Though these findings are preliminary and should serve as a basis for future research, we can draw several conclusions from what we discovered:
•An online structure supporting anarcho-socialist extremism appears to be rapidly growing.
•Many of the features of anarcho-socialist extremism seem to parallel the key tactical structures documented in libertarian-anarchist and Jihadi extremism: Use of memes,cloistering in fringe and private online forums and organizing militias.
•The appearance of posts with anti-police outrage and/or memes and coded language increased over 1,000% on Twitter and 300% on Reddit in recent months during social justice protests.
•Extreme anarcho-socialist fringe online forums on Reddit use memes calling for the death of police and memes for stockpiling munitions to promote violent revolution.
•Extreme anarcho-socialist fringe online forums on Reddit underwent growth in membership and participation during the quarantine and recent social justice protests.
•Anarcho-socialist militias which explicitly glorify Martyr narratives, classic authoritarian narratives, and revolutionary narratives are now formally organizing—and are growing.
»Groups such as the Socialist Rifle Association have more than doubled in membership since quarantine.
•We find evidence that both militia and anarchist networks play key roles in the recent social justice protests from controlling perimeters at CHAZ [CHOP] to coordinating nation-wide anarchist-inspired violent protests online.
A qualitative investigation on Reddit revealed evidence of a network of interconnected subcultural forums, several with attached, private chat groups, which broadcast socialist, anarchist, and/or communist leanings, and evince themes like demonization and dehumanization of police andpolitical opponents as well as violent insurgency.
These subcultural forums include the recently banned Chapotraphouse and related subcommunities such as r/moretankiechapo (in which “tankie” refers to authoritarian, hard line Stalinists), r/dankleft(roughly 100,000 members), a radical board which produces cartoonish and dehumanizing political memes, and r/socialistRA (roughly 55,000 members), a left-wing gun-enthusiast activist group and spoof of the NRA known as the Socialist Rifle Association (SRA), which describes itself as “working class, progressive, anarchist, socialist, communist, eco-warrior, animal liberator, anti-fascist, anti-racist, anti-capitalist, PoC, LGBTQ-plus.” Along with its group for posting memes depicting violence, r/SRAweekend, it boasts tens of thousands of followers on Reddit, Twitter, and Facebook.
Having a weapon doesn't make someone not a civilian. They may be the primary agents of state violence, but they're not military personnel. They're not members of the armed forces, they're paid by public funds through municipal or state budgets, like any other public servant. They live in houses in amongst other people, not on military bases.
They consider themselves outside the sphere of being a civilian, and they act that way, but that doesnt change that they have none of specific details of being military personnel. They have a certain amount of qualified immunity, so do doctors. They can carry guns, so can some security guards or parks personnel.
Literally they are violent, have military-like equipment, and they wish they weren't just regular citizens. But they are.
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I think this disregards who has oversight. On paper at least, elected government has oversight over the police. This is the difference - I will agree that they certainly want to be so badly an occupying , non-civilian force, but they really just aren't. I don't disagree that they act, look, and present as an occupying force, but at the end of the day, they could be completely defunded by a vote.
They won't be, but they could be.