The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Far-left antifa groups begin to show up in state
Statue vandalism points to Antifa
The obscure underground group accused of splashing blood-red paint on Columbus statues in Connecticut is part of a movement better known for battles with white supremacists, the alt-right and supporters of President Donald Trump.
The Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement, which police say is the main suspect in the vandalism in Norwalk, Bridgeport, New Haven and Middletown, is linked to antifa, an alt-left collection of anarchists and others that often violently clash with other protesters.
Those familiar with antifa say undertaking a mission in Connecticut or New England is unusual and could mark an expansion by groups empowered or angered by Trump’s rhetoric.
Antifa played a role in the deadly Charlottesville, Va., racial protest and was a primary force in violent marches that have plagued the University of California at Berkeley this year.
“These groups have always been around,” said Chris Vials, a University of Connecticut American studies professor who has written about fascism and anarchy. “But post Trump, they may be growing.”
Vials said the group might be a small cell based in New York City and Philadelphia.
“I had not heard of them until this,” Vials said.
The dramatic attacks last weekend on Columbus statues was not confined to Connecticut.
Columbus statues in Rhode Island and Chicago also were vandalized. In Chicago, a Columbus statue was coated with red paint and the words “mass murderer” and “decolonise” were spray-painted on the sidewalk.
At Seaside Park in Bridgeport, “Kill The Colonizer” was left at the bottom of a Columbus statue. In Norwalk, “Fake News” was spray-painted in block letters using a stencil at the base of a similar monument.
Columbus statues in New Haven and Middletown were also defaced, as well as five others in New York City prior to Columbus weekend.
‘Deface Columbus Day’
On its website, RAM offers a lengthy explanation of its philosophy and values, noting it opposes the “white supremacist” society.
The group says the “slave state” did not end with the Civil War and instead morphed into the “prison industrial complex” that controls government and its citizens.
“The Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement is a political movement dedicated to freeing people from bondage and building resistance in the United States,” the website notes. “We situate our political movement in the context of the abolitionist struggle against slavery.”
RAM published a Sept. 21 letter calling for vandalism of Columbus statues across the country, titled “Deface Columbus Day.”
The letter notes, “The battle lines have been drawn and white supremacists are on notice. White nationalist statues are crumbling all over the U.S. as our collective revolutionary power is growing. As the monuments of white supremacist society fall, we must continue to make it clear that their reign of terror is coming to an end.”
The group called Columbus Day one of the “most vile holidays of the year” and urged its “collectives all over the country to take action against this day and in support of indigenous people in the U.S. and abroad who have been victims of colonialism and genocide.”
RAM advised followers to “decorate” Columbus statues, but did not say what those decorations should be.
Vials said antifa affiliates such as RAM are anarchists who do not believe in centralized governmental authority. But he said antifa groups oppose racism, neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
“The focus on Columbus is a new ... shift,” Vials said.
The Southern Poverty Law Center says there are 623 anti-government groups in the U.S, including eight in Connecticut. RAM was not listed as one of the Connecticut organizations.
A search on Facebook produced several Connecticut pages dedicated to anarchist ideals, including Antifa Bridgeport and New Haven Antifascists.
Messages left on the sites seeking comment drew no response.
‘Corners of society’
Lawrence Rosenthal, lead researcher for the Berkeley Center for Right-Wing Studies, said he had not seen antifa-linked groups targeting Columbus.
Rosenthal said if RAM is responsible for the Columbus statue damage, the group has some level of sophistication. “That suggests there is coordination,” he said.
Dressed in black clothes, masks covering their faces and carrying sticks, antifa usually targets Trump supporters or alt-right advocates such as neo-Nazis and white supremacy groups.
Berkeley has been the scene of intense fighting this year as protesters from the left and right attacked each other during so-called “free speech” events. Dubbed the “Battle for Berkeley,” the protests often turned violent, with police firing tear gas into crowds of students and activists.
Antifa members also rallied when white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups marched at Charlottesville earlier this year to protest removal of a Civil War statue. The two sides violently engaged each other, and one woman was killed when a protester drove his car into a crowd of anti-racism supporters.
Trump later noted there were “good people” on both sides of the protests, sparking outrage that he would equate white supremacists with those protesting racism.
Rosenthal said Antifa groups are a direct challenge to the alt-right movement and world view of leaders such as Steve Bannon, a nationalist and Trump’s former strategist.
“The strategy of the altright is to engage antifa, what Trump calls the alt-left, and to provoke them into street battles,” Rosenthal said.
“It’s not like they didn’t exist before (Trump),” Rosenthal said. “But they were more in the corners of society. With extreme racism by the right and the Trump campaign, something parallel is occurring in the alt-left.”
State Sen. Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, said he’s surprised a group linked to the antifa movement would be operating in Connecticut.
“But I guess I’m not surprised because of what’s coming from the top down,” Duff said. “I think that in this political climate and the president’s words, he’s not helping to unite the country.”
Still, Duff said defacing public property is not the way to exercise free speech or oppose controversial figures such as Columbus.