ATIFA isn’t a group or an organization, it’s a movement, an ideal, a banner under which to rise up. It’s made of individuals and autonomous groups who share the common ideal.
The autonomous groups are some of the greater issue because they often employ militant/violent acts to push their agenda. These groups manipulate mob psychology in an otherwise peaceful protest to bolster their numbers with knowing and unknowing actors for that militant/violent end. It’s not a new game at all. If you watch footage of the recent riots, you can quickly pick out the instigators, and so can the government.
Meanwhile, far-right organizations and individuals are infiltrating and instigating these crowds as a means to demonize them in the eye of the public. Thus hurting the ANTIFA cause while bolstering that of the crazy right.
People/media just point the finger at ANTIFA because it’s the easy leap. Sadly much of the protests for their cause end in rioting during hours of darkness, utilizing players recruited, either knowingly or not, during the peaceful protests. Doesn’t help their cause when people claiming to be ANTIFA are the same holding a shield line while instigators employ fireworks, IEDs, chemical irritants, incendiaries, etc against “the man.”
I am all for peaceful protesting, but I don’t care for anyone that seeks to push a far-____ agenda through violence against society in general.