What happened in Charlottesville has motivated many folks that it is imperative to act in order to combat white supremacy. This has meant organizing and attending counterprotests in locations where alt-right rallies have been planned. On August 19, in Boston, thousands of people turned out to drown out a free-speech rally that had been planned. And this weekend, in San Francisco and Berkeley, people did the same thing. However, these protests are not always peaceful and without violence. In Berkeley, for example, clashes between groups led to the arrest of at least 10 people.
The counterprotesters ended up dwarfing pockets of demonstrators wearing “Make America Great Again” hats or flying flags touting President Donald Trump.
Jeff Conant, 50, of Berkeley, who helped organize the counterprotest, told the Chronicle it was “important for people to show up and make it unacceptable for right-wing white supremacists to spew hate and incite violence.”
But while the gathering started off mostly peaceful, chaos later erupted as “hundreds of black-clad demonstrators ran from the park screaming in various directions down city streets. Moments before, they had jumped barriers and entered the police-guarded park,” per the Chronicle.
Donald Trump pretended that there are actually two sides to this fight and talked about how these people represent the alt-left. While that is purely myth and serves as nothing more than a talking point for conservatives to demonize protestors and liberals, it does offer us a chance to understand this violence in context.
Fights between the two sides led to a handful of arrests in and around Berkeley’s Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Yes, there are groups out there that believe in responding to violence with violence. Some of them become physical only after they are physically attacked first—a method of self-defense. Some of them are the aggressor. There are lots of debates to be had about the effectiveness of violence as a strategy. But what we shouldn’t do is this “both/two sides” business and lump together folks protesting hate with folks promoting it. There really aren’t two sides here—even if we completely disagree on methods for how best to confront and shut down white supremacy.
Likewise, it’s also important to remember that not all of the people who come out to these rallies are aligned with a cause that equates to social and racial justice. There is a lot of talk about Antifa and Black Bloc being nothing but thugs and rioters. The reality may be more complicated than that. The same has often been said of Black Lives Matter protestors who are often put in the position of having to defend the movement when someone, who is generally unaffiliated with the movement, destroys property in their name. Opportunists seek out large gatherings like this to wreak havoc for their own means and to discredit our cause. Some of them have even been the police, who have a history of spying on protestors and trying to initiate certain events.
In glimpses and in glaring detail, the videotape images reveal the robust presence of disguised officers or others working with them at seven public gatherings since August 2004.
The officers hoist protest signs. They hold flowers with mourners. They ride in bicycle events. At the vigil for the cyclist, an officer in biking gear wore a button that said, "I am a shameless agitator." She also carried a camera and videotaped the roughly 15 people present.
Beyond collecting information, some of the undercover officers or their associates are seen on the tape having influence on events. At a demonstration last year during the Republican National Convention, the sham arrest of a man secretly working with the police led to a bruising confrontation between officers in riot gear and bystanders.
The concern about violence at these events that are supposed to be peaceful protests is an important one. Many people bring children and family members because they want to be a part of standing up to hate. Some elderly persons come out for that reasons too. It also makes defending our cause that much harder to potential allies. However, it’s important to note that violent responses at peaceful protests are not always started by people who are on or represent the left. If we are going to say we don’t want the movement to be hijacked by violence, let’s talk about the violence with nuance and understand what it does and does not represent.