democracy is not something that happens when you elect somebody in a ballot box, it's something that happens when members of the community get together and govern themselves. the model that antifa uses is actually an example of actual democracy, rather than some kind of antithesis to it. but, the burden of proof then falls on the antifascist body to ensure that what it is struggling against is real.

i've said this repeatedly: if i felt that antifa were actually struggling against actual nazis, i would be on their side in a second. the people marching in charlottesville were clearly actual nazis. as far as i can tell, that is the first time in recent months that that has actually been true.

you can't argue with nazis any more than you can argue with a lion. i understand his historical arguments, but i suspect that what he is saying is too literate for most americans to follow. this is something more tangible for people that don't know the history: imagine you're face to face with a mountain lion. do you think you're likely to talk your way out of this, or do you think you'd better defend yourself? now, let's all recognize that nazis have the mindset of remorseless predators. you are not an opponent, you are prey.

it's just absolutely imperative that you identify nazis correctly, and that you do not misidentify conservatives or liberals as nazis and then treat them the way you would treat nazis, which is what was happening at some of the other protests. and, the way you do that is you involve yourself in the collectives; the answer to the problems inherent to democracy are, in truth, almost always more democracy, as they are truly problems of democracy being poorly applied.

these are perspectives coming from an anarcho-communist, who is both a socialist and a civil libertarian. there's no conflict between these viewpoints; in truth, they make the most sense in conjunction with each other: true libertarianism is communism. you should be wary of people that want to set up a dichotomy, as what they are telling you is that they do not truly believe in civil rights and are using the situation for personal gain, and perhaps dangerously so.

he is right that there is no equivalency, but his arguments really leave a lot to be desired.

i also want to point out that if the administration starts falsely blaming attacks on leftists then it is not likely to be the consequence of some inability to deal with reality, but a tactic of suppression. i'll need to break my own advice here and use a historical comparison: hitler dissolved the legislature by burning it down and blaming it on communists, then claimed he needed special powers to fight them off. this is another reason why it is so important that antifascists pick their battles wisely as, equivalency or not, the reality is that the majority of the country abides by a pacifist christian value system that sees all violence as equivalent and will be easily manipulated into handing over stronger police powers should it be shown enough pictures of "left-wing extremists".

smashing nazis is necessary. but, you have to make sure that what you're smashing is actually a nazi. it's critically important.