Is the Left Prepared for the Right's Terrorism?

By Vincent Emanuele, teleSUR

08 December 15

The Left needs to be resilient and serious, because the future isn't going to be nonviolent.

ately, there's been a rash of politically motivated violence in the U.S. from both state and non-state actors. Interestingly, the same is true in Australia, as right-wing organizations such as Reclaim Australia  (RA) and United Patriots Front  (UPF) display their violent tendencies during street protests and target left-wing activists on city streets. In both cases, at least in my thinking, these violent acts will only escalate, which raises important questions about political violence, security, and the state.  

Right-wing Violence in the U.S.

In the U.S., three key events have taken place in the last two weeks. The day my plane landed in Chicago, Monday, November 23, five Black Lives Matter protestors were gunned down while protesting the police shooting of Jamar Clark in Minneapolis, Minnesota. So far, the Minneapolis Police have arrested three suspects, all of whom are white males in their twenties.

The next day, on November 24, Chicago Police released video footage of police officer Jason Van Dyke shooting Laquan McDonald sixteen times, instantly killing the seventeen year old. Laquan's murder took place over a year ago, yet the video was just released to the public. Audio recordings from police dash cameras were also missing. According to the Chicago Police Department (CPD), the missing audio can be attributed to "technical difficulties." Additional reports have concluded that Chicago Police officers entered a nearby Burger King and tampered with the restaurant's security footage, deleting almost 86 minutes of video.

A few days later, on November 27, a lone gunman opened fire and began shooting police officers and civilians at a Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Three people were killed and nine injured during the madness. Subsequent reports indicate the shooter "mentioned 'baby parts' to investigators and in later interviews expressed anti-abortion and anti-government views." According to a report from the Guardian, "Since 1995, there have been a total of 5,147 violent incidents recorded at US abortion clinics, not including 2015."

Fortunately, activists and organizers have responded to all three events with protests and acts of civil disobedience. In Minnesota, hundreds of protestors took to the streets the day after white supremacists shot members from their encampment. In Chicago, protestors halted traffic and blocked stores on the historic Magnificent Mile during Black Friday (the largest shopping day in the U.S.). Further, pro-choice activists, gun control advocates and those who support Planned Parenthood held rallies and actions throughout the U.S.  

At the same time, it's important that activists have serious and critical conversations about security and the state. To put it differently, can activists develop alternatives to state security apparatuses? One step could be civilian oversight boards or committees who have the power to terminate officers and regulate their behavior. But that's only one step. What about actually replacing the police? Are left-wing activists prepared to provide security in a nation (the U.S.) that has over 300 million weapons? Could left-wing activists have effectively responded to the recent shooting at Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs? Of course not. After all, leftists don't have tactical units or armored vehicles. After the shooting of BLM activists in Minnesota, the Left still relied on state security forces to provide actual protection, conduct detective work and potentially prosecute suspects. Are leftists prepared to perform these unfortunate but necessary procedures?

Right-wing Violence in Australia

In early November, I was in Australia's capitol city of Canberra promoting a film when my friend received a phone call: one of her comrades had been targeted and physically assaulted on the streets of Melbourne by fascists from the UPF. The woman who was assaulted endured a broken cheekbone. She was referred to as "the bitch in the video," as the UPF thugs recognized her from previous activist work and online video content. Unsurprisingly, none of this is new. In recent weeks, the UPF has also attempted to intimidate the Melbourne Anarchist Club and the volunteer-run community radio station 3CR, where UPF members gained entry into the station's headquarters and threatened members of the staff.

A few days before my friends and I attended a counter-demonstration against the UPF and RA in Melton, a rural suburb located outside Melbourne, a fascist sympathizer was arrested at his home with illegal weapons and bomb-making manuals. The suspect, Phillip Galea, claimed "the weapons were intended for self-defense during an upcoming anti-Islam protest."

The Right in Australia, almost exclusively white, much like the Republican party in the U.S., is utterly frustrated after years of neoliberal reforms, displacement, poverty and addiction - they are foaming at the mouth for a new enemy, and they've found it: Islam.

When the fascists in Australia are not protesting the building of mosques, they're more than happy to stalk and terrorize left-wing activists and organizers, as mentioned above. At the protest we attended, the police, who came out in full-force, faced the counter-demonstrators, while turning their backs on the fascists. Meanwhile, right-wing protesters surrounded the leftists and started several physical altercations. The police would move in, pepper-spray the leftists, usher the fascists to a safer place, and return to their formations.

I have to admit, without the police, the fascists would have destroyed the progressives, anarchists, communists and socialists who made up the bulk of the counter-demonstration. The vast majority of the counter-demonstrators were not prepared for the violence the Right was willing to inflict. Again, without the state providing limited protection to the left-wing protesters, the fascist groups would have beaten, stabbed, tased and potentially killed many.

Combatting Extremism

What worries me is a future in which right-wing individuals and movements in the U.S., aided and protected by the state, violently lash-out at left-wing activists, people of color, immigrants and Muslims with impunity. Paradoxically, it should be mentioned that right-wing extremists, many of whom occupy positions of power within the security state, will be the very same people to kill state officials and law enforcement officers, as they have in the past.

Here, there is a severe contradiction in the power structure of the state. Sure, the U.S. and Australia were built on a legacy of white supremacy, but certain elements of that culture and history also loathe the state. In the past, we've seen what this looks like in the U.S.: Ted Kaczynski, Timothy McVeigh, Eric Rudolph, etc. Are left-wing activists prepared to deal with these elements? If so, how?

The economy is failing. Militarism grows stronger with each passing day. And the planet is being destroyed. Right-wing parties and organizations around the world are growing, not dwindling, and they are armed and more than willing to employ violence. In the plainest of terms, the Left needs to be resilient and serious, because the future isn't going to be nonviolent. The sooner left-wing activists can create viable alternatives to the security state, the more likely political movements will be able to achieve their goals. Without alternatives, the Left will continue to rely on the state for security.