Who or What is ANTIFA?The Truth Behind the Mask

The interesting thing about ANTIFA is that it’s not an organization, it is a philosophy and an ideology. ANTIFA believes that it’s morally justifiable to attack people simply because you disagree with them politically. Within ANTIFA itself, there are a lot of different groups that you’ll find. A lot of the members may do it for animal rights or for anti-capitalism, pro-socialism. Personally, when I was in ANTIFA, a lot of the activism I did was for animal rights. But once they come together in the black bloc and under them behind the black mask, they kind of forget all that. They go for that common goal of silencing whatever their opposition at the moment is. And oftentimes, we’ve seen them silence people simply for political disagreements. Those who threaten innocent life and property will be arrested, detained, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

This includes ANTIFA and others who are leading instigators of this violence. In the summer of 2018, I wrote a piece for the Wall Street Journal about the five-week occupation and siege of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Facility in Portland. I wrote very critically of what I saw. In addition to the breakdown of law and order in that neighborhood in southwest, we saw people affiliated with extreme left-wing movements in Portland like Antifa terrorizing those who lived in that community, business owners in those areas. I interviewed those who were affected.

Things became violent when ANTIFA amassed at the Sata Riot pub in Northeast Portland for the after-party. One of the masked militants, a patron from the pub, ran from the property directly to me and sprayed me with a chemical that blinded me and burnt my skin on my face. From there, the following month at the end of June was when I was beaten and robbed in the now infamous incident that was partially captured on video. This park right here to the left is where ANTIFA frequently gathers and meets. On the 29th of June, this whole street had been shut down in an unlawful demonstration by masked militants and their allies with the Democratic Socialists of America. Before I got to the front of the crowd, probably right around here because I remember this building with these two iconic sculptures, somebody or something hit me hard on the back of my head and knocked me forward. And before I could even catch my footing, then the punches came from every direction and all I saw were fists and people dressed in black, people wearing masks. I remember trying to block my face and they just kept hitting me in the back of my head and the top of my head. When I thought it was over, then came this hailstorm of milkshakes, eggs, and other hard objects. I was drenched head-to-toe, was bleeding, my earlobe was ripped, my eyes were swelling with blood, and I just kept walking, thinking at any point police are going to come and help me.

They never did. The city has had by this point years of protests that turn into riots, and they still have not learned from any of the mistakes of the past. They have not evolved and changed their policing tactics over and over as always. What is now a mantra for them, that they will not go in to intervene because it could incite the mob. Such senseless acts of anarchy are not exercises of First Amendment rights. They are crimes designed to terrify fellow citizens and intimidate communities. There are groups that exploit the opportunity to engage in such crimes as looting. We have evidence that ANTIFA and other similar extremist groups have been involved in instigating and participating in the violent activity. The first order of business is to cut off the wellspring where their ideology comes from, and it’s coming from the university. It’s coming from academic departments