As the Right Urges You To Fear Refugees, Antifa Are Fighting ISIS

“If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.” -Malcolm X

Since the inauguration of Donald Trump, the far-Right regime and their media outlets have put a lot of effort into demonizing the growing resistance to their wildly unpopular presidency, and have continued to gaslight those they seek to single out and attack. The fabrication of a terrorist attack, the ‘Bowling Green Massacre,’  that was a blatant distortion of reality to justify the ban on refugees is altogether unsurprising from an administration that prefers to create and rely on “alternative facts” to justify its racist agenda. In Trump’s America, “truth” is whatever aids his tyrannical abuse of power.

So it’s hard to say we didn’t see it coming that the far-Right would seek to obscure the truth about the antifa and anarchist dissidents who seek to counter fascist violence and ultimately undo the systems that allow people to wield this kind of power in the first place. Breitbart writer Joel B. Pollack wrote, “the black masks of the Black Bloc and so-called ‘Antifa’ activists should be regarded like the white hoods of the Klan — as the uniforms of extremist hatred.” Some have even gone as far as to imply that we are similar to or even work with ISIS, and should be considered a domestic terrorist group.

The far-Right often mistakes reality for what they want to see as reality. Here, YPG militia members have retaken a town that was under the control of ISIS and display an antifa flag in victory, a fact obviously lost on the twitter poster.

Yet while these same cowards sat comfortably behind their computer screens and encouraged you to see the refugees fleeing ISIS’ terrorism as your enemies, an international network of anti-fascist activists organized the International Freedom Battalion to support the Rojava Revolution and stop ISIS in their tracks. Some American anti-fascists and anarchists, such as Jordan Mactaggart and Michael Israel have even died in the fight against ISIS.

To give context, the editors of A Small Key Can Open A Large Door, an English book on the Rojava revolution, write:

“The world watched in horror last autumn as the ruthless Islamic State (commonly referred to as ISIS) marched on the small city of Kobane in northern Syria. No one expected the city to survive the attack. But it did. Mixed-gender militias with small arms held one of the most feared armies in the world at bay. The smoke cleared, and Kobane still stood.

And western media attention moved on.

The YPG and the YPJ, the militias who held the city, were fighting for their lives and their land. But even more than that, they were fighting to defend their their revolution: the Rojava Revolution. When the Assad regime began to fall, Kurds and other ethnic minorities in northern Syria carved out pockets of liberty and started one of the greatest social experiments the world has ever seen. Based on their own history of struggle and on the writings of social ecologist Murray Bookchin, the people of Rojava have developed an anti-state and anti-capitalist way of life. It’s a way of life that values feminism, direct democracy, ecological stewardship, and ethnic, linguistic, and religious pluralism. And right now, 2.5 million people are trying their hardest to defend their revolution against ISIS attacks from the south and an international trade embargo ruthlessly enforced by Turkey to the north.”

With their focuses on direct democracy, women’s liberation, ecology, and inclusiveness beyond ethnic and religious differences, along with the direct inspiration taken from the ideas of the late Vermont-based anarchist philosopher Murray Bookchin, the Rojavan revolutionaries inspired anarchists and anti-fascists from across the world. In a manner reminiscent of the Spanish Revolution, where international contingents of anti-fascists (including George Orwell) came together to support the revolutionaries in their fight against Franco. Now, anarchists and others have come to aid the struggles of the YPJ and YPG against ISIS and the Assad regime.

Meanwhile, Trump cozies up to Putin and ignores the atrocities that have been committed by him and Assad against the people of Syria, as his administration closes the gates on refugees and attempts to create an atmosphere of fear and panic against them.

Anti-ISIS fighters in Rojava hold antifa flag while stepping on capture ISIS flag.

To the typical reader of Breitbart, this might seem unbelievable. You might ask: “Why haven’t Breitbart, Fox News, or even the liberal media told me that antifa are fighting ISIS? Why are they deliberately creating a narrative so that I’ll think they’re out to get me?” …and that is the exact question you ought to be asking.

While the cowards in the Whitehouse and the alt-right have been drumming up fear, antifa have been fighting for you — and you may not have even known it.

Info on the Rojava Revolution:

• Submedia
• YPG International

Books:

• A Small Key Can Open A Large Door
• To Dare Imagining

Info on the International Fighters:

• Wikipedia
• YPG International Website
• Statement of Internationalist Anti-Fascist Battalion
• Interview with Turkish Anarchist
• Reportback from Antifascist Action Stockholm

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