Written by: Sarah Johnson | July 17, 2018

This week we’ll take a closer look at US HR6054, the Unmasking Antifa Act. This Act comes at a time where the political divide in our country seems to be heating up (especially with the mid-terms only a few months away). What exactly is Antifa? What does this act say? What does this mean in general? Let’s take a look.

What is Antifa?

According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, Antifa (short for anti-fascists) is a person or group actively opposing fascists and fascism. Fascist is defined as a political philosophy, movement or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation and forcible suppression of opposition.

Antifa is used to define a group of people who do not conform with the Democratic platform but have political beliefs usually leaning far left. This group has been around for a long time; with its origins traced to resisting Nazi Germany and Mussolini in Italy. In the United States, Antifa is not an “official group” meaning there is no leader or headquarters, but some groups around the nation hold regular meetings. Because of the range of people who have identified themselves as “involved” with Antifa, what their members stand for is impossible to precisely define. Usually, Antifa activists are anti-racist, anti-sexist and anti-homophobia, and also commonly socially leftist and anti-capitalist. Pretty much they work to support oppressed people and protest the accumulation of wealth and power by elites and corporations.

Antifa gained traction around the United States over the last two years, consistently showing up to many of the politically charged events and protests during the Trump administration. I am sure we have all noticed the marked increase in the number of protests around the United States (see this blog detailing the increase in legislation surrounding protests and an update). After the Charlottesville protests, Antifa certainly had a national platform when they showed up to “condemn hate and racism”. President Trump singled out Antifa as part of what he calls the “alt-left” when he condemned the “hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides”.

See this post from Sarah Evelynn about the incident in Charlottesville.

Is Violence Involved?

People who identify as Antifa have stated that in the name of fighting to put a stop to “hate speech” they will implement violent means (like vandalism) or militant tactics. This has happened recently a few different times:

  • President Trump’s inauguration (protesters busted out limousine windows)
  • At Milo Yiannopoulos’ speech at Berkley in the spring of 2017 (broke windows and started fires, causing more than $100,000 of property damage)
  • During the Charlottesville protests (did not stay in their designated area for the protest and reportedly launched an attack on the ‘alt-right’ with mace, pepper spray, bricks, sticks and foul liquids)

Members see themselves as engaging in “self-defense,” protecting other protesters. The main goal for Antifa activists is to confront neo-Nazis and white supremacists in order to deny them a platform to publicly spread their views (which judging by the amount of coverage they get at these events, I do not think is working out).

Many Antifa activists point to the fact that they themselves have been targets of violence and that the media has sensationalized them and their actions in the name of giving an “equal” platform to everyone involved. For some context, according to the Anti-Defamation League, domestic extremists of all kinds have killed at least 372 people in the United States between 2007 and 2016. Approximately 74 percent of those deaths were at the hands of right-wing extremists while approximately two percent were carried out by left-wing extremists.

Why Do We Need to Unmask Antifa?

Although it can be difficult to distinguish Antifa activists from other protesters, they tend to be in “Black Bloc”. This means they dress head to toe in black and wear masks to hide their identities from the police and from whomever they are protesting. As discussed above, Antifa activists have gained nationwide attention for engaging in violent clashes while disrupting events and actions planned by white supremacist groups. In these clashes Antifa activists have mainly acted anonymously, or “masked”, both literally and figuratively.

What Does this Bill Say?

US HR6054, the Unmasking Antifa Act, ultimately seeks to criminalize “committing certain offenses while in disguise” and is sponsored by Rep. Dan Donovan (R-NY), Rep. Peter King (R-NY), Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Ted Budd (R-N.C.). The bill, introduced earlier in June of 2018, gained momentum after alt-right personality, Mike Cernovich, encouraged his followers to call their representatives about the legislation.

While the text of the bill itself does not mention Antifa activists, only addressing them by the title of the act, the bill is about anyone injuring someone at a protest while wearing a mask, which Antifa are known to do.

The bill reads: “Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, while in disguise, including while wearing a mask, injures, oppresses, threatens, or intimidates any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 15 years, or both.”

Some Antifa activists have said that passing a bill to criminalize these tactics could jeopardize their safety and embolden right-wing protesters who often do not feel as though they need to protect their identities.

Conclusion

The former head of the US Office of Government Ethics, who resigned in protest under President Trump, tweeted about this bill:

When looking at legislation like this, it is interesting to think about if we will ever get back to a place where there was the ability to agree to disagree in politics. I know there have always been bills introduced to make public statements, but this bill seems to be different from all of the ones I have seen. I do not know where we go from here, but legislation like this does leave me questioning and concerned.

 

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