The Christian Science Monitor

What is antifa – and does its rise mean the left is becoming more violent?

Members of the antifa (short for anti-fascist) group attended a “free speech” rally on Boston Common Aug. 19. Boston Police kept rally attendees and counter-protesters separated with barricades and police personnel.

Concerns about possible violence are surfacing again in the Bay Area as the University of California, Berkeley, gears up for “Free Speech Week.” The four-day event, hosted by a conservative student group, features controversial personalities from the so-called "alt right" – a coalition of groups that espouse white nationalism, anti-Semitism, and populism.

The occasion follows counterprotests in Berkeley and other cities such as Portland that have given critics fodder to accuse leftist activists of stirring up violence in otherwise peaceful public gatherings. At the heart of the allegations is antifa, whose

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