{"id":2282,"date":"2010-06-27T11:37:32","date_gmt":"2010-06-27T15:37:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=2282"},"modified":"2010-06-27T12:14:51","modified_gmt":"2010-06-27T16:14:51","slug":"at-the-g-20-summit-this-is-what-left-wing-violence-looks-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2010\/06\/27\/at-the-g-20-summit-this-is-what-left-wing-violence-looks-like\/","title":{"rendered":"At the G-20 summit, this is what left-wing violence looks like"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I wrote a book a few years ago about rural conservatism, I pointed out that the modern “homelander” movement — a term which, like my book, failed to gain much traction — had been largely peaceful.<\/p>\n

Despite sometimes militant rhetoric — and a few exceptional cases of violence — the small-town right that dominates the Republican Party makes its arguments in political campaigns and wins its victories at the ballot box.<\/p>\n

This is a dramatic change from the 1950s and 60s, when the Right often resorted to bloodshed in the U.S., murdering civil rights workers, bombing churches, and assassinating liberal leaders from John Kennedy to Martin Luther King.<\/p>\n

I also pointed out that America’s leftist movements have had a comparable record of resorting to violence.<\/p>\n

My argument sparked outrage from a few liberals reviewers, who insisted that even in the 1960s and 70s\u00a0 social movements were almost universally peaceful.<\/p>\n

They were factually wrong.\u00a0 And as this week’s protests at the G-20 summit in Toronto demonstrate, even now political violence is hardly a danger exclusive to the far right, or to religious extremists.<\/p>\n

As CNN reported<\/a>, “at least four police cars went up in flames and smoke during hours of confrontation.”<\/p>\n

Protesters left behind broken windows and graffiti…police used tear gas after warning a group of protesters “engaged in acts of destruction” Saturday.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pundits on the left have been apoplectic — appropriately, I think — over tea party rallies that include threatening posters and placards.<\/p>\n

It is unacceptable in a democracy for political groups to suggest that if they don’t get their way, they will resort to the gun and to bloodshed.<\/p>\n

But all sides should be even more outraged at the spectacle of left-wing activists actually engaging in violence, hurling bricks at police, destroying businesses, and torching cars.<\/p>\n

As is usually the case, it appears that the violence in Toronto has been carried out by a relatively small faction.<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

The Toronto Star<\/a> has a fascinating profile of the “Black Bloc mob” who use guerrilla tactics to infiltrate peaceful protests.<\/p>\n

Factions within that group, however, appeared to just relish the mayhem. As the protest marched up Yonge St., they became more indiscriminate in what they damaged.<\/p>\n

Two young activists sprinted onto Yonge-Dundas Square and battered the tourist information booth, sparking jeers from some crowd members.<\/p>\n

On College St, a pack of masked protesters began to vandalize an empty BMW 4X4. A civilian car, albeit it an expensive civilian car.<\/p>\n

\u201cStop it. They\u2019re not our enemies,\u201d one protester shouted.<\/p>\n

The other retorted: \u201cYuppies are our enemy.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It has become a habit in our culture to see this kind of liberal mayhem as youthful excess, regrettable yes, but nothing on par with more worrisome forms of political violence.<\/p>\n

I disagree.\u00a0\u00a0 Democracy, debate, and legitimate protest are made impossible when the bricks start flying and the cars start burning.<\/p>\n

Legitimate protesters have a responsibility to self-police, making sure that extremists aren’t piggy-backing on non-violent passion and activism.<\/p>\n

Those who do resort to fear, destruction and intimidation to make their arguments should be arrested and prosecuted aggressively.<\/p>\n

As always, your thoughts are welcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I wrote a book a few years ago about rural conservatism, I pointed out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2282"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2282"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2285,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2282\/revisions\/2285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}