Giving Antifa Its Due

 

Look up Andy Ngo’s recently published Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy in your local public library’s online catalog, and chances are better than not that, if they even bothered to acquire it, the book has been slapped with the informationally ghettoizing subject heading “conspiracy theories” – a condescending label never applied to books about “Russiagate” or “white privilege”, for two obvious examples. “Andy Ngo’s new book still pretends antifa’s the real enemy,” scoffs Globohomo mouthpiece Alexander Nazaryan in the Los Angeles Times. [1] Clearly, the respectable curators of the information landscape are interested in keeping this book marginalized or hidden – which, naturally, is the first indication that it is worth reading.

Many reasonable criticisms can be leveled at Unmasked. Ngo is at best a meat-and-potatoes prose stylist, and Hachette, his publisher, even skimped on providing proper proofreading, an indication that the book was rushed into print. The American conservative ideology with which Ngo has dolloped his text does little to enliven or deepen his analysis, nor are his comparisons between Antifa groupings, tactics, and ideology and the legacies of the nominally Marxist states of the German Democratic Republic and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam particularly compelling. The “extremely repressive conditions in East Germany exemplified what ‘antifa’ state-building actually looks like,” Ngo asserts in one of his book’s more embarrassing passages. [2]

To his credit, Ngo acknowledges the specifically anti-white orientation of Antifa groups, Black Lives Matter, and critical theory as mainstreamed by academia and corporate media. He is hardly the “white supremacist” he is accused of being, however, and Ngo’s account can by no means be dismissed as a “white nationalist” or “Alt-Right” rant. “Stories of violent white racism, though exceptionally rare,” Ngo writes in an illustrative formulation, “are impactful to the American public because they remind us of American history.” [3] More annoyingly, he even refers at one point to “the murder of Heather Heyer” [4] and (of course) the “unfathomable evils” of Hitler’s SA [5] – word choice that will hardly bolster Ngo’s street cred with Atomwaffen. Similarly, Ngo at times verges on the insinuation of cuckservative “the-real-racists” narratives, as when he makes reference to “David Campbell, an antifa black bloc militant convicted for his role in stalking and choking a 56-year-old Jewish Trump supporter outside a conservative event in Manhattan.” [6] He seldom belabors such points, however, and mainly leaves it to the reader to interpret such ironies.

Likewise, Ngo’s persistence in treating establishment media figures as unwitting dupes of Antifa can be irritating. “I don’t believe most liberal journalists set out to intentionally mislead their audiences and readers about antifa,” he Gumps on the park bench near the end of his book. [7] If anything, it is his failure to engage with the “conspiracy” angle on Antifa that frustrates. He tends to accept the anti-capitalism of Antifa’s marketing and messaging at face value, taking umbrage at their “opposition to free markets” [8] and cries of “Death to capitalism!” [9] I would have preferred much more research into and emphasis on the possible ulterior motives of Antifa’s moneyed sympathizers – with respect, for example, to the push to defund local police forces. Ngo avoids such speculation, however, and sticks to the verifiable.

As such, Unmasked is a valuable compilation of Ngo’s research and first-hand experiences and an insightful reconstruction of the tumultuous events of 2020. Though mostly disturbing, the book is occasionally humorous, as when Ngo relates the bizarre racial politics and horticultural bumbling that developed in Seattle’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone:

Though CHAZ claimed to have no rules, what quickly developed was a complex code of conduct that varied from area to area within the zone and even with the time of day. For example, those in the garden area, who were mostly white, needed to make sure they did not “recolonize” the space. Signs around the gardens reminded people of this. There was even a separate garden for “black and indigenous folks” after concerns arose over there being too many whites in the area. The gardens featured residents’ attempts at growing herbs and vegetables. Though freshly planted, most of the plants had wilted within a day or two. [10]

Ngo’s book performs a considerable service, however, in getting past the misconceptions still entertained by some that Antifa are simply hypersensitive snowflakes and mentally ill weaklings. While the defective and damaged are certainly represented among their ranks, it is worthwhile to keep in mind that the infamous Portland arrest photos depict those reckless and stupid enough to get caught by the police. Ngo stresses that there are disciplined, highly sophisticated, and networked cells of committed Antifa radicals that he likens to jihadist organizations – in Antifa’s case, often organized using radical bookstores as fronts.

