This morning, two articles by the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle caught my eye, both shedding light on the underlying mindset of those connected to the political left—a mindset which still carries a significant amount of Leninist heritage. This refers to professional revolutionary activism, meaning undemocratic and violent transfer of power, which in its time also led to the Finnish Civil War.
The first article that drew my attention reported that the German left, anarchists, and anti-fascists want to prevent the youth of Alternative for Germany from organizing under the wings of the party’s democratic leadership. According to the article, the left explicitly intends to disrupt the AfD meeting by preventing attendees from reaching the venue, making their lives as difficult as possible, and if necessary, to ‘set Giessen on fire’.
It is likely that this will lead to violence, in which Leninist actors will be confronted by AfD supporters and possibly also by extremist elements who support Nazi ideas, the latter being no more respectful of democracy than the communists themselves.
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The second Yle news story that raised my eyebrows concerned the Irish author Sally Rooney, whose books may be withdrawn from sale in Britain. This is due to her support for the Palestine Action group, which is banned under British anti-terrorism laws.
The group engages in direct action to disrupt the UK arms industry. The key targets of its acts of terrorism have been the British factories of the Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems, as well as the RAF Brize Norton airbase.
Palestine Action has used protests, occupations of premises, property destruction, and vandalism in its campaigns. As a result, its members have been arrested and brought to court, charged among other things with aggravated assault on police officers.
Rooney has certainly not expressed any understanding of the British decision, but instead has portrayed herself as a victim, declaring that banning her works is an extreme form of state interference in artistic expression. In doing so, she has reinforced her Leninist mode of thinking by supporting violent rebellion to achieve her aims.
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As a side note, I would also like to mention one more observation about Yle itself. In the article on Rooney it was stated that ‘since July, British police have arrested hundreds of demonstrators who have shown support for the group’. Meanwhile, according to Wikipedia, ‘British police have arrested at least 2,269 people for supporting the Palestine Action movement’.
This left me wondering: was Yle attempting to downplay left-wing violence? Or did the journalist simply fail to notice that supporters of Palestine Action have been arrested in many other situations besides the one described in the article linked?"
Previous thoughts on the same topic:
When Diversity Beats Doctors: Three UK Healthcare Realities to Make Stalin Envious
Citizen Journalism, Free Speech, and EU Challenges
Why Were Violent Protests Acceptable for George Floyd but Not for the UK Child Murders?
The original blogpost in Finnish:
Vallankumouksellinen vasemmisto kylvää väkivaltaa ja niittää tukea
A leftist never avoids an opportunity to burn and loot.
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