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The term "alt-left" is a neologism, used primarily by right wing commentators and activists to characterize radical and far-left activists, and to accuse them of extremism, aggression and violence.[1]

History

Washington Post reporter Aaron Blake traces the term to "alt-right websites like World Net Daily" which used the term during the 2016 Presidential election campaign; Blake credits Sean Hannity and Fox News together with President Donald Trump for popularizing it.[2] According to The New Republic, the term was popularized after it was "picked up" by Fox News as a way to "frame the Democratic wing led by Sanders and Elizabeth Warren as extreme."[3]

In a notable early use of the term, Gary Bauer used the term in a September 11, 2016 appearance on CNN with Jake Tapper, saying “It's not alt-right, it's not alt-left; it's alt-delete. It's get the bums out,” as a way of equating right- and left-wing populism.[2] But in his Washington Post history of the term, Blake credits an November 14, 2016 appearance by Anthony Scaramucci on the Sean Hannity Show with making this term a "mainstay" of the political conversation. In the November 14 program, Hannity used the term to excoriate "alt-left media" together with "mainstream" and "radical" media for being "biased against President-elect Trump"; while Scaramucci stigmatized the alt-left for stigmatizing Trump supports as "are misogynists and misanthropes and negative people."[2]

Both the term itself and the concept of an "alt-left" as a sort of opposite-but-equal mirror of the Alt-right have been severely criticized for "likening" the "socialist critics" of neo-Nazism "to neo-Nazis."[4][3] And the term has been criticized as a label that, unlike alt-right, was not coined by the group it purports to describe, but, rather, was created by political opponents as a political smear implying a false equivalence.[4][2]

Definitions

The term is relatively new, and is used in contradictory ways.[5][6] as there is no far left equivalent to the Alt-right.[7] Commentators[who?] noted that unlike the term "alt-right," which was coined by the people who comprise the movement, "alt-left" was "coined by its opponents and doesn't actually have any subscribers."[8] The term originated in conservative online media[9] and has been picked up by Sean Hannity and Donald Trump.[10]

According to an essay published by Jacobin (magazine), the label refers to something that does not exist.[11] Mark Pitcavage of the Anti-Defamation League states that the word is made up by extremist groups to create a false equivalence between the far right and “anything vaguely left-seeming that they didn’t like.”[12]

Journalist James Wolcott, historian Gil Troy, and literature professor Seth Abramson agree in describing the alt-left as similar if politically opposite forms of extremism, and both - Troy writing in late 2016 and Wolcott in early 2017 - regard the alt-left as smaller and lesss threatening than the alt-right.[13][14][15] Troy describes both movements as "intersect(ing) in their economic populism and bullying tactics. They both obsess about Wall Street, the Big Banks, the Mainstream Media and what they see as the dysfunctional federal government."[13] Wolcott describes Jacobin (magazine) and The Intercept along with websites Truthdig, Consortiumnews, and Naked Capitalism as as outlets for alt-left ideology.[14]

According to journalist Peter Beinart, "What Trump calls “the alt left”... is actually antifa."[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ Horton, Alex (15 August 2017). "What is the 'alt-left,' which Trump just blamed for some of the violence in Charlottesville?". Washington Post - The Fix. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d Blake, Aaron (1 December 2016). "Introducing the 'alt-left': The GOP's response to its alt-right problem". Washingotn Post. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Liberalism Needs the "Alt-Left"". New Republic. Retrieved 2017-08-16.
  4. ^ a b Levitz, Eric (3 March 2017). "Why the Alt-Center Is a Problem, Too". New York Magazine. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  5. ^ "What is the 'alt Left' that Donald Trump said was 'very violent' in Charlottesville?". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2017-08-16.
  6. ^ Cummings, William (15 August 2017). "Trump spoke of the 'alt-left.' Is that a thing?". Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  7. ^ "Liberalism Needs the "Alt-Left"". New Republic. Retrieved 2017-08-16.
  8. ^ Blake, Aaron (1 December 2016). "Introducing the 'alt-left': The GOP's response to its alt-right problem". Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  9. ^ Farah, Joseph (28 August 2016). "Let's take a look at the 'Alt Left'". Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  10. ^ Levine, Daniel S. (2017-08-15). "What Is the Alt-Left? 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy.com. Retrieved 2017-08-16. {{cite news}}: no-break space character in |title= at position 47 (help)
  11. ^ "Burying the Lie of the "Alt-Left"". Retrieved 2017-08-16.
  12. ^ Stack, Liam (2017-08-15). "Alt-Right, Alt-Left, Antifa: A Glossary of Extremist Language". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-08-16.
  13. ^ a b Troy, Gil (7 December 2016). "The Bernie Sanders–Fueled Alt-Left Viciously Attacked Me". Time. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  14. ^ a b Wolcott, James (3 March 2017). "Why the Alt-Left Is a Problem, Too". Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  15. ^ Abramson, Seth (25 November 2016). "The Alt-Right, The Other Alt-Right, And The Rise Of The Alt-Left". Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  16. ^ Beinart, Peter (16 August 2017). "What Trump calls "the alt left" (I'll explain why that's a bad term later) is actually antifa". The Atlantic. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
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