Antifa the focus at Rubio-hosted international summit

By Sarah Roderick-Fitch
The Center Square

Secretary of State Marco Rubio highlighted what he described as the growing threat of left-wing terrorism Thursday at a ministerial he convened at the State Department comprising representatives from over 60 countries.

The summit comes months after the Trump administration designated Antifa a domestic terror organization, followed by Rubio designating a handful of European Antifa groups as foreign terror organizations.

The secretary warned against the growing threat of left-wing violence against Western civilization, noting that the threat is getting worse.

“You are here because this is real and it is getting worse, and it can no longer be denied, and it can no longer be ignored because it’s time to crush this evil forever,” Rubio told the international coalition.

The secretary tried to debunk dismissive claims from critics that the threat is not real or is inflated by conservatives.

“The simple fact is, none of this that I’ve described is new. Far left political terrorism is not a recent day modern novelty,” Rubio said. “It’s not a fiction manufactured by conservative politicians for most of the modern era. It was in fact the dominant form of political violence.”

The secretary accused some of dismissing the violence as long as it served the interests of “left-wing” activists.

“It is a poisonous resentment cloaked in the language of equality, justice, liberation – an overwhelming need to tear down what greater men have built, to wreck what is beautiful and right,” Rubio said.

“So many people in positions of power have repeatedly dismissed acts of violence and terrorism as legitimate forms of political expression, so long as they served a left-wing cause,” the secretary added.

Rubio broke down the pipeline between Antifa in the U.S. and Europe, characterizing it as a dark, underground network.

“Antifa militants and their comrades travel from across Europe and to the Americas to participate in each other’s attacks, to funnel propaganda and training, materials and target information through shared encrypted channels, moving through underground networks of safe houses, and finance and sustain their operations through transnational funds,” the secretary added.

He went on to connect “hostile nations,” like Iran and Cuba, working with Antifa, claiming they “share their mission” to destroy the West.

“They despise the west because the west is great,” Rubio argued.

As part of the Trump administration’s commitment to fight the scourge of political violence, Rubio is vowing to “dismantle” the terror networks “brick by brick.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also took part in the summit, focusing on targeting the financial network funding the movement.

“We are examining where tax-exempt status has been exploited, where charitable entities have become financial conduits for foreign influence, and how those entrusted with stewardship of these organizations have instead enabled violence,” said Bessent.

The secretary peppered in some personal experience of being targeted by left-wing political violence.

“I was the subject of an assassination attempt February 2024 by an addled left-wing activist two hours after being sworn in to my job,” Bessent said. “So any of you who want to report that this is a fiction and does not exist, be there for the sentencing this August.”

The terror designations paved the way for the State Department to target individuals or groups by cutting off or freezing their access to global financial systems to curb potential attacks.

The designations came after The Center Square asked the president if he would designate the group a foreign terror organization during a roundtable in October at the White House on Antifa, comprised of independent journalists, to which Trump responded, “Let’s get it done.”

The State Department identified four European-based organizations, which either claimed or have been accused of carrying out a series of violent attacks in a handful of countries.

The groups include German-based Antifa Ost, which the State Department says has been known for “wielding hammers in premeditated attacks.” The group was designated a terror organization in Hungary in September after a “series” of attacks in Budapest occurring in February 2023. The group has also been accused of several attacks in Germany between 2018 and 2023.

The second group, The International Revolutionary Front, an Italian-based group, is described as a “coalition of violent anarchists,” which has claimed responsibility for a shooting and injuries suffered by several people after the group “sent a series of bombs” to political leaders, embassies and civilians. The State Department stated that, despite the group operating out of Italy, it has “proclaimed affiliates” in Europe, South America and Asia.

The third group, a Greek-based organization, the Armed Proletarian Justice group, is described as anarchists who have waged “armed conflict against police officers and state infrastructure.” State said in a failed attack, the group planted a homemade dynamite bomb near a riot police headquarters in 2023.

The final group, also a Greek-based anarchist organization, known as the Revolutionary Class Self Defense, claimed responsibility for an attack on the Greek Ministry of Labor in 2024 and recently targeted major railway offices in April. The State Department says that the group used improvised explosive devices in those attacks.

The State Department has indicated that there could be more organizations designated as the Trump administration continues to “identify and disrupt Antifa’s terror networks across the world.”

The foreign designations came less than two months after The Center Square asked the president in the Oval Office if he would designate the leftist group a domestic terror organization, which he said he’d do. A week later, the group was officially designated a domestic terror organization.