DEFINING ‘ALT-LEFT’ IS MURKY BUSINESS
Some disagree on whether such a thing even exists
President Trump spoke of the “alt-left” Tuesday, saying the group shared the blame for the violent clashes that took place last weekend in Charlottesville, Va., between white supremacists and counterprotesters.
Though Americans have been hearing regularly about the alt-right for more than a year, Trump’s comments may have marked the first time many people heard the term alt-left.
“What about the alt-left that came charging at the, as you say, the alt-right? Do they have any semblance of guilt?” Trump asked.
What is the alt-left Trump mentioned?
There are no groups that use “alt-left” to describe themselves.
Mark Pitcavage, an analyst for the Anti-Defamation League, told The New York Times that the term was invented to “create a false equivalence between the farright” and “anything vaguely left-seeming that they didn’t like.”
In a March article for Vanity Fair, James Wolcott derided the alt-left, defining it as a wing of the liberal left that vehemently opposed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
The Urban Dictionary website defines the alt-left as “an alternative political movement that seeks to unite those who feel underrepresented or marginalized by current mainstream political channels, who seek to adhere to left-wing policies.”
That definition doesn’t seem to fit those who fought neo-Nazis in Charlottesville. The group Trump described as the “troublemakers” who came with “the black outfits and with the helmets and with the baseball bats” might more closely resemble members of the “antifa,” which is shorthand for antifascist.
In an article for The Atlantic, Peter Beinart said antifa’s roots go back to the early 20th century when “militant leftists battled fascists in the street of Germany, Italy and Spain.”
Anti-fascists were part of violent anti-Trump actions during the 2016 presidential campaign, as well as violent protests against right-wing speakers this year at the University of California-Berkeley and Middlebury College.
There are no groups that use “alt-left” to describe themselves.