Antifa Joins White Nationalists In National Spotlight As Media Explores Domestic Terrorism

Protesters in black, associated with Antifa, shown at a "No-To-Marxism" rally Aug. 27 in Berkeley, California. The rally had been canceled, but still attracted attendees and demonstrators to Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Park along with score of police in riot gear. | M. Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO

White nationalists are not the only domestic terrorists in America, although America's neo-Nazis aren't currently classified as such. In mid-August, after Charlottesville CNN explained: "While Congress chose to define "domestic terrorism," it did not actually create a crime of domestic terrorism. The punishment for committing an act of "terrorism" under federal law only covers crimes that either occur outside the United States or are initiated by people outside the United States. That means an act of pure terrorism that occurs right here at home, without foreign involvement, can't be prosecuted as terrorism under the law."

Politico writes Friday that Federal authorities have increasingly warned state and local officials since early 2016 about 'antifa', believing that the 'anarchist extremists' were the "primary instigators of violence at public rallies against a range of targets. They were blamed by authorities for attacks on the police, government and political institutions, along with symbols of “the capitalist system,” racism, social injustice and fascism, according to a confidential 2016 joint intelligence assessment by DHS and the FBI."

After Donald Trump's election in November 2016, antifa turned its focus to the president-elect's solid support from white supremacists and nationalist groups. The reports appear to support Trump's insistence that extremists exist on both side -- although the extent of their presence in Charlottesville is not totally clear. 

Counterprotesters linking arms in Charlottesville. CreditEdu Bayer for The New York Times

The New York Times asked 'Who Were the Counterprotesters in Charlottesville?'

In Charlottesville, about 20 members of a group called the Redneck Revolt, which describes itself as an anti-racist, anti-capitalist group dedicated to uniting working-class whites and oppressed minorities, carried rifles and formed a security perimeter around the counterprotesters in Justice Park, according to its website and social media.

The group, which admires John Brown, a white abolitionist who led an armed insurrection in 1859, issued a “call to arms” on its website: “To the fascists and all who stand with them, we’ll be seeing you in Virginia.”

Cornel West told the newscast “Democracy Now!” that anti-fascists saved his life and the lives of other nonviolent clergy members in Charlottesville. “We would have been crushed like cockroaches were it not for the anarchists and the anti-fascists,” he said on the show. “You had police holding back and just allowing fellow citizens to go at each other.”

The question of police disengagement in Charlottesville is also under investigation, given the large number of observations that the police seemed to stand down in Charlottesville.  The local umbrella group in Charlottesville responsible for the counter-protests is Solidaritycville. 

This graphic is from the organization's Twitter feed with the message: Your regularly-scheduled reminder to not let public opinion dictate how we fight for liberation.