I wrote an article diving into the statistics on far-right extremist violence compared to far-left extremist violence, and to say the least, it’s not a “both sides” problem. An estimated 75% of extremist killings in the US over the past decade are attributed to far-right extremists, compared to 4% attributed to far-left extremists — and that’s on the high end of the estimates for far-left extremist violence.
https://weaponizedspaces.substack.com/p/violent-extremism-in-america-is-a
Violent extremism in America is a far-right phenomenon
The stats are irrefutable. Trying to make it a "both sides" issue just distracts from the real deadly threat — which comes from the far-right.
The ADL, which publishes annual reports on extremist violence, found that all but three of 29 extremist killings in 2021 were attributable to far-right extremism. Looking at data from the past decade (2012-2021), the picture remains very similar: far-right extremists are responsible for 75% of extremist killings, compared to 4% attributed to far-left extremists.
The New America Foundation, which breaks down the categories of extremist violence a bit more than ADL, found that only one extremist killing since 9/11 is attributable to left-wing extremism, compared to 122 deaths attributed to far-right extremism. Here’s what that looks like visualized:
Another analysis, conducted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), found that just one deadly extremist attack since 1994 was attributable to antifascists (“antifa”). During the same time period, right-wing extremists carried out attacks that resulted in 329 deaths.
But it’s about more than just the static numbers — it’s also about the rise in far-right extremist violence, which is shown below in yellow. Far-left extremist violence is shown in dark grey, and extremist violence categorized as “other” is shown in light grey. As you can see, far-right extremist violence accounts for nearly all of the rise of domestic extremism over the past two decades.
@rvawonk what kinds of incidents were responsible for the supposed leftist violence in the early 2000s? Was it just the Bush administration making things up?
Caroline Orr Bueno
Daphne
Celeste Ramsay