Fascinating article over at National Review.
In the latest National Review cover story, Kevin D. Williamson writes an on-the-ground report from an “Abolish ICE PDX” march and explores the historical driving forces behind the “fascists styled as antifascists” who are running amok in Portland, Ore.
Madeleine Kearns: In what way were the anti-fascist protesters you saw fascists?
Kevin D. Williamson: They are the American Left’s answer to the Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, down to the penchant for black shirts. They perform the same function: using violence and intimidation to silence political opposition and to terrorize the political opposition. “Fascist” is a notoriously difficult word to define, but they are as close to a textbook case as you are going to find.
Madeleine Kearns: You write that their “idol is the proletariat rather than the nation.” Could you please unpack that?
Kevin D. Williamson: Utopian political movements — and all totalitarian movements are basically utopian — love the world, except for all the people in it. They all are antiliberal and they all seek to degrade the individual and individualism. Their liturgy requires an object of adoration, and it’s usually the same object: the People, or, as American populists like to put it, We the People. For traditional nationalists, it’s the Nation in abstract and idealized form; for socialists, it’s always been the proletariat, who apparently are the only people included in the People. If you’re acting in the name of the People, you can brutalize persons. The interests of the People require a gulag, the interests of the People require a death camp, and if the people have to suffer for the People, then so be it.
Madeleine Kearns:You’ve noted that these “hooligans” do not always call themselves “Antifa.” How can we identify them if not by name? What are their defining characteristics?
Kevin D. Williamson: Their defining characteristic is a behavior, not an ideology or factional plumage. Violence is violence.
Read the whole thing:
Kevin Williamson Discusses His Story on the Antifa Movement | National Review
NR’s roving correspondent discusses Portland and the Antifa movement, the subjects of his latest cover story. In the latest National Review cover story, Kevin D. Williamson writes an on-the-ground report from an “Abolish ICE PDX” march and explores the historical driving forces behind the “fascists styled as antifascists” who are running amok in Portland, Ore.