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The election of Donald Trump has been a catalyst for releasing the pent-up tensions in the American society. The country is not only divided but the opposing sides are not finding much in common to talk about. While the violence has not been widespread and can be written off at this point as clashes between fringe groups, there is potential for things to boil over.

Groups united under the alt-right banner have made their presence felt at protests targeting pro-Trump speakers. But they have been increasingly confronted at these rallies by violence-minded protestors known as the antifa or anti-fascists.

The 2017 skirmishes between the alt-right and antifa included the infamousNazi-punchwhen the white supremacist Richard Spencer was punched in the face by a masked passerby. Further confrontations happened during the protests against uber-troll MiloYiannopouloss speeches in Seattles University of Washington, where an antifascist protestergot shot, and at Berkeley University in California. The April 15th fightdubbedThe Battle of Berkeley devolved into smashed windows and set fires, with 20 arrested and 11 injured.

Thereve been other clashes in April inVancouverand in Portland, Oregon and a confrontation in Boston on May 13th.

So who is behind antifa?

According to The Nation, the movement has its roots in anti-fascist fighting predating World War 2. Anti-fascists organized in military brigades fought Franco in Spain in the 30s. An infamous Battle of Cable Street saw thousands of fascists fighting an even larger crowd of anti-fascists on the streets of London in October 1936. The antifa movement via groups like Anti-Racist Action (ARA) has been clashing with neo-Nazis in America since the 80s.

Protesters push a burning recycling bin at Trump supporters during a 'Patriots Day' free speech rally on April 15, 2017 in Berkeley, California. (Photo by Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)

Trump supporters face off with protesters at a 'Patriots Day' free speech rally on April 15, 2017 in Berkeley, California. (Photo by Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)

The modern antifa sees neo-fascists as actively trying to change the world and peoples minds with their ideas and do not want to wait in the wings until things get worse. And they believe that the Trump movement has incorporated into itself radical far-right voices that now feel empowered to make themselves heard.

For too long have our elected officials and our media placated these violent, toxic people. For too long have the enemies of democracy and rational, informed discourse been granted platforms to spew their rhetoric and earn notoriety for their movement. A warning to those who wish to destroy what we hold dear; We will resist you in the streets, in the poll booths and in the townhouses... We will not allow history to repeat itself. We will shut you down everywhere you go. We will block your marches. We will interrupt your speeches. We will protest your legislation. We will be the thorn in your side. The glass in your bread. The pain in your ass. We are ARA. We are watching. - wrote a Louisville, Kentucky ARA branch on its site.

This kind of tough talk has translated into genuine mini-riots when the opposing sides get together.

Heres how the April 15th melee at Berkeley looked [WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE]:

Heres how it looked in Portland [WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE]:

Another confrontation in May in Portland also got out of hand [WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE]:

As far as the violence, it is not the only way in which antifa groups counteract their opponents, engaging in tactics like exposing the true identities of fascists and internet trolls, helping people join unions, advocating for issues like the environment. But some do see violence as intrinsic to fascism and as such regard resorting to violence as a necessary counterforce measure.

A representative for the Antifa NYC news site explained their mission more broadly to The Nation: Antifa combines radical left-wing and anarchist politics, revulsion at racists, sexists, homophobes, anti-Semites, and Islamophobes, with the international anti-fascist culture of taking the streets and physically confronting the brownshirts of white supremacy, whoever they may be.

Antifa protesters often wear black masks and black clothing - a black bloc force. Newsweek describes this as a tactic for anarchist protest which doesnt necessarily represent one group. It should be noted that antifa is far from just one organization and is a rather decentralized force (much like its alt-right counterpart). Antifa also includes militant groups outside of ARA. Theres the Hoosier Anti-Racist Movement (HARM) in Indiana and Redneck Revolt and others.

