There are certain circumstances which would make anyone an extremist, so I'm of two minds about an act, itself so extreme as that. Many of us might face circumstances like that going forward, not in the least part due to climate change (water shortages, relocation, etc).
Could you define "extremism" in your perception to me? Trying to look it up it seems like it's a very imprecise term in english language and basically amounts to "beliefs at the far end of the political spectrum". Which is much more lax than its German definition for example.
The German Office for the Protection of the Constitution distinguishes between extremism and radicalism in this way:
- Radicals want to handle an issue at the root (latin: radix) of it. Radicals, however, operate within the constitution and are not opposed to the constitutional state. Being critical of capitalism or the economic and societal structure does not make an extremist and have a legitimate place within a pluralistic soceity
- Extremists' actions directly attack the values of a liberal democracy
Going by this definition it would be VERY hard for me to agree that there's circumstances that would make me oppose democracy.
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Going back to ANTIFA it seems very difficult to give an opinion specifically about ANTIFA for the average joe over here.
The way I understand it is that left radicalism and extremism is very nuanced, disorganized and that there's a lot of different movements within it. Some local ANTIFA may be very different from the next for example (all would be radical only some would be extreme).
What does seem to happen though is that for bigger occasions they shove their differences aside to protest / riot together. Another thing that seems to happen is that the radical side of the movement tends to tolerate the extremists.
So here's my opinion: let people be radical if they want, a healthy democracy has to be able to deal with them, being violent towards radicals in an effort to deprive them of their constitutional right to participate in the democractic proccess makes you much worse than what you're fighting.
I would say I support the "sterilization of extremism" as
@the_randomizer has put it. This "sterilization" proccess should be very nuanced though and should take into account that freedom of speech IS the ultimate good and should weigh the argument for freedom of speech very heavily.
The German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has the capability to outright ban extremist organizations
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