Protest

The greatest threat to liberal free speech today may not come from the Trump administration but rather violent anti-fascists who have virtually closed off the principle means of protesting Trump to all but the most daring and extreme leftists activists.

Whereas the first protests against the Trump administration were broadly inclusive and peaceful, protests today are the front lines of a new civil war between violent anti-fascists and white nationalists. Whereas the presence of white nationalists at protests was initially minuscule, they are ever-present and energized today.

Anarchists began disrupting demonstrations before the white nationalists made any significant appearance, on the eve of the inauguration, when they tore through Washington D.C. destroying property. Such disruptions have become routine features of major leftist demonstrations, where protest leaders do little to constrain the disruptions, focusing instead on the media's unfair focus on chaos.

But once the white nationalists began showing up at demonstrations as well, suddenly the anarchists could pretend to playing a defensive role. Never mind the fact that police can do a vastly better job of containing any threat of violence and tend to side with the peaceful and law-abiding, whatever their politics may be. Never mind the fact that clashes between anarchists and fascists, like most barroom brawls, tend to draw in most everyone in the near vicinity, becoming a vastly greater threat to safety than the small coterie of counter-protesters, which would otherwise be easy to contain.

Anti-fascist demonstrators could pretend to play the role of defense. Meanwhile, anti-fascist liberals, never very good at confronting the flaws of their allies, could pretend that all of the disruptions were caused by the other side. But anarchists have been turning leftist demonstrations into melees between demonstrators and the police since at least the Battle in Seattle against the World Trade Organization in 1999.

Now the resistance to Trump is tarred with their black masks and violence, and only a fool would bring their children or elderly parents to a demonstration without first taking great precautions. Now women are less likely to attend demonstrations. Now centrists are virtually absent altogether.

It was all quite predictable. The most comprehensive research into social movements, carried out by Erica Chenoweth at the University of Colorado in Denver, suggests that nonviolent movements are twice as likely as violent movements to attain their stated objectives; and they are on average four times as large. Never mind the fact that nonviolent demonstrators tend to adhere to vastly more intelligent and sane objectives as well.

Whereas the Trump administration initially looked set to be besieged by protests at every step, they have now died down to a virtual trickle. Whereas protesting looked set to be a principle venue for expressing dissatisfaction with the administration, today they appear utterly uninspiring and too violent to attend.

It is not entirely clear what would stop the violence, but a good place to start would be to recognize everything it harms. A good next step would be for liberals to stop going so easy on the anarchists. Just because their intentions are good and they are on our side does not mean they should not be criticized. But it is highly dubious whether a serious inquiry into what they really want would show up clear affinities.

Anarchist violence, like the violence of terrorists and fascists alike, often appears quite nihilistic and illiberal. It is not highly compatible with democratic institutions and is often motivated by a rebellion against institutions like the police that no free society has been able to do without.

Protest leaders should make it clear they are unwelcome at their demonstrations. Closer coordination with the police would also help to mitigate the violence, while protecting demonstrators from its spread and clarifying the nonviolent intentions of demonstration organizers. Choosing protest themes that would make them unlikely to attend might also go a long way in changing the image and tone of demonstrating in general. How about demonstrating against Russian interference in democratic elections; the tax bill; the hollowing out of constraints on big business, for instance.

Whatever comes next, one thing is clear, if demonstrations cannot be taken back by ordinary men and women and made a welcome place for the elderly and frail, liberals will have closed off to themselves perhaps the principle means at their disposal to stop Trump should the institutional resistance of the Democratic Party and the mainstream media fail. It is of course more than a little ironic that anarchists who so despise the Democratic Party and mainstream media have turned them into the principle means of resistance. But it is not nearly so ironic as the threat they pose to genuinely free speech. -Theo Horesh