Conservative commentators see antifa as agitators and anarchists. Kevin D. Williamson at National Review has dismissed antifa as an invented gang and children while at the same time painting the white nationalists and antifa as two sides of the same very sad little coin. Williamson also doesnt see America as having a budding fascist movement, which would of course make the existence of antifa unnecessary and nonsensical if you believe that.

From President Trumps standpoint antifa are troublemakers, with some of them being paid (probably by George Soros, the right-wing's favorite boogeyman). He tweeted a threat that federal funding could be pulled from Berkeley over the violence and suppression of free speech. There are petitions out from the right to designate antifa as a domestic terrorist organization.Liberal detractors, in their turn, are also paranoid that a small group of antifa agitators could start a chain of events whereby some sort of martial law would be instituted by the incensed Trump.

Could the fighting between the fringe groups get worse and go beyond the radical elements on both sides?If the rhetoric in the country doesnt improve and a wedge will continue to be driven between the two sides, who both listen exclusively to their own media outlets, nothing rosy is to be expected. Add to this the possibility that as the various investigations around Trump close in, knowing his penchant for doubling down on his positions and riling up his base, its not inconceivable to imagine an America exploding in much stronger violence down the line.

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American Far Left Is Fighting the Far Right in the Streets. Could the Violence Spread? - Big Think

Media Matters for America (blog)

Did "alt-right" hoaxster and troll Jack Posobiec plant fake protest signs at a net neutrality protest? Media Matters for America (blog) Noted "alt-right" troll and hoaxster Jack Posobiec took to Periscope on May 18 to highlight a group of supposed protesters at a net neutrality event in Washington, D.C. who were holding signs calling for bans on Breitbart, Drudge, and Infowars ...

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Did "alt-right" hoaxster and troll Jack Posobiec plant fake protest signs at a net neutrality protest? - Media Matters for America (blog)

Twitter

With Chelsea Manning released from military prison this week, alt-right activist Richard Spencer reminded his followers on Twitter that he has long been a Manning supporter of sorts seeing her as an anti-government icon.

Manning was heroically brave. She risked her life to oppose and expose a system she viewed as evil, Spencer wrote in a January blog post on his website Altright.com. He reposted the article this week.

The system Manning opposed hates us, he went on. Manning thus contributed to the de-legitimization of the American empire, just as she was a symptom of it.

Manning was known as Bradley Manning in 2010 when she was arrested and accused of sending archives of military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks. After her trial in 2013, Manning announced she was a transgender woman and changed her name to Chelsea.

Spencers support may seem unlikely given that many conservative writers made a habit of ridiculing Manning, particularly because she is transgender. For example, The Blazes Matt Walsh wrote on Twitter in January: So, if Im understanding this correctly, a man is allowed to commit treason so long as he pretends to be a woman afterwards?

Email Sam Kestenbaum at kestenbaum@forward.com and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum

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Chelsea Manning, 'Alt-Right' Hero? - Forward

President Donald Trump isn't the only American leader with a puzzling fondness for Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime.

Consider, for example, the chant that was caught on local television footage as it was shouted by several dozen torch-carrying protesters who rallied against removal of a Confederate monument in a Charlottesville, Va., park last Saturday.

"Russia is our friend!" they shouted. "Russia is our friend!"

What, many observers must have wondered, did Russia have to do with the Confederacy?

Not much, except in the minds of such key leaders of the alt-right as Richard Spencer, who spoke and carried a torch in Charlottesville, where he once attended the University of Virginia.

Spencer is widely credited with coining the term "alt-right" to describe his Americanized version of Euro-nationalism that seeks a whites-only state. He also is famous for being punched in the face in a video-recorded street attack that went viral on YouTube and for being thrown out of the Conservative Political Action Conference convention this spring. You know you're out in the far-right field of the Twilight Zone to be thrown out of CPAC.

Beneath his digital-age jargon and elegantly soft-spoken manner, Spencer offers a rehashed version of traditional doomsday visions of "white culture" under assault by a rising tide of feminists, nonwhites and other scapegoats for all-white miseries.

