The trial of a far-right movement in the US sends a message

Day X: when the extreme right aspires to control society 0:45

Editor's Note:

Frida Ghitis, (@fridaghitis), a former CNN correspondent and producer, is a world affairs columnist.

She is a weekly opinion writer for CNN, a contributing columnist for The Washington Post, and a columnist for the World Politics Review.

The opinions expressed in this column are yours.

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For those of us increasingly concerned about the prospect of even more political violence in the United States, the verdict in Tuesday's trial of Charlottesville - which held responsible for more than $ 26 million in damages to leaders and far-right groups that organized and participated in the violent demonstration of 2017 - it was very welcome news.

The defendants were found liable for conspiracy at the state level and for other lawsuits, although the jury said it could not reach a verdict on two conspiracy lawsuits at the federal level.

Still, it's a good day when some of the worst people in the country are held accountable and punished with potentially crippling financial penalties.

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The threat is far from over.

But even if the defendants fail to make the millions the jury charges them, or if the court reduces the awards, the trial and its outcome sent a signal that America will be held accountable for those horrible days after all. summer, a message that has been heard very little since political violence began to escalate in recent years.

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The money may never come, and the ideology will not go away.

But this trial should achieve at least two important goals.

First of all, it should make others who plan to make such a blatant public display of their horrible views think twice.

Second, it clearly and incontrovertibly establishes that what happened in Charlottesville in 2017, a historic moment in American history, is an affront to the country's values, broadening Americans' understanding of the violent threat posed by violence. right-wing extremism, by making it clear what the violence in Charlottesville was all about.

That event was not the first far-right attack in the United States, but it opened the doors further and in a new way to the signs of armed political radicalism, a threat that has been growing and accelerating, culminating in the attack of June 6. January at the Capitol, an attempted coup, in my opinion.

The events in Charlottesville of August 11-12, 2017, are etched in the minds of many Americans. It was the first year of a presidency that had excited extreme right-wing extremists. The march through the grounds of the University of Virginia looked and sounded like something out of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, with torches and shouts of "The Jews will not replace us", "Blood and earth" and Nazi-style salutes with arms. rigid.

The moment seemed to confirm our worst fears.

The day after that chilling march, violent clashes between racists and anti-racists turned deadly when one of the defendants rammed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one of them and wounding several of those who have now become plaintiffs in this lawsuit.

After the Unite the Right rally, Americans - and the rest of the world - heard the former president speak from both sides of their mouths, having difficulty criticizing extremists among his supporters for delight of neo-Nazis.

He finally succeeded in convicting them, but not without declaring that there were "some very good people on both sides."

During the trial, the jurors were confronted with the repugnant opinions of the defendants. These views are protected by the First Amendment, but the Constitution does not allow violence or conspiracy. "This will be a violent summer," wrote once far-right icon Richard Spencer two months before the rally. (Spencer has said the trial has been "financially crippling.") On a far-right message board, a man calling himself "JUDENJAGER", Jew hunter in German, wrote: "we are going to see some serious fights in Cville and we will see blood on some of these white polo shirts lol".

In these proceedings, some of the defendants spoke with admiration of Hitler and repeatedly uttered the "n" word.

One of the lawyers deliberately used the word k - e, an anti-Semitic slur, in an effort to "desensitize the jury," he explained.

The tests were overwhelming.

The jury found that five far-right groups should pay $ 1 million each, and a dozen defendants should pay $ 500,000 each, in punitive damages for participating in a civil conspiracy.

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The United States - and the world - need to hear the message of responsibility that this jury has sent.

After Charlottesville, far-right extremists became even more deadly.

The following year, a man shouting "All Jews must die!"

he broke into a synagogue in Pittsburgh and opened fire, killing 11 people.

The following year, a man who police said was targeting Mexicans shot and killed 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.

Before long, armed militias were everywhere, protesting the pandemic restrictions and demonstrating in support of former President Trump's false claims about the elections.

The militiamen planned to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

The FBI says that racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVES) pose the greatest terrorist threat to the nation, finding that January 6 "demonstrates the willingness of some to use violence" to achieve political goals.

The United States is also awash in weapons, and many of them are in the hands of far-right militants willing to use them for political purposes.

"When can we use guns?" An activist asked during a recent rally by the right-wing youth group Turning Point USA.

"I mean, literally, where is the limit?" He asked again, "how many elections are they going to steal before we kill these people?"

If this isn't scary enough, consider what we've seen this unusual week.

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In a strange coincidence, three separate trials, all related to the tensions and violence that have erupted in this country in recent years, came to a head.

In addition to Charlottesville, there is the conviction of three white men in Georgia for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black man who was persecuted.

And then there's the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager who showed up at an anti-racist protest armed with an assault rifle, which he used to kill two protesters in what he said was self-defense, a claim the jury accepted by acquitting him of all. the charges.

There is no proof that Rittenhouse was an extremist, but it is about a young man who, let us repeat it, shot and killed two people. And despite the tragic outcome of his actions, Rittenhouse has become a hero in the eyes of many. His apotheosis included a meeting with the right-wing idol, former President Donald Trump, in Mar-a-Lago. In a normal, stable society, he would have gone home and kept quiet, considering himself lucky not to spend the rest of his life in jail. His supporters would surely have breathed a sigh of relief and perhaps tried to change the subject.

His actions, the use of a firearm in the middle of a political protest, are being regarded as an inspiration.

Members of Congress compete to add it to their rosters.

One of those members, Congressman Madison Cawthorn, told his supporters after Rittenhouse's acquittal: "You have the right to defend yourself. Be armed, dangerous and morally fit."

The threats posed by extremist rhetoric and violence have not disappeared, but in an environment like the one we live in, the Charlottesville victory was important.

By arriving just before Thanksgiving, it gives one more reason to celebrate, albeit cautiously, in these dangerous times.

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