Victoria Lobitas
Aug 24, 2017 · 5 min read

Violence can only Dismantle, Never Affirm

As per the high-profile events of Charlottesville, Boston, Trump’s recent rally in Arizona, and especially Trump’s comments from almost 2 weeks ago on advocating for police to be a little more “rough,” the discussion on the next steps to combat the Alt-Right, Fascism, White Supremacy, Trump & the Right as a political force has been fierce. Many seem to settle for more centrist positions like “both sides are to blame” or the liberal idea “love, not hate” and “violence is not the answer” is the best way forward. Even some of the most “progressive” individuals fall underneath these mindsets but unfortunately it is very flawed. While horseshoe theory seems appealing to poor fools that would not wish to question any force especially against the Right, the argument that violence against fascists & the far-right would only serve to fulfill their martyr complexes & affirm their beliefs when the truth of the matter is, this is another call for respectability and silence in the face of power.

Historically speaking, using violence against the White Supremacists, does not bolster their ranks or affirm their stances. In fact, when so called Neo-Nazis, Alt-Right, & Far Right groups use violence, their status is further cemented. You can see this during the presidential elections where Trump called for protesters to be beaten & forced out with absolutely no consequences & was still elected. If anything, one of the reasons more than half of all white people voted for & still stick with Trump to this very day is because they see these actions as a sign of power.

As of now, the only person to have been detained from their involvement in the Charlottesville Rallies is the person who drove his vehicle into a crowd killing one but injuring many others, yet we haven’t seen or heard any white supremacist with a conscious denouncing their creeds because of this outright violence. While we have many people, who lean left advocating for hurting and shutting down those who participate in these marches or spread disgusting views on marginalized people, which are meant to empower White Supremacist ideologies, there are others who believe that violently opposing these far-right groups is going to confirm their narratives of “white genocide” and their martyr complex. But we never hear this argument lobbied at these very same people who commit far more violence in the US than any other known terrorist organization in the country. Why do we not give this same treatment of peace and tolerance to Right-leaning groups that routinely can attack people of color without much of a response from law enforcement or government or even the jobs & family members of those who committed these atrocities in the US.

There is something key here that needs to be recognized in how the Right has been able to monopolize violence while the Left is left debating whether it is a good idea. Meaning the state that is built on violent slavery and violent genocide will do what it takes to uphold their power. It’s worth recognizing that organizations like the Black Panther Party, the American Indian Movement, & even the communist backed Labor movements from the late 1800s to the 1950’s have all been systematically weakened by the legislation and outright violence of the Police, FBI, and Anti-Communist efforts of the US government, where is the argument for them to be peaceful & tolerant to protestors. Even the African-American Civil Rights movement during the 1950’s has been met with violence from the Ku Klux Klan and the Police while politicians and the “liberal minded” blamed both sides even while Martin Luther King Jr. perpetuated a nonviolent approach.

While these groups with very leftist and Marxist leanings have been dismantled thanks to the US government & law enforcement, the KKK, Neo-Nazis and other Far Right groups have been left to their own devices growing without so much of a slap on the wrist for their actions. Looking at today, examples like Dylann Roof massacring nine people in a historically black church, or Jeremy Christian fatally stabbing two people for defending the Muslim women he was harassing has not discouraged others from joining white supremacist ranks or even condemning the actions of fellow Far-Right extremists. These groups depend on the strength of numbers & the knowledge they can practice their bigotry safely. Even the idea that these groups will be strengthened by violence against them is absurd.

After the Presidential election of Donald Trump, we’ve seen a huge wave of Far-Right politicians, as well as right wing media pundits, alt-right figureheads etc., take control & yet still seem to subscribe to the idea that they’re under fire from the government. Even though the police always seem to allow white supremacists to march freely until someone is killed but aren’t afraid to flex their military grade weaponry against the Black Lives Matter protests, the North Dakota Access Pipeline protests, the Inauguration of Donald Trump protests & many more. With each challenge the Right faces against people putting themselves on the line, no matter how peaceful, they push legislation to protect those who seek to hurt protestors. The most recent example is the wave of police & conservative folk sharing memes that support the driver of the dodge charger that killed Hannah Heyer in Charlottesville and the legislation circulating through states offering protection for people who attack protestors. Most other countries would call that terrorism and would use the full force of the state to detain the person who would drive their vehicle into a crowd.

To say violence is not the answer, when marginalized people become the very targets of state-sanctioned white supremacy usually with debilitating and deadly results, is not just privileged, it’s ignorant of the monopoly the Right has historically had on violence itself. When people are systematically killed daily and calls for the outright removal of marginalized backgrounds begin to have a permissible forward momentum by the police, the state, the president of the United State & the people who would wish to only mock them rather than crush the nucleus of their movement with the utmost brutality, when even peaceful protest is met with the same violence, the only thing really left to do when the fascists come knocking at your door is to eat cake.

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