The Victory of Berkeley

This weekend we had another battle over free speech at Berkeley. It started as a free speech rally with people from all different political stripes. Classical liberals, Conservatives, Libertarians, and more attended the event to hear the speakers. Before the main event could happen Antifa showed up. They knocked down the barricade and started throwing things into the crowd gathered in an attempt to shut the event down. They came demanding the event to be stopped and if it was not they were more than willing to use violence to shut it down. This worked before at Berkeley against Milo Yiannopoulos and during the March 4 Trump rally.

This time the free speech people came ready to fight too. The crowds clashed, some fights were started by Antifa and some by the free speech group. The police stood back and let it all happen. When asked why they let this happen they said “That’s a good question for the chief of police.” And “I would refer you to our information officer for a statement.” As the police were watching the crowds started to fight more. Antifa pulled people from the free speech crowd, surrounded them and started stomping on them and beating them. They also threw fireworks and M80’s in to the free speech crowd. The explosions were caused by Antifa, not the police. They also attacked their mortal enemy the trash can (Antifa hate trash cans for some reason). The turn in the battle came when Antifa threw a smoke bomb with the wind blowing back at them. The smoke blew over the Antifa group and Antifa broke ranks and ran.

The free speech crowd, realizing the enemy was fleeing rushed them, turning the retreat into a rout. Now it was time for Antifa to get beat in the street. Antifa was pushed from the street and fled. They lost this battle of Berkeley but with this loss they will come back harder. Next time we may see more than just fist fights and people with sticks and fireworks. The next step is organizing and increasing your arms. Antifa message boards are already talking about what the next step is so they do not lose the next battle. They noticed the free speech people were wearing helmets that could absorb some damage and the person could keep fighting.

The people in Antifa are a serious problem. They are fully committed to the cause and believe they are righteous. This righteousness allows them to justify any action they take as long as it furthers the cause. They believe this is a revolution and they need to fight the ‘fascists’ who are in power. These people are violent and militant and should not be underestimated. They want to destroy the whole society and bring about communism, all in the name of equality. They are out of control and the people in power are refusing to do anything about it.

This will lead to people to take action into their own hands. We saw it at the free speech rally where the crowd fought back against Antifa. In the crowd were people who consider themselves white nationalist. They are the far right version of identity politics of the far left. These people are to be rejected as well. I know the old axiom of the enemy of my enemy is my friend but in this case the white nationalists are more of a liability than a benefit. The white nationalist movement has grown in response to movements such as Black Lives Matter and the ideas permeating from universities that white males are the reason society has so many troubles. It seems they believe that if blacks and Latino’s can have their own groups and organizations than why can’t white people. In fact they take it a step farther and say white people are going to be destroyed if they don’t have their own advocacy organizations.

I bring up the white nationalist because they are appealing to more and more people the more Antifa is allowed to get away with violence. In times of trouble people will look to someone, anyone, with a solution. We have to ask ourselves, do we want people going to white nationalism for that solution or just giving in to Antifa for their solution? The answer is no. The only way to stop this is to have regular people stand up and take charge. The speakers at the free speech rally denounced the white nationalists along with Antifa and this is what we need to do. We need to reject both extremes and get the majority of people to find the middle way.

This time free speech won the day in Berkeley but Antifa is far from destroyed. They will be back and will escalate things. The white nationalist will welcome this to boost their numbers. We the people need to put a stop to this, hold our freely elected leaders accountable and if they refuse to put a stop to it, than we the average people will need to stand up and put a stop to it ourselves. If that happens, I’ll be ready to stand, would you stand with me?