Past Year of White Nationalism Has Shown Ongoing Need for Anti-Fascist Movements
Counter-protesters form a line outside of Black Lives Matter Plaza against a police line separating them from a group of Proud Boys during an anti-Trump rally on the same day as the second Million MAGA March in Washington, D.C., on December 12, 2020.
Craig Hudson for The Washington Post via Getty Images
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We are living through an era marked not just by the explosive violence of the far-right, but by the specific targeting of antifascist activists by the state and white nationalists alike. The term “antifa” has escaped its practical usage and is now used as a mythic signifier for all things left-wing and chaotic in the right-wing imagination, which has only increased seemingly impulsive acts of violence against anti-racist organizers. This is not a new history, and itreminds of us of a heart-wrenching tragedy from the 1980s that is still in the memory of many antifascists demonstrating in the s
thanksgiving. here onset is correspondent for business insider. i would like to start with you, kelly. it is an extraordinary op-ed. weigh are you hearing from the white house? one of the things we heard from the president himself before the op-ed was his recognition of the controversy around his intervention in the case of eddie gallagher, the navy seal accused of war crimes and convicted of just one count of posing with a dead militant in iraq. he has insisted that he retain his navy seal membership, be allowed to retire with his full rank and so forth. the president said that he could resist those who are in air conditioned offices telling him what to do and that he wants to stand with war fighters. there has not been a specific reaction about secretary spencer s op-ed, but you re right to characterize it as stunning and it is stinging of the president. what spencer is saying is that this was the president getting in the way of military justice when military justice has its
does not alter that fundamental foundation of the u.s. military. but there is also concern that spencer went outside the box. that he went to the president behind the pentagon s back to try and cut a deal on all of this to preserve gallagher s s.e.a.l. status. have a little more of a listen to what spencer has to say and what defense secretary mark esper s response to the situation is. i will take the bad on me for not letting him know i did that. but he was completely informed as to this because his chief of staff was briefed on it. secretary spencer broke these rules. that s lost my trust in confidence. contrary to the narrative that some have put forward in the meedia, this is not about eddie gallagher. it s about secretary spencer and the chain of command. now even this morning, top officials at the pentagon are disputing spencer s account and