Antifa violence 'vitally worth doing,' says NYU librarian
A New York University librarian praised Antifa violence as “vitally worth doing” in an essay about the recent rise of violence on the far-left.
April Hathcock, a Scholarly Communications Librarian at NYU, penned an essay “On Antifa and Social Justice Struggle” arguing that she “doesn’t care” about violence perpetuated by Antifa members because the violence is in service of a larger “social justice” agenda.
“Thing is, fighting oppression is messy. It’s not always going to be done right or peacefully or with perfect grace,” Hathcock remarked. “And that’s okay. It’s still vitally worth doing.”
Further, Hathcock condemns Antifa critics for “tone policing” far-left activists.
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Citizens worried about violence, she argues, perpetuate “the age-old narrative emerging here in which the oppressed are only allowed to fight oppression in ways deemed acceptable by the oppressor. This is a tone-policing tale as old as time.”
Hathcock also compares Antifa to Black Lives Matter, arguing that while BLM is “an explicitly peaceful movement,” it is subjected to the same criticisms that are currently being leveled at Antifa.
“Today, Black Lives Matter is constantly undergoing similar scrutiny [about perpetuating violence],” she laments. “That’s the thing, though: it really isn’t about whether there’s violence or not.”
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While many people argue in favor of peaceful protesting, Hathcock discounts this tactic, implying that violent protesting may be more effective.
“Even peaceful movements get denigrated as divisive and dangerous,” she asserts, pointing out that “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was jailed how many times for his peaceful, nonviolent interventions?”
Quoting Frederick Douglas, she ends her essay by invoking the necessity of violence against oppressive forces.
“This struggle [against oppression] may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle,” a portion of the quotation states. “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”
Campus Reform reached out to Hathcock for comment on her support of Antifa violence, but she did not respond to multiple requests.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @Toni_Airaksinen
