Senate Subcommittee to Hold Hearing on First Amendment, Antifa Violence

“THESE ATTACKS ARE NOT SPONTANEOUS”

by Sharon Rondeau

(August 4, 2020) — The Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution will hold a hearing at 2:30 PM Tuesday titled, “The Right of the People Peaceably to Assemble: Protecting Speech by Stopping Anarchist Violence.”

Live streaming is available on the subcommittee’s web page.

The subcommittee, chaired by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is part of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary chaired by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Cruz has announced nine witnesses to include the two U.S. senators from Oregon; independent journalist Andy Ngo, who has extensively documented Antifa activity in the Pacific Northwest and himself been a victim of violence; and well-known George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley, among others.

In late May, days after violence broke out following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the Trump administration announced plans to designate Antifa as a “terrorist organization.”  As some peaceful protests took place, looting, burning of local businesses, assaults and deaths occurred throughout many of the nation’s cities, giving way to the toppling of statues of historical figures such as Christopher Columbus and Civil War generals.

Some have argued that Antifa is not an organized “group,” but rather, “a kind of politics” involving “private investigator work.”  On May 31, The Washington Post wrote, “Trump cannot, for practical and legal reasons, formally designate antifa a terrorist organization, and neither he nor his attorney general has made public specific evidence that the far-left movement is orchestrating the fiery protests that have erupted in dozens of U.S. cities.”

On Monday Newsweek reported, “The autonomous groups that make up the Antifa movement generally oppose neo-Nazis, fascism, white supremacists, racism and other types of extreme right-wing ideology.”  According to the same article, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is investigating whether or not Antifa members have ties to Syrian terrorists.

Antifa describes itself as “a broad, community-based movement composed of individuals organizing against racial and economic injustice. Those who identify with the label represent a large spectrum of the political left,” adding, “The Trump administration frequently uses the term to describe any group or individual that demonstrates in opposition to its policies. Far-right extremists use similar tactics.”  Its invitation to new members reads, “It’s easier then you may think – We are mobilizing to help support Comrades affected by the current crisis against them. Take Action to assist Comrades with Equal Opportunities & Financial Assistance. Protect Your Rights & Continue to Fight Fascism. We are actively increasing Membership & providing Opportunity Updates online.”

“This morning we’re going to examine what the Constitution protects, which is the right to peaceably assemble,” Cruz told “Fox & Friends” co-hosts Brian Kilmeade, Ainsley Earhardt and Pete Hegseth shortly after 8:30 a.m. EDT, “and then we saw, starting a couple of months ago, thousands of people across the country coming out, exercising their free-speech rights.  You and I — we all have a right to speak and protest, but we cross the line when we commit violence.  When you assault someone else, when you firebomb a police car, when you loot and destroy a small business, when you murder a police officer, you’ve crossed the line, and that has got to stop, and this hearing is really focusing on how violent terrorists – I mean, these attacks are not spontaneous; they’re organized; Antifa is organizing them; the Marxist group, Black Lives Matter, is organizing them; and that’s the important distinction there.  The phrase “black lives matter” is indisputably true; everyone agrees with that, that every life is a precious gift from God. The actual organization that has called itself “Black Lives Matter” is formed by avowed Marxists who are seeking to abolish the police, who are seeking to destroy the nuclear family; that’s what they say their objectives are, and then this violence…”

The co-founder of Black Lives Matter, Patrisse Cullors, has said the group consists of “trained Marxists.”

According to Wikipedia’s entry under the title, “Propaganda in the Soviet Union”:

Propaganda can start a large movement or revolution, but only if the masses rally behind one another to make the images produced by propaganda a reality. Good propaganda must instill hope, faith, and certainty. It must bring solidarity among the population. It must stave off demoralization, hopelessness, and resignation.^[81] The Soviet union did its best to try and create a new society in which the people of Russia could unite as one.

A common theme was the creation of a new, utopian society, depicted in posters and newsreels, which inspired an enthusiasm in many people.^[82] Much propaganda was dedicated to a new community, as exemplified in the use of “comrade.”^[83] This new society was to be classless.^[84] Distinctions were to be based on function, not class, and all possessed the equal duty to work.^[85] During the 1930s discussion of the new constitution, one speaker proclaimed that there were, in fact, no classes in the USSR,^[86] and newspapers effused over how the dreams of the working class were coming true for the luckiest people in the world.^[87] One admission that there were classes—workers, peasants, and working intelligentsia—dismissed it as unimportant, as these new classes had no need to conflict.^[88]