Deep-Dive Report Dismantles ‘Antifa Fantasy’ of Violent Protests Roving Through Small Towns
BuzzFeed News took a deep dive into the muck of social media in order to explain how the specter of “Antifa” strikes fear across the nation, despite their threat existing more as hearsay than actual presence.
Anne Helen Petersen’s article, “How The Antifa Fantasy Spread In Small Towns Across The U.S.”, delves into a series rumors about Antifa’s power that have emerged amid the protests over George Floyd’s death. These rumors were posted on local message boards and private Facebook groups for towns throughout the country, and while law enforcement would often push back on the scale of the threat reported from “fourth-hand information,” an of fear-mongering flourished.
From the article:
As protests against police brutality and in support of Black Lives Matter continue to proliferate across the small towns and rural communities, so, too, have rumors of white vans of masked antifa driving from town to town, reportedly intent on destruction. In Hood River, Oregon, antifa were, according to screenshot of a fake Instagram story, calling on followers to “root loot do anything in your power.” In Spring Hill, Tennessee, there was a “busload” staying at the Holiday Inn, prepping to loot Walgreens at noon. In Wenatchee, Washington, bands of men dressed in black were surveilling potential targets. In Payette, Idaho, a plane full of protesters was circling overhead. In Honolulu, antifa had been flown in from the mainland. In Billings, Montana, some claimed agitators had been spotted by the National Guard. In Nebraska, they were creating Craigslist ads offering to pay people $25 a day to “cause as much chaos and destruction as possible.” In Sisters, Oregon, they were planning to show up at the local Bi-Mart.
To be clear: All of these rumors were false.
As President Donald Trump continues to attribute violent protests to Antifa, Peterson reported, rumors about their movements continue to draw traction on Facebook, especially among fans of conspiracy theories and people who have protested against coronavirus lockdowns.
Local militias have planned actions against alleged Antifa gatherings, but when they fail to materialize on their expected scale, Peterson noted these militias still tend to celebrate because “it doesn’t matter if Antifa was never coming in the first place. They didn’t come, and that’s evidence of victory.”
“When someone in your Facebook feed posts a warning to be on the lookout for antifa in your small town, it might seem like low-stakes nonsense,” she concluded. “But beneath such a seemingly silly rumor lurks a larger ideological iceberg: the idea that radical leftists are out to defile and destroy, and the only recourse against them is an armed, unrestricted militia.”
Mediaite has previously explained that Antifa has no national leader, nor any kind of broad organizational structure that can provide a list of its members. The movement exists as loose collective of far-left local activists who often act independently of each other while advocating for their preferred causes. As such, it is quite difficult to pin down Antifa as a singular, nomadic band of violent protesters prowling throughout the country to make trouble for local communities.
