Do you think police can mobilize as a force for good in antifa movements?

antifainternational:

Short answer: hell no.

Long answer: People that believe the police = the way to address fascists in their communities are often extremely disappointed with the result.  In most cases, the cops aren’t going to do anything to stop fascist plans until they have injured or killed somebody.  To our mind, that is far, far too late.

There are other problems with relying on the authorities to solve fascism and racism as well.  The old saying “cops and the Klan go hand-in-hand” doesn’t just come from police going out of their way to protect fascists and racists while viciously attacking those brave enough to confront fascists.

It also comes from decades of evidence of police involvement as members of fascist and racist groups themselves.   Some notorious examples of this include:

– the police in Greensboro, North Carolina colluding with the KKK to allow them to shoot up an anti-racist demonstration, killing five people;

– this asshole:

– this police department/KKK Klavern in Florida + the Oklahoma police chief that’s been quietly running a neo-nazi “white power” music label & website for the last thirteen years + the Minneapolis police union boss that is also the president of a racist biker gang + that time the police hate crimes unit in Toronto gave presentations to high school students where they labeled Anti-Racist Action a “hate group” “because they hate neo-nazis.”  

Then there are things like the time when the Canadian spy agency funneled money and intelligence to one of the main organizers of the neo-nazi Heritage Front, allowing it to grow into the largest white supremacist group in the country.  

Or the time when Germany’s intelligence agency, which had been paying money to neo-nazi organizers, became aware of a neo-nazi gang’s serial murder plot and instead of stepping in, actively obstructed and tampered with the police investigation.  That neo-nazi gang would go on to murder nine immigrants and one police officer along with committing two bombings and fifteen bank robberies.  

Or the time when the police colluded with the KKK to massacre anti-racists counter-demonstrating against the Klan in Greensboro, North Carolina, resulting in the murders of five people.  

Finally, there is the fact that in most cities, racialized people are more likely to be killed by police than by any other group of people.

Just look at Charlottesville where the police stood aside and let a mob of racist extremists run amok in the town and on-campus, resulting in the murder of Heather Heyer and dozens of others seriously injured.  

So no, Anon, we don’t think the police are the friends or allies of anti-fascists or anti-racists.  This is why we have to defend ourselves & our communities against people advocating genocide and radicalizing white supremacists for terrorism instead of waiting for the cops to do it for us.