Joerg Baumgartner
Aug 24, 2017 · 2 min read

So-called antifa activists aka “Der Schwarze Block” in Germany are a cross of hooligans and fascistoid terrorists/violent anarchists. They target anything that reeks of establishment — family cars, private housing, and most of all police. Only in very exceptional cases do they manage to target a Nazi, and then probably in error when that fascist gathers his own support to hunt them.

Seriously: the militant antifa (at least those traveling to Hamburg for big events like 1st of May or G20) aren’t against the fascists. They only seek shelter among the legitimate protesters, using them as human shields.

They are every bit like the fascists traveling there. Undifferentiated anger, released by grouping up, and released on anyone outside of their group. I had the misfortune to travel with several busloads of right fascists after a 1st of May riot in Hamburg, which gave me an uncomfortable journey and some insight in their social dynamics.

Their (minimal) rationalisation for violence is on par with some of the glorification of vile communist dictatorships found among the communist fan-boy political activists I encountered during a brief excursion into university activism. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. I wouldn’t be surprised if leftist and nazi rioters would join forces against the police (while carefully remaining in their own bundle of people).

The police are their favorite foes, really. There is a limit to the pain the police force can subject them to, which means they will keep kicking and screaming when led away by police. They wouldn’t behave that way if they were unlucky enough to fall prey to a larger group of their rival extremists.

All in all, these thugs are the typical fascist bundle of cowards, regardless of their orientation.

I have little more respect for non-violent masses chanting stupid paroles. Street protest is a civic right, and so is stupidity, but both combined doesn’t help any cause. The Strength in Numbers high experienced by the chanters is at the heart of the attractivity of fascism, whether right or left.

And before you wonder about “left fascism” — that’s the inheritance of communist rule in East Germany, which only lacked the murder camps to rival the Nazi regime. Everything else was continued with an ever so slight veneer of socialism (mostly through their ludicrous planned economy).

Half of those indoctrination victims from that regime (often carried over into the generations who avoided growing up in that environment through nostalgic adherence to old groups) have gone over to the right wing fascists, but enough remain as left wing fascists willing to exploit the system and to subvert state institutions.

Most of the “Schwarzer Block” fascists come from sheltered West-German backgrounds, though. They are the inheritors to the (a)moral and at times active supporters of the Baader Meinhof terrorists of last century’s seventies.

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    Joerg Baumgartner

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