Trump to designate Antifa as terrorist organisation after Kirk's murder

US President Donald Trump on Thursday (local time) announced that he plans to designate ‘Antifa’ as a major terrorist organisation.

 

Taking to his private social media platform Truth Social, Trump said, “I am pleased to inform our many USA Patriots that I am designating ANTIFA, A SICK, DANGEROUS, RADICAL LEFT DISASTER, AS A MAJOR TERRORIST ORGANIZATION. I will also be strongly recommending that those funding ANTIFA be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices.”

 

Antifa, short for anti-fascists, is an umbrella term used for far-left-leaning militant groups and is not a singular entity. Antifa consists of groups that resist fascists and neo-Nazis, especially at demonstrations, the Associated Press reported.

 

Trump's announcement came during his official state visit to the United Kingdom. However, it remains unclear how the Trump administration could designate a decentralised movement as a terrorist organisation.

 

Speaking to CNN, a White House official said, “This is just one of many actions the President will take to address left-wing organisations that fuel political violence.” The decision to label Antifa as a terrorist organisation comes days after conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination in Utah.

 

Earlier this week, Trump hinted at designating Antifa as domestic terrorists, as the administration previews a plan to crack down on what he considers a widespread network of left-wing radicals that incite violence.

 

What is Antifa? 

The term is used to describe a broad group of people whose political beliefs lean to the left, often far-left, but do not align with the Democratic Party’s platform. While the group does not have any official leader or headquarters, groups in certain states do hold regular meetings.

 

According to The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a non-profit policy research organisation, one of the most common symbols used by Antifa combines the 1917 red flag of the Russian Revolution with the black flag of 19th-century anarchists.

 

An ideology, not organisation

 

The group also frequently conducts counter-protests to disrupt far-right gatherings and rallies. They are said to organise their activities with the use of social media, encrypted peer-to-peer networks, and messaging platforms like Signal.

 

Earlier in 2020, Christopher Wray, Trump’s previous FBI director, in a testimony said that antifa is an ideology and not an organisation, thereby lacking a hierarchical structure that would usually allow it to be designated as a terror group by the federal government.

 

Is Antifa linked to Charlie Kirk’s killing? 

On September 10, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated during a speaking event at Utah Valley University. Kirk, a right-wing activist, in the past argued that “Antifa and far-left activists” have forced him to cancel speaking events at college campuses, Politico reported.

 

A day after Kirk’s assassination, Trump told the reporters, “We just have to beat the hell” out of “radical left lunatics”. In the wake of Kirk’s shooting, Trump recorded a message at the Oval Office, in which he praised Kirk and blamed the “radical left” for his death. He said that the “radical left” compared Kirk to “Nazi’s” and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals, and blamed vitriolic rhetoric for the killing of the conservative activist.

 

However, there has been no direct connection established between the two so far.