US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has declared four European far-left organizations as "global terrorists". These are "Antifa Ost" (Germany), Informal Anarchist Federation/International Revolutionary Front (Italy), Armed Proletarian Justice (Greece) and Revolutionary Class Self-Defense (also from Greece).
This is happening two months after US President Donald Trump designated the "Antifa" movement as a domestic terrorist organization and signed an executive order to outlaw it.
Historically speaking, the United States has a serious tradition in the fight against the far-left: the era of McCarthyism and the "witch hunts"; the Bay of Pigs invasion, the purpose of which was to overthrow Fidel Castro from power in Cuba; the capture and elimination of Ernesto Che Guevara by the Bolivian army, with the help of the CIA; Operation Condor, in which the US State Department provided a wide range of logistical support to military dictatorships in South America; financing the Nicaraguan "contras", who fought against the ruling far-left Sandinista National Liberation Front; active participation in Operation Gladio - a secret NATO paramilitary structure, with branches in a number of Western European countries, which carried out terrorist actions "under a false flag" (with the idea of being attributed to left-wing extremist organizations)...
Therefore, these moves by Donald Trump should not be a surprise - rather, the previous administration's tolerance of movements such as "Antifa" and "Black Lives Matter" are exceptions to the rule.
"It should be clear to all Americans that there is a very serious threat from left-wing terrorism in our country. The radicals are associated with the domestic terrorist group "Antifa", which you have heard a lot about recently, and I have heard a lot about them for 10 years," Trump said after a meeting with right-wing, conservative activists and influencers held in October.
The meeting, which also included Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noam, discussed the threat from "Antifa" and what measures should be taken against it. Secretary Noam assessed the organization as just as dangerous as ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Salvadoran MS-13.
The FBI chief indicated that a "comprehensive approach" is being taken to the problem. Attorney Bondi threatened that the government would "destroy the organization brick by brick".
And Seamus Brunner, deputy director for research at the Government Accountability Institute, pointed out that dozens of radical organizations have received funding totaling over $100 million - including from donors who are not American citizens.
It seems that the American government is taking the situation seriously. And since European far-left groups are also under its sights, it means that Washington intends to play a global role in this regard, instead of limiting itself to those who cause it domestic problems.
And what is Europe doing? Chase the "far right", to put it simply...
At the European Parliament level, the "cordon sanitaire" continues against the so-called far right political groups (you know, everything to the right of the European People's Party).
The former leader of the French "National Rally" Marine Le Pen was convicted of acts that are... regular practice in the European Parliament (redirecting European funds for national political campaigns).
Giorgia Meloni, even though she is the acting Prime Minister of one of the largest countries in the EU, was isolated from the negotiation process that led to the nominations for the leading European posts (President of the European Commission, of the European Council and High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs) - because she is from the wrong political faction.
"The race by statute" The European Commission's policy towards Poland ended only when the conservative "PiS" gave up power to the liberal "Civil Platform". And thanks to the "confession" of former European Commissioner Thierry Breton, it became clear that the elimination of Calin Georgescu from the presidential race in Romania was the result of pressure from Brussels.
At the same time, the European political mainstream turns out to be strangely absent-minded regarding left-wing extremism - practiced by both ideologized Europeans and migrants.
Left-wing extremism, which still terrorizes Europe today, while right-wing extremism has remained mainly in the history of the Old Continent - somewhere in the "years of lead" and the active times of the already mentioned "Gladio" operation.
In more recent times, its manifestations are expressed in: the attack by Anders Breivik; the activities of the "Reichsburgers" in Germany, including the murder of politician Walter Lübke; the murder of British Labour MP Jo Cox.
But, as it became clear, the European elites are itching for the "far right".
I deliberately put quotation marks because it is very debatable whether there is a far right in today's Europe without quotation marks. If there were, it would be primarily:
- clerical - to challenge the secular character of European states and to seek to strengthen the political influence of the Church
- pro-monarchical - to have aspirations towards the restoration of the "true" monarchy (constitutional or absolute), and not to be satisfied with the decorative character of European monarchies - where they are still preserved
- anti-democratic - to demand the abolition of the right to vote for women and a strong restriction for men (census); to fight for the restoration of privileges for the aristocracy
Instead, however, very often those accused of being far-right turn out to be populists who claim to be defenders of democracy, limited or even trampled on by the current ruling, mostly liberal, elites...
In America, the situation is a little different. There they have both left and right extremism, in the sense that the radical elements in both camps are inclined to resort to political violence. Probably also because of the easier access to firearms.
But there too, labels like "fascist", "Nazi", "far-right", etc. are applied without serious justification - it is enough that the person in question is inconvenient to those labeling them.
Which was brilliantly expressed by one of the participants in the aforementioned round table dedicated to "Antifa" - YouTuber Nick Shirley described the situation with a play on words, using the fact that in the English language the word for "right" and "right" is the same - "right". He literally said the following: "We"re not far right, nor far wrong - we"re just right." ("We are not extreme right/extremely right, nor extreme wrong - we are simply right/right.")
And in Europe it is not bad to recall the Book of Proverbs, chapter 4 of the Bible:
28. (For the Lord watches over the right paths, but the left ones are crooked. 29. He will also make your ways straight, and your paths will be peaceful.)