By Petr Svab
At least some parts of the anarcho-communist movement Antifa are highly organized, including initiation procedures, security protocols, and âlecturesâ on violent action, according to an undercover reporter who infiltrated one of the Antifa cells on behalf of Project Veritas, an investigative journalism nonprofit.
The reporter, who concealed his face on camera and didnât reveal his name, spoke about his experience and the information he collected in a video Veritas released on June 4.
The video comes at a time when protests around the country over a police killing of a black man have often turned violent. Officials from both sides of the political aisle have said that outside groups have exploited the recent events to further their own agenda. Antifa cells, in particular, have been named among the prime culprits in inciting violence.
The reporter said he joined the Antifa cell in Portland, Oregon, in July of a year Veritas didnât disclose.
âDepending on the setting, if I were to be caught or found out in a setting where I am present with them, it could escalate to violence against me,â he said.
He had left the organization âsome time ago,â according to Veritas.
The reporter described the initiation process, where he was contacted through a secure email platform and directed to come to a designated location wearing a white T-shirt and holding a water bottle.
He was then picked up and taken to another location for an âinterview.â
âProspecting membersâ need to first attend ârequired lecturesâ on Antifa tactics, he said.
The lectures were held at a bookstore before its opening hours. Attendees were required to leave their cellphones in the storeâs restroom, which had a fan going to muffle any sound from outside.
Several people lectured the prospects on how to conduct violent action in a clandestine fashion and how to minimize risk to themselves.
âDonât be that [expletive] guy with goddamned spike brass knuckles getting photos taken of you,â one of the lecturers is heard saying in the video released by Veritas.
Obvious evidence of violent intent could be used by law enforcement against them, he suggested.
âPolice are going to be like: âPerfect, we can prosecute these [expletive], look how violent they are.â And not that we arenât, but we need to [expletive] hide that [expletive],â he said.
The lecturer apparently instructed the prospects to inflict grave injury on their opponents.
âPractice things like an eye gouge. It takes very little pressure to injure someoneâs eyes,â he said.
The aim wasnât to engage in a fight, but to seriously harm, he said.
âConsider like, destroying your enemy. Not like delivering a really awesome right hand, right eye, left eye blow, you know. Itâs not boxing, itâs not kickboxing, itâs like destroying your enemy,â he said.
The reporter said he made it âabout halfway through the prospecting process to become a full-fledged member.â
He said the Portland cell, called Rose City Antifa (RCA), âseems much more structured, almost like a company or like a business, so I feel like there is some type of outside funding, influence, or resources being used.â
Antifa members âdo not hesitate to either push back or incite some kind of violence,â the reporter said.
But the approach is planned beforehand.
âIn our classes and in our meetings, before we do any sort of demonstration or Black Bloc, we talk about weapons detail and what we carry and what we should have,â he said.
âBlack Block,â is a mode of operation where members are dressed alike and masked âto look uniform so that no one can be identified in an act of a crime,â he said.
âThe whole goal of this, right, is to get out there and do dangerous things as safely as possible,â said another lecturer captured in the video.
On a projection screen beside him was seen what appeared to be a slide from a presentation. It talked about âBuddying Up,â a system where each member has a âbuddyâ during action.
âKeep an eye on their buddyâs emotional state, and try to calm them down / comfort them when necessary,â the slide says, and follows with other instructions.
Members are told to provide details to âlegal support personâ when their buddy gets arrested; they should also help with âfighting off an opponent, calling an ambulance, finding a first aider, or asking someone with a camera to record the situationâ when âtheir buddy is getting hurt,â and also to âleave with their buddy whenever they want to go, for any reason.â
âThey were getting this tradecraft from someone else, someone with much more experience, someone [who did] this for a living,â the reporter said.
He said the cell maintained a connection to Antifa abroad as the founder of RCA moved to Sweden. The Epoch Times wasnât able to verify the personâs role in founding the cell.
At a May 30 press conference, Attorney General William Barr said the recent violence appears to be âplanned, organized, and driven by far-left extremist groups and anarchic groups using Antifa-like tactics.â
Bernard Kerik, former police commissioner of the New York City Police Department, said Antifa â100 percent exploited these protests,â noting that their various websites control and dictate where protests start.
âItâs in 40 different states and 60 cities; it would be impossible for somebody outside of Antifa to fund this,â he told The Epoch Times. âItâs a radical, leftist, socialist attempt at revolution.â
According to John Miller, the NYPDâs deputy commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism, these outside radical groups have organized scouts, medics, and even supply routes of rocks, bottles, and accelerants âfor breakaway groups to commit vandalism and violence.â These groups have planned for violence in advance, using encrypted communications, he said.
Communism expert Trevor Loudon told The Epoch Times that Antifa is only one part of the picture, noting that âevery significant communist or socialist party in the United States has been involved in these protests and riots from the beginning.â
Bowen Xiao contributed to this report.