Anti-fascist groups named as US terror threats barely exist', experts say

"Experts have told the Guardian the same anti-fascist groups the US state department recently named as foreign terrorist organizations and accused of conspiring to undermine foundations of western civilization barely qualify as groups, let alone terrorist organizations, and pose no active threat to Americans. The whole thing is a bit ridiculous, said Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, which tracks extremist movements worldwide, because the groups designated by the administration barely exist and certainly aren't terrorists."

"In a release put out earlier this month, the Trump administration, which has made no secret of its hatred for leftists in the US and abroad, named Antifa Ost in Germany, the Italy-based International Revolutionary Front, and two organisations in Greece Armed Proletarian Justice and Revolutionary Class Self Defense to its long list of designated terrorist organizations. The four European groups, mostly protest collectives and streetfighters, find themselves in the company"

The US State Department designated several European anti-fascist groups as foreign terrorist organizations. Experts say the named groups barely qualify as organized groups, are largely defunct, and consist mainly of protest collectives and streetfighters. The designations placed those groups alongside established jihadist organizations on the official list of proscribed terrorists. Critics argue the move aims to intimidate leftist movements and to shift attention away from far-right terrorism, which has produced most of the recent real attacks, rather than to address an actual threat to Americans.

Read at www.theguardian.com