Ministry Made a Song Called "Antifa" and it is Kind of Sweet

Content note: This entry contains descriptions of violence including racist and misogynistic violence and racist slurs. Please take care while reading.

Also note, I wrote this at like 3am after my night medication had kicked in and I should be in bed. So, please forgive parts of this that are incoherently written.

Image: 5 protestors from NYS Antifascist Alliance stand in the grass holding up a banner that says their name and "100 NAZI SCALPS," referencing the movie Inglorious Bastards, with the anarchy circle-a symbol and the three-arrows antifa symbol on each side. Behind them 3 more protestors are holding up the black and red anarchist antifa flag and holding their fists in the air. 

Ministry has made it to this blog before both as an example of ways industrial videos/lyrics can be radical and ways industrial imagery can be misogynistic. I was more of a Ministry fan in my younger years. That is not to say I've grown out of them but more to make a point that I haven't kept up with them as much. I hadn't heard about anything new until I saw a post about their new song "Antifa" on the Great Lakes Antifa facebook page.

If you have been on the internet at all in the past month you probably know about the rise in visibility of neo-naziism and white supremacist organizing in the United States. I say visibility because they've always existed but have been braver lately due in part by the rise of the Trump administration, Richard Spencer, and others.

In Charlottesville, VA, a group of torch wielding white supremacists marched shouting chants such as "Jews will not replace us" and "Blood and Soil" eventually surrounding and attacking counterprotestors while police did nothing. We all know that leftist protestors with torches would be treated differently. At a later event, one (warning graphic link >) Nazi intentionally drove his car into a group of anti-racist protestors, murdering one and severely injuring many others. During this, police blocked roads and pointed guns at the injured protestors, delaying EMTs being able to give medical care to the group. Anarchist and other leftist street medics were the only medical care available for far too long. In another part of Charlottesville right next to a police station a group of white supremacists beat a Black man on the ground with pipes. In another part of the city a KKK imperial Wizard shot his gun at a Black man while calling him a n****r and a white boy with nazi tattoos and a slayer shirt punched a woman in the face.

Police stood and did nothing through this. Police are notorious for protecting white supremacist groups. This is why you can see white supremacist militias show up with semiautomatic weapons and live to tell about it, while unarmed Black men are shot while laying on the ground with their hands in the air. But, it's not just the cops and conservatives that are at fault.

Image: A meme with a bunch of american flags and the ACLU logo with lettering in different fonts that says "The ACLU pretends that if they were to just let a Nazi's plea for help go to voicemail then the first amendment would magically disappear because they care more about masterbating to how 'principled' they are than American Civil Liberties." source: bottom leftist memes

The ACLU regularly sues on behalf of Nazis and other pieces of human garbage (using the donations of people Nazis want to murder) and liberals decry any kind of violence towards Nazis as if hugging it out with them would stop their murderous tendencies. The same people that would quickly destroy all civil liberties if they gained enough power are allowed by the ACLU to use "free speech" as a carte blanche for cruelty. The media demonized Antifa and the government labeled them a terrorist organization. Yet, they did not label any of the nazi or other white supremacist groups who were beating and killing people as terrorists. During hurricanes, antifa members were doing volunteer aid work while "white nationalists" (white supremacists) were threatening to shoot people looking for food and supplies for survival. Cornel West even said that anarchists and antifa saved him and the clergy in Charlottesville, but many white liberals still sat at home criticizing movements they know nothing about. This same story plays out with both mainstream political parties and the US government with every movement against oppression.

Ministry in this video is obviously quite new to what antifa is and doesn't really understand their long history worldwide. I find this kind of sweet and dorky. I like dorky. But, they made a song called "antifa" to support anti-fascist movements. And, that's pretty cool in my book. Maybe this type of thing will lead Ministry away from ever putting out an album with cover art as misogynistic as that bullshit we wrote about before. That would be nice.

Here's one video (all of them are live as it has not been released as a track yet:)




You may also be interested in learning more about WHAT ANTIFA ACTUALLY IS. It can be difficult to wade through all of the sensationalist garbage in mainstream media. These are a couple quick and accurate things:

Sub.Media Trouble #2: Bash the Fash

Article: “They have no allegiance to liberal democracy”: an expert on antifa explains the group

Video: Mic Inside Antifa

 And finally, for my favorite fancy video on modern fascism:



Note: If you feel really defensive reading this article, ask yourself one question: When thinking about the struggle between anti-fascists and anti-racists against white supremacist groups, do you see more of yourself in the white supremacists?