The State Department has designated four Antifa groups in Europe as foreign terrorist groups.

 

Antifa in Berlin Germany. Fox News/AFP/Getty.

The State Department has designated four Antifa groups in Europe as foreign terrorist organizations (FTO). Fox News. President Trump had already designated Antifa as a domestic terror group in the United States but this is the first time groups under the umbrella of Antifa has gotten an FTO designation. The groups include Antifa Ost in Germany, the International Revolutionary Front/Informal Anarchist Federation in Italy as well as two Greek groups, Armed Proletarian Justice and Revolutionary Class Self Defense. All of these groups have conducted terrorist actions including bombings, assaults and shootings. The designations are new as left wing groups often get a free pass from terrorist designations. 

My Comment:

The FTO designation is a lot more severe than the domestic terrorist label American Antifa has gotten. This designation allowed military intelligence action, sanctions and travel bans against members of the groups. It's going to be dramatically more disruptive towards these groups than a domestic declaration could ever be. 

It's going to put rather extreme pressure on the states that host these groups to actually do something about them. Left wing groups usually get a pass in the EU given how far left the governments are there themselves and their utter obsession with right wing groups, regardless of how violent each group is. Germany, Greece and Italy are going to come under pressure to start breaking these groups up, along with any other European states that may have members there as well.

This will also effect other Antifa groups, in both Europe and America. This is because providing support for the four groups with the designation is a crime now, and it's very likely that the folks that are bankrolling these groups are banking other groups. Cutting off the funding and prosecuting the people doing so is going to have a major effect on Antifa.

Still, the effect will be small, I doubt there are too many people that are funding European Antifa groups, like these four, and American ones as well. I am guessing the two funding sources are separate, and if they aren't they will be now. 

I obviously think these designations are deserved. All of these groups are guilty of violence and a message needs to be sent that bombings, shootings and assaults are not going to be tolerated by the United States and Europe. Left wing groups are often treated with kids gloves when compared to right wing groups or Islamic terrorists. To be fair, left wing terrorism is more chaotic and has goals other than getting the highest body count, but that doesn't mean that they aren't dangerous and violent. They are more concerned with preventing people from exercising their rights and having a chilling effect on conservative though, not getting a high body count. 

I also think that this is an attempt to give Trump's supporters a bone after a very rough week of messaging from the Republican Party. Folks are upset about the pot ban, Trump's comments on H1B visas and the 50 year home loan proposals, and I don't really blame them. Folks were saying things like "they can ban pot but not do anything about Antifa", so at the very least, that talking point is gone. Taking care of these left wing groups was a campaign promise and I am glad we are moving in that direction.