The history of using violence by political movements to silence their opponents is long and bloody. We rightly associate it with the Nazis and their brownshirts, but its practice is universal in politically unstable societies. Paramilitaries are common enough in history, and even smaller, less organized groups pop up and eventually fade out.

The KKK is a classic American example, as is Antifa today. They use violence and intimidation to silence anybody who dissents from their point of view.

In America, the KKK was the most normalized of these groups, and its fade into irrelevance has been a welcome development.

So using violence to silence is hardly an exclusively Left-wing phenomenon, although in modern America it is a common tactic of Leftists. And one that, sadly, has been embraced by leaders in the Democrat Party implicitly or explicitly at the highest levels.

We often hear even from the White House implicit justifications of physical intimidation directed at conservatives. Usually, when asked about some awful incident aimed at conservatives we hear about a right to protest, rather than a right to speech. Universities do the same, at best tut-tutting about student violence while assuring the “protesters” that their “safe spaces” will remain safe from alternative points of view.

Or worse, when Riley Gaines was attacked physically the University sided with the attackers.

Antifa has made it a practice to attack protesters they oppose, such as at drag queen story hours. Several were just arrested after they attacked some protesters and then violently confronted the police.

Antifa clashed with Fort Worth police while protecting a drag queen show. Three people were arrested during a clash between Fort Worth police and a group defending a drag show from a protest Sunday, according to jail records and video posted to social media.

Christopher… pic.twitter.com/sk4Kay0rKi

— D. Scott @eclipsethis2003 (@eclipsethis2003) April 25, 2023

Antifa is an explicitly paramilitary group, often showing up in military garb, armed with rifles, and with faces covered to avoid police scrutiny. They often become violent, and always seek to intimidate. That is their raison d’être.

Antifa was extremely prominent in the 2020 riots and their influence has not waned a bit since then. If anything it has spread.

Isabel R. Araujo, a trans #Antifa leader in Portland, is organizing a direct action to try & shut down women's rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen on her speaking visit in Oregon. (Keen says trans women are men.) Araujo is currently raising money for weapons. https://t.co/fAuUzsxLr6 pic.twitter.com/FdPrMu2CsI

— Andy Ngô 🏳️‍🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) October 19, 2022

What is striking is how the rise of violence to silence has become an Anglosphere-wide phenomenon,

When Posie Parker, a so-called TERF went on a speaking tour in Australia and New Zealand she was physically attacked and literally driven out of the country. The excuse for using violence against her was to protect the “safety” of women.

So, video evidence = "baseless rumour" now, yeah?

If you were @ThePosieParker in this video, would you have felt under threat?

The world is slowly waking up to the damage you are doing to women, children and the LGB whom you have betrayed and they don't like what they see. https://t.co/jXB0nXpvcG pic.twitter.com/fAHVH53WwC

— Rudy (@theneonrequiem) March 25, 2023

The same excuse for assaulting Riley Gaines was used in San Francisco, and the idea that paramilitaries create “safe spaces” for the right people is widely accepted on the more radical Left, and implicitly supported by the mainstream Left.

After the attack on Posie Auckland Pride, a mainstream “pride festival” praised the attacks as an expression of their values. Which, I suppose, it is.

Parker’s subsequent withdrawal from her Wellington event demonstrates the power of community organising and solidarity in showing her that her hateful views are not welcome here.

This news will be a relief to many in our communities targeted by her hatred.

— Auckland Pride 🏳️‍⚧️ (@AucklandPride) March 25, 2023

The image they present to the mainstream liberal is one of love and compassion, while their actions are those of the Brownshirts of old.  Go to their website and it is all puppies and flowers, community and love. Watch what they actually celebrate as their values and it is violent intimidation of people with whom they disagree.

This is all normalized now, as similar tactics have been throughout history. There is no fundamental difference between cross-burnings and vandalizing Crisis Pregnancy Centers. Beating people up is beating people up, regardless of your cause. The violence is used to silence.

We live in an America where a trans-activist with a manifesto that is supposedly so dangerous it cannot be released can shoot up a school, and the White House’s response is to defend and celebrate the trans community with barely a mention of the victims.

Trans-activist kills kids and adults at a Christian school. White House: aren’t trans people wonderful? Hardly a mention of the victims, who are immediately memory-holed.

College campuses and academic settings are among the worst offenders. Last week an archaeologist was giving a talk about excavating some Mayan ruins–a very benign activity one would think, and one supported by the indigenous residents of the area–and his talk was disrupted as protesters stormed the stage and drove him off.

Masked protesters ‘rush’ the stage at book festival to disrupt archaeologist interview. https://t.co/YUQoABGkGs via @collegefix

— The College Fix (@CollegeFix) April 26, 2023

The idea that an archaeologist’s talk on Mayan ruins would erupt into chaos seems absurd, but it is hardly unique. One could even almost call it common these days. Literally, anything that deviates an iota from a constantly changing ideological orthodoxy is subject to violent silencing.

The protesters toppled chairs, shouted “this is stolen land!” and “f— imperialism!” and unveiled a large banner that read “Gringo colonizer fuera del Mirador.”

As stunned spectators looked on, a tussle broke out between the demonstrators and some of the event crew who were desperately trying to clear the stage. One stage crew member emerged with a bloodied nose as police arrived quickly at the scene.

After several minutes during which protesters continued to shout at Hansen while police formed a line between the demonstrators and the stage, Hansen and Maciel were escorted to a nearby tent for event speakers.

Intimidation is the point. Putting people on alert, watching everything they say and do, and instilling fear is the goal. Nobody expects any minds to be changed, but they do expect people to be silenced and become compliant for fear that they could be next.

Stalin understood this, which is why the Soviet terror was indiscriminate. Fear itself was the goal. Making people cringe. Adherents to the ideology become empowered, even giddy, and become intensely loyal to the leaders. Everybody else becomes a cringing coward. Rocking the boat is a sure path to ruin.

That is the goal, at least.

In Tennessee 3 legislators led a protest where hundreds of people stormed the capitol, the floor of the House was taken over, and bullhorns were used to silence everyone who didn’t agree with the protesters.

Those legislators are the heroes and the others villains. Take over the TN House? A sure ticket to a meeting with the president.

Yet the White House barely acknowledged the Nashville shootings, and 3 days after went on the offense regarding transgenderism.

Just days after 6 Christians were murdered by a trans female, including three children, White House Press Sec. Karine Jean-Pierre:

"Our hearts go out to the trans community, as they are under attack right now." pic.twitter.com/WgVBVnneXb

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) March 30, 2023

These people know exactly what they are doing, and the target is you. Not necessarily to commit violence against you, unless you get too uppity, but they have chosen to implicitly embrace both the message and the tactics of the violent Left.

As I said, these tactics are hardly a new phenomenon in politics, or even in Western politics. But they are also inimical to the functioning of a free society. We look back on earlier periods when political violence was tolerated with horror.

Hopefully we will retain enough freedom that we will look back on today with the same horror.