"What brings us together," he told the crowd at an earlier rally Saturday, "is that we are white, we are a people, we will not be replaced."

Yet Spencer also shows a clear admiration for Russia, which he has called "the sole white power in the world." His former wife is the Russian writer and self-described "Kremlin troll leader" Nina Kouprianova. Writing and blogging under the pen name Nina Byzantina, she regularly follows Kremlin talking points. Like Spencer, she had defended Syria's butcher president and Putin ally Bashar Assad, describing reports of civilian deaths in Aleppo as "fake news."

Former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke, who has eagerly embraced the alt-right movement, has traveled to Russia several times to promote his book "The Ultimate Supremacism: My Awakening on the Jewish Question," according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Rising self-described white nationalist Matthew Heimbach also has praised Putin's Russia as "the axis for nationalists," according to an interview by Business Insider. "I really believe that Russia is the leader of the free world right now," he told the news website. "Putin is supporting nationalists around the world and building an anti-globalist alliance, while promoting traditional values and self-determination."

Heimbach leads the Traditionalist Workers Party, which, like Spencer's American Policy Institute, is listed as a "white identity" hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Leading American alt-right figures like "race realist" Jared Taylor also attended a right-wing conference in St. Petersburg, Russia, two years ago, organized by a fringe nationalist Russia group. Taylor, according to Business Insider, called the United States "the greatest enemy of tradition everywhere."

It may be only coincidental that white nationalists cheered Russia as "our friend" two days before President Donald Trump was reported to have revealed "highly classified" secrets to two high-ranking Russians in the Oval Office. But both episodes raise questions about how much Putin is actively engaged in sowing divisions in the United States, versus how much he is passively sitting back and watching us divide ourselves.

But we know from past behavior that Putin cares much less about what we Americans think of him than what his own people think of him. With his tightening despotic control over speech and Russian media, he promotes a return to the dominant "Mother Russia" of the czars and the Soviet Union.

The computer hackers who serve as an underground propaganda army in his behalf aim to undermine the West's faith in democracy and its institutions to promote the line that, when it comes to corruption, human rights and empire-building, Western democracies are no better than Putin's Russia.

Trump curiously embraced that line in an interview with Bill O'Reilly, then a Fox News host, in which the president openly suggested we were no better than Putin when it comes to being "a killer." Astonishing.

If nothing else, we know that Putin is delighted to see us Americans divide ourselves against one another. That's how he gained almost unquestioned control in Russia.

Dividing Americans is one thing that the alt-right is delighted to do. We need to show them, in the words of the late Rodney King, how we can all get along.

Clarence Page, a member of the Tribune Editorial Board, blogs at http://www.chicagotribune.com/pagespage.

cpage@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @cptime

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Is Putin the alt-right's BFF? - Chicago Tribune

Compiled from YouTube, local media sources.

In his running campaign to preserve Confederate monuments, Jason Kessler keeps having brushes with the law. Though to hear Kessler tell it, those legal issues only reflect a much broader campaign to oppress white people.

The alt-right blogger had his most recent encounter during Saturdays protests in his hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia, over the removal of the pro-Confederacy monument to Robert E. Lee in the local city park. Kessler was one of three men arrested during the protests, charged with disorderly conduct for attempting to incite the crowd with a bullhorn.

One of the other men charged during the protests was arrested after he spat on Kessler. The third was arrested after he was identified as the person who threw a cell phone that struck a police officer, and a concealed knife was found on his person afterward.

Kessler, who in addition to his own blog writes for the white-nationalist website VDare, as well as for The Daily Caller, had just been in court earlier in the week to face sentencing for an assault charge stemming from a confrontation hed had in January involving the monuments removal. Kessler, whod pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault, was sentenced to 50 hours of community service, with jail time suspended.

