Street Fighting Men
21st September 2023
Revolutions need foot soldiers and our current political moment is no different. Although they may sometimes sound like they are in opposition, the reality is that there is a considerable amount of congruence between the direct action we see today on the Left and the political and media duopoly in power in most of the West. Rather than being opposed to the supposed establishment, these activists provide the street muscle, fierce passion, and raised voices that bureaucrats dare not show—at least not usually.
In the U.S., black-hooded Antifa aggressively push for ‘racial justice’ and ‘trans rights.’ Anti-oil and animal-rights groups disrupt traffic, spill milk in stores, and glue themselves to paintings in the United Kingdom. In continental Europe, ‘anti-racist’ far Left groups and blocs of immigrants attack the same opponents. Churches and Christian symbols face fire—real or symbolic—from leftist, feminist, or Islamist sources. These are manifestations of what is known as direct action—whether violent or non-violent—which as a term developed on the political Left in the early 20th century, although antecedents can be found in the 19th century.
States and governments themselves may arrest people for some of these actions; sometimes the authorities may even prosecute some of them. But there is not that much political space between the street radicals and the broader agendas of most of our entrenched elites on a range of issues such as race, gender, climate change, immigration, or even their view of (Christian) religion. The street toughs may be getting a little ahead of the program, be a bit hot-headed, but they are pointing in the ‘correct’ direction. Their political hearts are in the right place and largely in lockstep with globalist elites. Such ideological harmony is reflected in the media coverage, where they are often treated with kid gloves, and described as ‘activists’ or ‘progressives’ while their opponents are ‘far’ or ‘ultra,’ as in ‘far-right’ or ‘ultra conservative.’