Posted on October 23, 2018

The Proud Boys and Antifa

Jared Taylor, American Renaissance, October 23, 2018

There is a disturbing trend in government action on political violence. Earlier this month, the FBI arrested members of the right-wing Rise Above Movement, calling them “serial rioters.” Their violence, however, was exclusively directed against antifa, with whom they tangled on several occasions. The arrests came after an extended investigation of Rise Above; we see no signs of a similar investigation of antifa.

“Riots” of this kind always follow the same pattern: White advocates or even just Trump-supporters hold a meeting. Antifa attack, with the express intention of shutting down the meeting. Young men attending the meeting defend themselves and there is a brawl. The media blame the organizers — not antifa — and run headlines like “Violent, Far-Right, Pro-Trump Group Hits New York Streets.” I have yet to see a single mainstream article that recognizes this pattern or that has noticed that “far-right” groups never try to disrupt leftist meetings.

The latest version of this dirty business has been the fallout from a talk by Gavin McInnes, founder of the Proud Boys, at the New York Metropolitan Republican Club on October 12.

Antifa were lying in wait, there was violence, and the proud boys were blamed. According to latest reports, five Proud Boys and three antifa have been arrested, but New York Governor Andrew Cuomo wants a state police investigation and hate crimes charges against the Proud Boys. More Proud Boys are likely to be arrested, but there seems to be no manhunt for more antifa.

Scene from the October 12 brawl.

The official finger-pointing was all one way. Governor Cuomo tweeted directly at the Proud Boys: “NY has zero tolerance for your BS.” Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted about an “attack involving the Proud Boys,” adding, “hate is never welcome in NYC.” New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood said: “I’m disturbed and disgusted by last night’s attacks involving the so-called ‘Proud Boys.’ Hate has no place in New York.”

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer condemned “this weekend’s abhorrent & hateful Proud Boys attack in the Upper East Side.” New York City Public advocate Letitia James, who is black, took the prize for the most lefty curse-words. She was “disgusted by the videos I’ve seen of members of the neo-fascist, white supremacist Proud Boys group engaging in hate-fueled mob violence on the streets of New York City.”

The Proud Boys are explicitly not racial and have non-white members, but once the SPLC calls you a “hate group,” it is license to ignore all inconvenient facts. But even more astonishing is what appears to be official silence about antifa. Do these public servants think it’s fine for masked attackers to try to shut down peaceful meetings?

American Renaissance has always condemned violence, but legitimate self-defense is recognized in every American code of law. If the Proud Boys are attacked, they will not stand with arms folded. Did some of them go beyond self-defense? Were some hoping for a dust up with antifa? Maybe. If they are guilty of assault, they will pay the price.

But the selective outrage in New York sends an ominous message: violence on the Left is fine; violence on the Right is evil. When selective outrage becomes selective prosecution — and there is every sign that this is where it is leading — it is sure to provoke a dangerous kind of outrage in return.

John Derbyshire has written insightfully on this disturbing trend, and we reproduce the following commentary, with permission, from VDARE.com.

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The level of political violence in the U.S. is rising. The main reason for this, of course: the license given by our Establishment to the Antifa movement of Communist thugs.

Twice recently — in Charlottesville last year, and in Portland, Oregon two weeks ago — we have seen municipal police forces deliberately stood down by their political superiors so that Antifa could control the streets. The Establishment’s media shills either find a way to frame the subsequent violence as someone else’s fault, as at Charlottesville, or else they just ignore it, as in Portland.

That is the context in which to evaluate the clashes in New York City on October 12 between Antifa activists and Gavin McInnes’s Proud Boys.

Gavin, who is a friend of mine, was to speak at the Metropolitan Republican Club on the Upper East Side. A few hours before his appearance, Antifa vandalized the building, breaking a window and spray-painting anarchist symbols. [Republican club on Upper East Side vandalized, by Katherine Lavacca, Larry Celona and Ben Feuerherd, NY Post, October 12, 2018] Gavin showed up and spoke anyway, but his appearance was followed by street fighting between Antifa and Proud Boys.

New York State’s corrupt and cynical Governor Andrew Cuomo, a puppet of the far-Left public-sector unions, blamed it on McInnes, who is just a guy with opinions outside the Narrative.

The New York Times report was bare-faced Establishment propaganda: they report, for instance, that Gavin brandished a sword, without telling their readers it was a plastic sword, a theatrical prop for some point Gavin wanted to make in his talk. [Proud Boys Fight at G.O.P. Club Spurs Calls for Inquiry; Cuomo Blames Trumpby Ashley Southall and Tyler Pager, October 14, 2018] They describe the Proud Boys as, quote, “a far-right group” but Antifa as … what, do you think? “A far-left group”? No, as “anti-fascist activists,” taking them at their own evaluation. They’re fighting fascism, you see? Just like the lads who stormed the Normandy beaches on D-Day.

They even tell us with a straight face that the Proud Boys have been “deemed a hate group” by (yes!) the Southern Poverty Law Center. “Deemed”: that’s one of those words like “espoused” that CultMarx journo-bots have set up as single-key macros.

Details aside, the interesting thing about these scuffles is that the fighting here seems to not have been, or not entirely have been, defensive on the part of the Proud Boys, as was the case with Unite the Right in Charlottesville. The Proud Boys were willing to fight back.

So the question arises: Are we moving into a zone where street fighting between political groups becomes normal?

Antifa have had the streets pretty much to themselves up to now, courtesy of cowardly political leaders. Actions generate reactions, though. It wouldn’t be terrifically surprising to see more groups like the Proud Boys coming up, ready and willing to fight.

The New York Times, which to the best of my knowledge has never printed a single word critical of Antifa, will denounce them as Nazis and appeal to the Southern Poverty Law Center for Hate Group designations. Which is why New York law enforcement is now hunting down and jailing the Proud Boys, while doing nothing whatever about Antifa.

But you can only push people so far before they push back. (You can donate to the Proud Boys legal defense here.)

And back of my question about the forthcoming normalization of political street fighting, is a bigger, darker one.

Suppose these street fights escalate to a serious, major breakdown of public order, serious enough to need the attention of the military. Will the military stand neutral? If not, if they take a side, which side will they take?