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This is the first tangible evidence I've seen of rising rates of extremist violence on the left (1) https://www.wsj.com/articles/far-right-groups-cited-in-domestic-terror-attacks-11603367633
Some notable takeaways from the historical perspective: first, rightwing (white power and militia) violence is still the overwhelming majority of violent acts, 67% to 20% (2)
Second, "The share of attacks by antifascist, anarchist and other far-left groups rose significantly from 2019, when they accounted for 8% of domestic terrorism." (3) So: sharp rise
Third and maybe most important: "The report found violence from the political extremes was 'deeply intertwined,' particularly at protests where opposing armed groups can’t always judge each other’s intentions." (4) In other words, what we're seeing is violence IN CLASHES
That is to say, this isn't a matter of leftist violent attacks, but of two sets of armed movements coming face to face. We have a record of examples of times this has happened before (5)
For instance: radical leftist groups came to blows with Klan and neo-Nazi groups over a few years in the late 1970s, with fistfights, stick fights, etc. Then, they clashed in Greensboro, NC, in 1979... (6)
...but this time they had weapons. The left had single-shot pistols and weapons left in locked cars. The Klansmen and neo-Nazis had three handguns, two rifles, three shotguns, nunchucks, hunting knives, brass knuckles, ax handles, clubs, chains, tear gas, & mace. (continued) (7)
One neo-Nazi who had served as a Green Beret in Vietnam, had a tear gas grenade, possibly stolen from nearby Fort Bragg; he wore his army boots. They had packed several dozen eggs for heckling & “a .22 cal revolver as fresh as the eggs—a receipt for its purchase was with it.” (8)
This implied that the Klansmen and Nazis armed themselves particularly for the confrontation in Greensboro, with plans to use the guns. They also had two semiautomatic handguns and an AR-180 semiautomatic rifle, a civilian version of a military assault rifle. (9)
My point here is that when the left has met white power groups in violent clashes like this one, the white power (and militia) groups have almost uniformly been better armed, better trained, and more deadly. (10)
The other thing to note is that this report doesn't count Boogaloo as rightwing. This is incorrect in several different ways, and certainly throws off the count. (11)
The history of white power and militia activity can really help with contextualizing reports like this one. If you'd like to learn more, my book is here, and happy to recommend others. https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674237698
