US President Donald Trump has signed a new security memorandum that identifies “anti-Christian” and “anti-American” views as indicators of radical left violence.
It also identifies organisations with these common views alongside those with anti-capitalist and anti-Americanism views as domestic terror networks that the US Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTFs) will now target to prevent potential crimes.
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The order recently signed by the president is known as National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 and is also referred to as NSPM-7.
The memorandum comes amid the US rightwing demand for retribution in the wake of the murder of Charlie Kirk, an American right-wing political commentator. Charlie Kirk was shot on 10 September while speaking at a campus event at Utah Valley University.
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Despite indications that the suspected shooter acted alone, Mr Trump and his supporters have blamed the attack on organised leftwing networks.
In a statement published on the White House website last Thursday, the US president claimed that after the attack, left-wing Americans who agreed with the alleged shooter’s ideology celebrated the murder while actively encouraging more political violence.
“This political violence is not a series of isolated incidents and does not emerge organically. Instead, it is a culmination of sophisticated, organised campaigns of targeted intimidation, radicalisation, threats, and violence designed to silence opposing speech, limit political activity, change or direct policy outcomes, and prevent the functioning of a democratic society.
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“A new law enforcement strategy is required that investigates all participants in these criminal and terrorist conspiracies — including the organised structures, networks, entities, organisations, funding sources, and predicate actions behind them.
“Through this comprehensive strategy, law enforcement will disband and uproot networks, entities, and organisations that promote organised violence, violent intimidation, conspiracies against rights, and other efforts to disrupt the functioning of a democratic society.”
With this new policy, the US government will target organisations and also individuals with views such as anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, anti-Christianity, extremism on migration, and extremism on race as potential criminals.
This also includes: extremism on gender, hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on religion, and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on morality.
The Trump-led administration will also be targeting organisations or persons perceived to support the “overthrow of the United States Government.”
NSPM-7 directs the US security to “disrupt” any individual or group believed to be fomenting political violence before they result in violent political acts. The policy targets suspected pre-crime endeavours.
The goal of the new policy is to prevent perceived crimes or attacks before they happen.
According to Mr Trump’s homeland security advisor, Stephen Miller, “this is the first time in American history that there is an all-of-government effort to dismantle left-wing terrorism.”
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While the Trump-led administration insists that the memorandum is aimed at reigning in radical left-wing domestic “terror networks,” critics of this policy have identified it as a licence for a broad crackdown on his political opponents.
The Guardian reported that the US Open Society Foundations has described the new policy as a “politically motivated attack on civil society.”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), in a statement, also said, “After one of the most harrowing weeks for our First Amendment rights, the president is invoking political violence, which we all condemn, as an excuse to target non-profits and activists with the false and stigmatising label of ‘domestic terrorism’.
“This is a shameful and dangerous move,” it added.
Meanwhile, the US government has stated that the state anti-terrorism task force will also investigate “institutional and individual funders; officers and employees of organisations that are responsible for, sponsor, the principal actors engaging in the criminal conduct related to such views.”
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