Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post was accused of pushing Antifa “propaganda” on Friday after the paper published a piece defending the violent group and other anarchists.
“As soon as Antifa is back on the public’s radar for committing more violence, the media show up, right on cue to defend the radical left-wing anarchists. This time the sympathy piece was in the Washington Post ‘perspectives’ section,” Media Research Center news analyst Kristine Marsh wrote, referring to a story the Washington Post published Thursday headlined, “Stop blaming everything bad on anarchists.”
The Post’s subhead stated, “They’re at the protests because being an anarchist means dreaming of a kinder, more equitable society.” The feature, written by freelance writer Kim Kelly, painted the far-left extremist group called Antifa as a group of peaceful activist who love cooking and providing childcare for people in need.
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“Are there anarchists out there in the streets standing in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and against the brutality of the police? Absolutely. Is every single one of them conducting themselves in a manner that all would consider ‘peaceful?’ Perhaps not,” Kelly wrote.
Earlier this week, journalist Andy Ngo, who has dedicated his career to covering Antifa, told Fox News that the mainstream media has “many sympathies toward the Antifa goal” and has downplayed the group as a result.
“Anarchists are by definition anti-capitalist, anti-racist, and directly opposed to all other forms of bigotry and oppression. They are anti-fascist (though not all anti-fascists are anarchists!), which opens up another potential avenue for repression now that the president has fixated on antifascists, or ‘antifa,’ and law enforcement has continued to surveil and target leftist activists,” Kelly wrote.
Antifa has been in the news this week as violent protests erupted around the country in the wake of George Floyd’s death in police custody. President Trump has suggested the group should be considered a terrorist organization – but the Washington Post piece makes that notion they’d terrorize anyone seem fictional.
“In practice, to be an anarchist is to dream of a kinder, more equitable society, and to do one’s best to get us closer to making that dream a reality. For every minute of protest footage showing anarchists out in the streets, there are untold hours spent attending endless meetings… cooking and delivering food and supplies to those who need it, researching far-right groups, planning demonstrations, providing child care and other support to comrades, and taking part in other communally minded projects,” Kelly added. “It may sound hokey, but anarchism is about love as much as it is rage; there is a certain utopian romance to it.”
The Post’s piece concluded: “The government has shown that it won’t save us. We know that the rich won’t save us. But if we embrace the true spirit of anarchy, maybe, just maybe, we can save ourselves.”
Marsh condemned the Post’s feature in a piece for NewsBusters, calling it a “love letter to terrorists” masquerading as journalism.
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“As you could expect from the title, this was little more than a propaganda piece painting anarchists as gentle do-gooders,” Marsh wrote, noting that Kelly glossed over Antifa’s violent methods.
Antifa teaches vicious tactics such as eye gouging and is structured “almost like a company” in order to incite violence and “destroy” enemies while remaining anonymous, according an undercover video published Thursday by Project Veritas.
The video shows alleged undercover video of an Antifa member, identified as Nicholas Cifuni, telling others, “Don’t be that f------g guy with the goddamn spike brass knuckles getting photos taking of you. Police are going to be like ‘perfect we can prosecute these f-------s look how violent they are’ and not that we aren’t but we need to f------g hide that s—t.”
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Wearing a black mask to protect his identity, the undercover journalist explained the steps Antifa allegedly takes to secretly meet with prospective members. “The whole goal of this is to get out there and do dangerous things as safely as possible,” a member is heard telling the group.
The Washington Post did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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