What is Antifa and why Trump announced his designation as a terrorist organization?

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“I will also firmly recommend that People who finance ‘ANTIFA’ are the subject of thorough investigation, in accordance with the strictest legal norms and practices, “ Trump added.

The president did not add more details and the White House did not abound in the subject either.

During his first management as president (2017-2021), Trump already tried to designate Antifa as a terrorist. That time, he blamed the movement for the looting and riots that arose during the protests against police brutality after the death of the Afro -American George Floyd.

Now he returned to the load after the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirkoccurred on September 10 at the University of Valle, in Utah.

The alleged author of the crime, Tyler Robinsonhe is already detained. Until now it has not been proven to have links or that it is at the left, or if it is part of Antifa. Nor if he acted under instructions from any political group or that has been in an organized cell.

In one of his first public reactions after the crime, Trump said in a statement from the oval office that the murder of Kirk It represents a “dark moment for America,” praised the activist, called him “martyr for truth and freedom,” and He accused the “radical left” of comparing people like Kirk with Nazis and other criminals.

“We have to hit everything we have those lunatics on the radical left”, said Trump In another statement to the press.

Then, in an interview at Fox & Friends, Trump said “The radicals on the left are the problem.”

In the days after the murder of Kirkofficials like its vice president JD Vance They joined Trump to promise an offensive against the political left.

Vance mentioned a Open Society Foundations, financed by billionaire and democratic donor George Soros; and Ford Foundationand accused them of financing an article in The Nation, a magazine he attacked for his coverage about the death of Kirk.

The Trump administration has also announced that It will revoke the visas of the people who celebrate Kirk’s deathand federal research on hate speeches will begin.

In this regard, the international analyst Francisco Belaunde Matossian He said to Commerce that after the murder of Kirk It is happening in USA what was feared and what “Actually, Donald Trump is not a Democrat.”

“It is clear that he has never believed in democracy and takes any occasion to go against people who do not think like him. Democracy in the United States on several fronts is destroying a few”, Belaunde held.

Also warned that the narrative of Trump It is contradictory, because on the one hand pardoned and He granted penalty commutations to almost 1,600 people who were prosecuted for different crimes committed during the assault on the Capitol of January 6, 2021, Now seeks to designate the movement as a terrorist Antifa.

The analyst recalled that this year the Democratic congresswoman Melissa Hortman And her husband Mark Hortman They were killed and that the crime was cataloged by the authorities as “Politically motivated”, But by Trump there was no reaction as in the case of Kirk.

According to Belaunde, this position of Trump damages the international image of USA And it can also serve as justification for authoritarian governments in other regions to imitate and criminalize or silence their opponents under the argument of the terrorism.

“Those governments that want to imitate Trump would act as Nicolás Maduro does in Venezuela or Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, where dissident voices and freedom of expression are attacked,” He scored.

What is antifa?

Antifa is the diminutive of “anti -fascists.” It is not a formal organization with hierarchy, unique leadership or registered membership.

It is a decentralized network of activists and groups that share a common identity: the Opposition to fascism, racism, extreme right, white supremacism and other forms of authoritarianism.

Its modern origins date back to Europe in the 30s, but In the United States it took strength in the last two decadesespecially after Trump’s arrival in the presidency in 2017 and clashes with white supremacist groups.

“Think of them as radical anti -racists who want to personally take care of the task of stopping white supremacy”he told New York Times Mark Bray, historian of the Rutgers University and author of “Antifa: the anti -fascist manual.”

Bray added that the difference between them and someone who normally opposes these things is that Antifascists do not trust that the government or police effectively dismantle fascism and white supremacy. Moreover, Antifa He suspects that the police and capitalist society sympathize with those ideas. “From there comes the idea of ​​doing justice for your own hands, which gives some air of militancy to your mission.”

The historian said that the Antifa Current in the United States is inspired by the movements to combat the extreme right in the United Kingdom and Germany of the 70s and 80s, in which, for example, the participants assumed the task of monitoring and controlling the “shaved heads” in the football matches.

How does Antifa act?

Who are part of the movement Antifa They use a wide range of protest tactics, which go From peaceful manifestations to strength actions such as blockages, countermanifestations and, sometimes, violent clashes with supporters of the extreme right.

Many of the antifa cover their faces with scarves or hoods Blackwhich has given rise to the call Black Bloc strategyused to avoid being identified. This combative appearance has fed the perception that it is a clandestine and violent group.

The Antifa They are usually identified with progressive causes and social movements linked to racial justice, minority rights and the defense of sexual diversity. Nevertheless, Critics and conservative authorities accuse them of promoting violence as a political method, blur the limits between protest and vandalism, and seek to destabilize public order.

In the United States, Antifa Notoriety charged in 2017 during the riots of CharlottesvilleVirginia, when anti -fascist militants faced white neo -Nazis and supremacist protesters.

In August 2017, during the march called “Unite The Right”, neo -Nazis groups, white supremacists and members of the ultra -right movement known as Alt-Right They concentrated on Charlottesville to protest against the withdrawal of a confederate statue. In response, thousands of anti -fascist protesters, militants of Antifa and civil rights activists, they took to the streets to face them.

The tension resulted in violent clashes that culminated in tragedy when a supremacist He lashed out with his automobile Against a multitude of counter -family, killing the activist Heather Heyer And hurting more dozens, a fact that marked a turning point in the debate on extremism and anti -fascism in the country.

Terrorist organization?

Being Antifa A general term that encompasses militant groups of the extreme left and not a unique entity, it is not clear how the administration Trump I would designate it as a terrorist organization.

Currently, the State Department does not have a national list equivalent to its list of foreign terrorist organizations, where organizations such as Al Qaeda, the Islamic State, Hamas, Hezbollah, among others.

The New York Times remarked that There is no mechanism to designate national groups as terrorists.

A GE added that despite the constant calls, especially after the massive shootings perpetrated by white supremacists, to establish a national law against terrorism, there is currently no unique statute.

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