Daniel Byman comments on Lawfare about Accelerationism, the strategy behind at least some of the violence we’ve seen over the last week:
Accelerationism is the idea that white supremacists should try to increase civil disorder—accelerate it—in order to foster polarization that will tear apart the current political order. The System (usually capitalized), they believe, has only a finite number of collaborators and lackeys to prop it up. Accelerationists hope to set off a series of chain reactions, with violence fomenting violence, and in the ensuing cycle more and more people join the fray. When confronted with extremes, so the theory goes, those in the middle will be forced off the fence and go to the side of the white supremacists. If violence can be increased sufficiently, the System will run out of lackeys and collapse, and the race war will commence.
Although the white supremacist embrace of acceleration is relatively recent, capitalizing on, or even creating, polarization is not a new strategy. Those who call for violence to create political change, regardless of ideology, are more likely to thrive when the traditional political system is not working, and such people often try to use bloodshed to further the perception that the system is broken. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, for example, right-wing (but not white supremacist) terrorists conducted dozens of attacks in Italy, several quite bloody, to sow fear and panic. In December 1969, a series of bombings shook Italy, including one on the Banca Nazionale dell’Agricoltura (National Agricultural Bank) that killed 17 people. Neo-fascists sought to discredit their rival left-wingers with “false flag” attacks and make the government seem powerless. Their hope was that as order collapsed, the people would demand an end to the chaos and thus support an authoritarian regime. This backfired. It soon became clear that the right had orchestrated many of the bombings and that some authorities were complicit. Public order indeed suffered, and Italians became even more skeptical of traditional political parties. Communist and socialist parties stepped into the void far more effectively than did authoritarian groups. Today’s white supremacists may find that the unrest helps their enemies on the far-left or African American organizations rather than leads to a broader public embrace of their cause.
In addition to the possibility that the “wrong” side might win from acceleration, it’s also important to note that accelerationism is an admission of weakness, no matter how frightening the concept. Its proponents are recognizing that, on their own, they cannot foment the revolution they seek or use the system to achieve their ends. Nor are they able to use the political system to achieve their ends, as leaders of the alt-right would endorse. Instead, they must latch on to existing societal problems and try to shape and exploit them.
For me, it’s a graphic lesson in the methods of the racists, should they grab control: violence for all those they dislike, starting with those who are much unlike them – at least physically – and then, as time passes and so literally illustrated by the intra-GOP warfare tactic of RINOing[1], the steady reduction in the size of the group that is considered protected by the strength of the party as more and more members are found to be impure. At some point, it’s either kiss the ass of the leader in a daily exotic public ceremony, or out you go. Possibly in a body bag.
For the person who is undecided or, worse, is cheering the supremacists on, this is the argument I’d hand them. Let them chew on that. Ask them just how much ass-kissing they’d do – with a gun to their, for those full of bravado.
But also of interest is that Byman, writing on what I generally take to be a non-partisan platform, although the occasional anti-Trump article is not unknown, is assuming – perhaps on good authority – that white supremacist groups are behind these atrocities. This is not true on the right. Erick Erickson, far-right pundit and former editor of the now-dead RedState, has seen fit to send another missive to people on his mail list who aren’t paying for his thoughts:
It was overwhelmingly progressive white twenty-somethings doing the damage across America these past few days. They hijacked the peaceful protests of black America seeking justice and led marauding gangs out to vandalize, pillage, and destroy.
That should tell us all something about race and justice in America. There were certainly black Americans engaged in the destruction, but in city after city it was mostly young white men picking up the first bricks and lighting the first fires.
Ponder that for just a minute with me. Let’s ignore, for a minute, the false claims that these are white supremacist Trump supporters. They weren’t. They were mostly the black clad thugs of Antifa and a bunch of teen and twenty-somethings who’ve been cooped up and unemployed for a few months. But just ponder this with me. [mass emailing]
And his evidence that this is mainly driven by the Antifa – they’re wearing black! OMG! Well, that’s all he has.
I’ve been telling my Arts Editor over the last few days that virtually all the information we’re getting must be considered tentative until confirmed at a later date, when malicious rumors as well as innocent misunderstandings can be shown to be false. History has conclusively shown that a huge percentage of information gained in the midst of a conflict is either false or critically incomplete. I do not wish to alienate people I or my Arts Editor know who’ve actually seen what appeared to be white supremacists setting fires, or were attacked by white men with crowbars, but until these individuals are positively identified, apprehended, and investigated for their links to radical groups, there will be a voice in the back of my head saying, But how can we be sure? And acting on inaccurate information is more likely to
So Erickson is committing an error in pursuit of pushing his agenda, which happens to be bringing everyone to Jesus. He appears to have conveniently forgotten that Jesus was a radical reformer himself, who inflicted violence on the money changers, and frightened the Romans enough that they crucified him.
If, indeed, he ever existed.
And, for what little it’s worth, noises about Antifa involvement have only made their way into my awareness from the right. There’s no mention on the local news, among any of my contacts, indeed anything at all beyond Trump and his ineffective apologist, Erickson. Anarchists have had a little mention, but not much: Antifa is sometimes considered to be allied with the anarchists, and so I mention it.
Again, maybe the trustworthy investigative authorities will find Antifa involvement, and then we’ll have to deal with it. But right now we only know things like this:
The U.S. Attorney’s office has charged Galesburg, Illinois resident Matthew Lee Rupert, 28, with causing civil disorder, a riot and possessing unregistered explosive devices in an effort to stoke chaos Friday night during protests for George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The criminal complaint says Rupert posted to Facebook Friday, saying, “I’m going to Minneapolis tomorrow who coming only goons I’m renting hotel rooms.” Then Saturday, he posted a cellphone video of himself in Minneapolis, giving out explosive devices to people and pushing for others to throw the explosives at law enforcement. He is also shown in the video damaging property, and engaging in arson and looting businesses.
“They’ve got SWAT trucks up there … I’ve got some bombs if you all want to throw them back,” Rupert said in the video. “Bomb them back … here I got some more … light it up and throw it.”
He is also seen in the video asking people for lighter fluid before he enters a Sprint store.
“I lit it on fire,” Rupert says in the video, before going into an Office Depot and looting merchandise. [WCCO]
Hopefully, information on his background and connections will be discovered, verified, and made public quickly. Right now, all we know is he’s from Chicago, and … probably isn’t too bright.
1 In case you’re not up on Republican warfare acronyms, it stands for Republican In Name Only, and is used to mark those who, in the user’s opinion, should be ejected from the Republican Party for not being conservative enough.
I’ve opined on an occasion or three that, eventually, the Republican Party will consist of three members, two on probation, due to the unrestrained RINO rampaging through their ranks.
