Radical leftist militancyRedneck Revolt says it aims to protect minorities, promote social justice -- with guns
A far-left militant group calling itself the Redneck Revolt says it aims to put “the red back in redneck” – “red” as in communist red – and use aggressive tactics to promote social justice and protects minorities. Armed members of Redneck Revolt can often be seen providing protection to minority groups such as Black Lives Matter and to other left-leaning groups conducting marches and demonstrations. Redneck Revolt insists that the group should not be compared to another leftist militant group — the Anti-fa group. Members of Redneck Revolt explain the difference as mainly one of tactics: Anti-fa are willing to engage in property destruction, cover their faces in “black bloc,” and occasionally punch Nazis on the street. “We don’t do that,” a member of Redneck Revolt said firmly. “We do everything within the law.”
A far-left militant group calling itself the Redneck Revolt says it aims to put “the red back in redneck” – “red” as in communist red – and use aggressive tactics to promote social justice and protects minorities.
The Independent reports that armed members of Redneck Revolt can often be seen providing protection to minority groups such as Black Lives Matter and to other left-leaning groups conducting marches and demonstrations.
Redneck Revolt was founded in 2016 in Kansas and Colorado, and now claims to have forty-five regional branches in thirty states.
The group distinguishes itself from more run-of-the-mill liberal groups by advocating the right to bear arms.
“Charity is the lowest rung of what we do,” one member of the group told the Independent. “What we want to do is help people organize themselves – reorganize the conditions of their lives, so they don’t have to depend on someone else for a meal.”
This is why the group encourages its members to own gun, and go to firing ranges to learn how to use the arms effectively.
The groups says that it was established in order to counter the rise in extremist rhetoric, violence, and confrontational tactics used by white supremacist groups.
“The current political environment has seen armed militias intimidating people as they go into their mosques to pray, violent white nationalists attacking people in the street, Nazis openly calling for genocide all across the country, and political wavering around whether white nationalism is a defensible political ideology,” the group said in a press release sent to Newsweek.
“Redneck Revolt members recognize how real the threats of violence have become because of the friends and loved ones they’ve already lost, and they organize in community defense as both an obligation and a commitment to defend each other.”
Newsweeknotes that the group also aims to bring members of the working class together across racial divides. The group offers various social services such as clothing drives, potlucks, farming and gardening, and providing training in safety and survival.
“[Redneck Revolt] is a pro-worker, anti-racist organization that focuses on working class liberation from the oppressive systems which dominate our lives,” the group said.
The group also says that its members come from a variety of political ideologies, including libertarians, anarchists, communists, and independents — but that all members agree on the goal: countering the growth of white supremacist movements and building solidarity among diverse members of the working class and the poor.
