It was deeply saddening to hear personal threats of violence made against two, non aligned anarchist women comrades at the predominantly anarchist "Glastonwick" music bash this weekend. it seems we are in danger of "eating" ourselves alive after our recent discovery of police officers within our ranks. The movement I have always felt comfortable appears to have become a quagmire of rumour and internecine squabbling. I am particularly disheartened by the random nature of this particular incident, part of which I witnessed, and deeply concerned that genuine comrades will end up seriously physically hurt if we do not act to avoid a purge culture in the aftermath of our recent unearthing of infiltrators. We have always had weaknesses, our openness and honesty may be regarded as such, but also a huge strength. We really need to challenge macho thuggery within our movement, and not shy away from condemning those who propagate this activity, whether they are considered "top boys" in antifa, or mere mortals. Please don't let us lose the opportunities we are currently creating by allowing personal violence, based on personal disagreement to pollute our good spirit. In witnessing this it was clear that the perpetrators were acting on information from [removed 1] but also (I really hope) unaware that his target was one of the women’s "ex" and she has already been vindicated within the movement at meetings attended by a large number of active anarchists. The above mentioned could be commended for his bravery, but has regularly risked comrades freedom by leading them into scenarios that were clearly unapproachable. It would appear that Antifa has styled itself on an undiluted AFA model without attempting to challenge the macho and often openly sexist culture of that organisation, clearly missing a trick for an allegedly "anarchist improved" dialectic. It is truly depressing to witness women being physically threatened in this way and that those doing the threatening, consciously or not, were doing so on the basis of a personal feud between two slightly suspect, male, long time members of the anarchist community who both have a record of personal violence alot of which is entirely unrelated to legitimate political activity .Sadly those making the threats are said to be members of [removed 2]. I have been an active Anarchist for many years and as such have seen a fair bit of conflict, but when we start threatening innocent people, based on an individuals personalised view of a situation rather than evidence; We need to "wise up" take a look at ourselves and particularly THINK about why violence may be required and be truly sure we are not committing heinous offences in the name of anarchism, to do so, disrespects us all, and allows others to do the same. Wake up, don't believe the hype.
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