Armed Antifa Group Offers Training Manual On Terrorism And Guerrilla Warfare
8:34 AM 07/31/2017
An Antifa organization called Redneck Revolt is advocating for “revolution” against the rise of “fascism” in the United States, and the end of capitalism. To facilitate these goals, the group offers a variety of resources, including a training manual for conducting guerrilla warfare with sections for “executions” and “terrorism.” In the wake of the targeted shooting of Republican members of Congress earlier this year, nothing is more concerning than extremist organizations calling for armed revolts against civil society.
Redneck Revolt is one of several organizations to spring up following Trump’s victory at the 2016 polls, and is purportedly one of the largest of these Antifa organizations currently operating in the United States with over 30 chapters across 20 states.
It describes itself as a group made up of “working class and poor people” with declarations of taking “meaningful action” against “our common enemy: the rich.” It lists “militant resistance” as one of the group’s guiding principles.
Antifa members have been labeled “anarchist extremists” and listed among “domestic terrorism” groups by the Office of Homeland Security in New Jersey. Daily Caller deputy editor Scott Greer compared antifascist groups to terrorists in a Fox News appearance.
Much of the group’s official website includes rhetoric pulled straight out of Marxist publications, echoing various talking points often spouted by leftists about the evils of capitalism, property ownership, “artificial borders,” and basic systems of social order, including police, prisons, and courts.
Redneck Revolt refers to these public institutions as “systems of social control [that] only exist to serve the rich,” and calls for the end of the “nation-state project.” It lists the US Armed Forces alongside the Ku Klux Klan as having “undermined the struggle for freedom among all people.”
The “Resources” page of the group’s website offers a number of publications that promote violence, including a 36-page manual called the “Mini-Manual of the Urban Guerrilla,” which advises readers on how to conduct urban warfare, with sections on “sabotage,” “kidnapping,” “executions,” and even “terrorism.”
(Redneck Revolt)
(Redneck Revolt)
(Redneck Revolt)
Other publications include “Piece Now, Peace Later: an anarchist introduction to firearms”—a how-to guide for weapons handling—and a variety of intersectional feminist and anarchist essays.
“Redneck Revolt” is more than just a website or a call to action. VICE News did a short documentary on a chapter of the armed group when they marched through Asheboro, North Carolina to protest a scheduled rally by the Ku Klux Klan. In the documentary, they yelled chants against both the police and the KKK, to the ire of residents who support the authorities.
“Racist. Sexist. Filled with hate. America was never great,” chanted members of the group in the filmed protest.
“Redneck Revolt” has gone beyond simply protesting far-right extremist groups, organizing armed ralliesalongside other Antifa groups at the Arizona State Capitol to counter a Trump rally. The group reprinted its report, “It’s Going Down,” which received funding through Patreon until its account was suspended last week for Terms of Service violations.
Interviewed by The Guardian, members of the leftist organization declared their opposition not only to the far-right, but to liberals in general. Mother Jones praised the group for its pledge to “resist right-wing extremists by any means necessary.” Little mention was made of the group’s plans to conduct armed warfare in either interview, however—depicting them instead as white working-class individuals who care about social justice.
Emboldened by progressive rhetoric in the media, Redneck Revolt’s call for violent action against “fascists” may eventually reach a crisis that’ll result in more than sore jaws and hurt feelings.
Redneck Revolt did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.
Ian Miles Cheong is a journalist and outspoken media critic.