Combating the removal of the Lee monument has been a pet cause of Kesslers for months now. The January arrest arose from an incident at a Charlottesville mall, when Kessler was gathering signatures for a petition to recall City Council member Wes Bellamy, an African-American community leader who has been the target of a race-baiting campaign on Kesslers blog since last fall.

According to testimony at Kesslers trial in April, he was approached by a man named James Taylor, who asked to read the petition, and then told Kessler he had no intention of signing it and insulted him. Kessler, according to witnesses, responded by punching Taylor in the face.

"The kind of fear, hate, and aggressive manner that it was being conducted by him and I called him out on it," testified Taylor. "So he hit me."

Kessler initially attempted to claim that Taylor had also assaulted him. However, he dropped that claim when surveillance video showed that not to be the case.

In February, Kessler was involved in another assault case after a rally at Lee Park over the monument. A counterprotester named Sara Tansey apparently stole Kesslers phone as he was live-streaming the event, and was tracked down by an associate of Kesslers named Joseph Draego, who then punched her in the face to retrieve it.

Tansey filed a misdemeanor assault charge against Draego. Kessler responded by charging Tansey with "unlawfully removing without intent to steal" his phone.

Most of Kesslers work for VDare and Daily Caller has revolved around his running claim that white men are under assault from multicultural culture (he has also labeled the SPLC a cancer upon our nation). An earlier VDare piece features an interview with veteran border militiaman Robert Crooks, who has an extensive background of extremist activity as a Minuteman. He recently rooted on alt-right forces gathered to combat antifascists in Berkeley, California, and described attempts to remove Confederate monuments in New Orleans as abolishing America.

Kessler has been especially active in attempting to stop the removal of the Lee monument. In February, he led a rally at the site demanding its preservation.

What you have to understand is that every generation has its fight. And our fight is this, here and now, he told the gathering. Because if the liberals are allowed to start destroying our history, theyll start with Robert E. Lee, they move on to Thomas Jefferson, they move on to George Washington, and soon the entire basis of our society is going to be wrecked.

Kesslers ongoing organizing is largely credited with attracting the attention of Richard Spencer and other alt-right white nationalists who led the first rally on Saturday.

What brings us together is that we are white, we are a people, we will not be replaced, Spencer said. You will not replace us. You will not destroy us,

Another, larger gathering occurred that evening. During that event, torch-bearing alt-righters chanted: Russia is our friend, and You will not replace us. When a much larger crowd of counter-protesters appeared, the gathering mostly dispersed. The three arrests occurred during the brief interplay between the two groups.

Afterward, local GOP leaders denounced the white nationalists rally, which attracted Kesslers ire. On his Facebook page, he tried to organize his fellow alt-righters to turn out to the Albemarle County Republicans meeting Wednesday night to let officials know such a repudiation was unacceptable.

We need to show up to make it known that it is okay to be a white person and advocate for our interests, he wrote. This it's only history stuff is not enough. We are past the point of backing down because they call us racist. Our civilization is literally crumbling around us and we have to push back while there is still something left to save.

Ultimately the statues are meant to inspire the spirit of our people and culture. If we cannot stand for that then the statues themselves have become meaningless tokens of a bygone era. We cannot allow them to fall into the hands of Islam, illegal aliens, or any other people that would seek to replace us.

Kessler later posted a video explaining his behavior, as well as his worldview. Theyre only trying to tear down monuments made to white people, he said. Theyre trying to rewrite the history books to demonize us and call us racist, this that and the other, when white people arent any more racist than any other group. Other groups are advocating for their interest, thats why you have Black Lives Matter, you know, and you have the Black Congressional Caucus.

The media tried to portray the rally as a KKK rally, he added. Its just part of the hyperbolic demonization and fearmongering about white people, where theyre uniquely called racist, when you know that every group under the sun is racist.

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Alt-Right Blogger's Brushes With the Law Accompany His Racial Activism - Southern Poverty Law Center