

Like many Americans on the political right, some sheriffs also appear to be comfortable with violent political dissent. Nearly 30% of sheriffs who responded to us also clicked agree when confronted with a statement written by the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute: The traditional American way of life is disappearing so fast that we may have to use force to save it. This is less than the total for the country as whole (36%), but these are law enforcement leaders who have the legal authority to use force themselves.

How much do you agree or disagree with the following statement?

The traditional American way of life is disappearing so fast that we may have to use force to save it.

364 respondents answered this question. Source: The Marshall Project with Emily Farris (Texas Christian University) and Mirya Holman (Tulane University), 2021

At the same time, a libertarian streak in the Constitutional sheriff movement sometimes cuts against the law enforcement mainstream, and even brings them into common cause with progressives. This is clearest in the realm of civil asset forfeiture. In recent years, the National Sheriffs Association a trade group of more than 14,000 members has supported efforts to make it easier for officers to seize money, drugs, guns and other items from suspects, even enlisting President Donald Trump in this effort. But Mack frequently criticizes the practice, and in our survey, almost half of the sheriffs who responded were critical of efforts to seize assets before someone has been convicted of a crime. Half also said peoples assets should only be forfeited after theyve been convicted.

Mack frequently faces the accusation that he promotes racist extremism. Among the speakers I saw at his groups training last year was Michael Peroutka, a lawyer and activist who once called Dixie the national anthem at a League of the South event, according to The Washington Post. Peroutka didnt discuss race but said our government exists to preserve our God-given rights and, If laws violate the 10 Commandments, theyre not law. The Anti-Defamation League has documented Macks own appearances alongside white supremacists, but chalks them up to his incessant need for an audience.

Farris and Holman have used the word nativism to describe statements on Macks organizations website that immigrants are not assimilating into our culture as they once did, resulting in devastating consequences culturally and economically.

Mack himself is adamant about his opposition to racism. My mother did not raise racists or bigots in her home, he told me. In addition to extolling Rosa Parks he says an officer should have stepped in to protect her from racist policies he has criticized sheriffs like Jim Clark of Alabama for attacking civil rights marches in the 1960s.

At the same time, Mack does admit to using race as a tool. At the Texas training, Mack led a round of applause for Larvita McFarquhar, a modern day Rosa Parks who refused to close her Minnesota restaurant in the early days of the pandemic. You saw me use the Black lady as a prop, he said later by phone.

Lately, Mack has reserved his ire for the FBI. When we spoke, he blamed the agency for a 1998 raid on his office, connected with a company he briefly worked for. He said the ensuing publicity derailed one of his political campaigns. (According to the Deseret News, he was not charged and the raid was likely connected to an associates activities.) In a CNN interview in August, he compared agents pursuing the Jan. 6 cases to Nazis. Mack later told me he was referring to the post-World War II Nuremberg trials where officers defended their actions as a matter of following orders. Still, he has distanced himself from the events at the Capitol that day. I told our people not to go to the rally on Jan. 6, he said.

The sheriffs we surveyed were more likely to blame the events of Jan. 6 on antifa, as well as social media companies, than on Trump or Congressional Republicans.

Do you think the following individuals or groups are responsible for the violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6?

Respondents could choose more than one response.

303 respondents answered this question. Source: The Marshall Project with Emily Farris (Texas Christian University) and Mirya Holman (Tulane University), 2021

Much of the debate around law enforcement and extremism centers on a single word with a long, fraught history: interpose. The word traces back to James Madisons writings in the 1790s, but is largely tied to Southern states efforts to shield their schools from desegregation, in the wake of the Supreme Courts 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education. (The court rejected these efforts in 1958.)

Mack uses the term to describe any scenario in which sheriffs step between their constituents and another law enforcement agency, and he framed it as an effort to de-escalate and reduce the risk of violence between law enforcement and civilians. If we had officers who interposed, George Floyd would still be alive, he said. Interposition creates peace, it doesnt create violence.

Not every sheriff agrees with Macks vision. Bill Benedict of Clallam County, Washington (population 78,200), called Mack a snake oil salesman. You dont come with special powers to ignore the governor or the laws that the legislature passes, he said. Sheriff Kim Stewart of Doa Ana County, New Mexico (population 221,500), pointed out that many of her fellow sheriffs ask for money from the federal government for various initiatives while also espousing anti-federal rhetoric. Its Whine, whine, whine, youre not helping me, but [also] Stay out of my backyard! she said. Sorry, but no one gets it both ways. Not even sheriffs.

Law professors have said Macks vision of the sheriffs power has a weak basis in Constitutional law, and can make it harder for legislatures and citizens to hold sheriffs accountable. It creates a climate of entitlement, of being above the law, that can cause patterns of misconduct, said Christy Lopez, a Georgetown University law professor.

Its Whine, whine, whine, youre not helping me, but [also] Stay out of my backyard! Sorry, but no one gets it both ways. Not even sheriffs.

Sheriff Kim Stewart of Doa Ana County, New Mexico

Lopez previously worked at the Department of Justice under the Obama administration, investigating abuses by law enforcement, and said over time she noticed sheriffs growing less willing to voluntarily cooperate with her team to improve jail conditions. She argued that sheriffs used Macks rhetoric to convince Virginia lawmakers in 2020 to carve them out of a bill that would have increased civilian oversight of their departments.

And while Mack himself repeatedly disclaims violence, not all sheriffs believe the final implications of interposition will be peaceful, particularly when it comes to the Second Amendment. Is it going to come down to my men facing off with a federal agency at gunpoint? asked Sheriff Chuck Jenkins of Frederick County, Maryland (population 279,800). I hope not.

Edited by Akiba Solomon. Design by Bo-Won Keum. Development by Katie Park. Data graphics by Anastasia Valeeva, David Eads, and Katie Park. Photo research and editing by Celina Fang, Marci Suela, and Bo-Won Keum.

Read more from the original source:

Does Your Sheriff Think He's More Powerful Than the President? - The Marshall Project