One of the most interesting sections of Unmasked is Ngo’s reproduction of and commentary on a leaked Rose City Antifa curriculum for new members, with physical fitness and combat training recommended along with political literature. Competencies for unit two of the program give an indication of the group’s security-mindedness, with required readings including Sprout Distro’s An Activist’s Guide to Information Security and CrimethInc’s What Is Security Culture? Key competencies for this unit include the following: “Get comfortable using Tor, Signal, Keypass, and PGP” and “Be able to STFU [shut the fuck up]: no bragging, no loud talking in bars, no Facebook updates, no discussion of sensitive matters with close friends, partners, etc.” [11]

Ngo professes to have been “stunned at how fast and effective they are at identifying their enemies and releasing all the ‘research’ in the form of doxes.” He continues: “Indeed, on Twitter, groups like Rose City Antifa release long threads identifying attendees of right-wing public rallies, where they work, to whom they’re married, with whom they’re friends, what kind of car they drive, and so on. From there, the threads are shared hundreds or thousands of times where they’re able to crowdsource additional personal information” [12] – a reporting system into which brainwashed American zealots at large were initiated in the wake of the Capitol “insurrection” of this year.

The logistical sophistication of some of the tactics and operations Ngo describes can sometimes be humbling. Anybody who has been involved with nationalist metapolitics or activism for very long will be aware of what a disorganized and largely incompetent shitshow the scene is most of the time. In such true dissidents’ defense, though, it must be conceded that they have seldom been given as much space to breathe as Antifa have been during recent years, with law enforcement leashed and mainstream media even denying that Antifa groups exist as organized cells – nor have even peaceful nationalists been the beneficiaries of anything resembling the extensive legal aid networks that violent Antifa and BLM rioters enjoy.

Though critical, Ngo musters surprising sympathy for those who are seduced by Antifa’s ethos. “Grievance ideologies resonate with millennials and Gen Z because of an economic reality they experience: crushing student debt, job insecurity, and the inability to ever afford a home,” he acknowledges. [13] “Antifa are often assumed to be upper-class spoiled brats by their detractors, but this isn’t broadly true,” he further explains:

I’ve looked through records and backgrounds of nearly a thousand people arrested at antifa riots to get a better sense of who they are. While some are indeed highly educated and in white-collar professions ranging from law to academia to health care, those who are involved in the street violence are disproportionately individuals dealing with housing insecurity, financial instability, and mental health issues like gender dysphoria. Antifa could not give a damn if those people end up injured, imprisoned, or dead in the furtherance of their political agenda. [14]

Ngo concludes with his suggestion for how best to destroy already existing Antifa nests:

Antifa’s ideology, or any extremist belief system for that matter, cannot be banned per the First Amendment. Antifa have the constitutional right to espouse their hatred, as do racists and other bigots. I’m skeptical that additional legislation can be helpful when there are already laws that can be applied. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act may be relevant; it was codified into American federal jurisprudence in the 1970s to prosecute the Mafia and others involved in organized crimes. Antifa, regardless of what they call themselves, are an organized criminal network of groups. It’s not only the violent hooligans who should be prosecuted. Organizers exchange money and resources with one another. They provide radicalization training and instructions on how to commit crimes. They cross state lines. [15]

This, of course, sounds like a perfectly reasonable solution – until one considers that “federal jurisprudence” itself is now functionally Antifa.

Rainer Chlodwig von K.

Rainer is the author of Drugs, Jungles, and Jingoism.

Endnotes

[1] Nazaryan, Alexander. “Review: Andy Ngo’s new book still pretends antifa’s the real enemy”. Los Angeles Times (February 8, 2021): https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2021-02-08/andy-ngo-new-book-still-pretends-antifa-real-enemy

[2] Ngo, Andy. Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy. New York, NY: Center Street, 2021, p. 103.

[3] Ibid., p. 117.

[4] Ibid., p. 137.

[5] Ibid., p. 100.

[6] Ibid., pp. 159-160.

[7] Ibid., p. 211.

[8] Ibid., p. 8.

[9] Ibid., p. 40.

[10] Ibid., pp. 34-35.

[11] Ibid., p. 85.

[12] Ibid., pp. 193-194.

[13] Ibid., p. 235.

[14] Ibid., p. 234.

[15] Ibid., pp. 236-237.