“The fact is that left-wing terrorism is much stronger in the USA and Europe than right-wing terrorism,” noted political scientist, professor, and American studies expert, Dr Bogomil Ferfila, after the murder of Charlie Kirk, one of the most prominent young conservative voices in the USA. While the right wing promotes values, faith and nationhood, the left wing promotes revolution, violence, and the seizure of power.
The assassination of Charlie Kirk, which is being investigated as politically motivated violence, has sparked a wave of outrage and sadness both in the USA and around the world. He was a person who influenced millions of young Americans through his speeches, podcasts, and campaigns. On university campuses, he expressed his views and opened up a broader debate in which even those who do not defend traditional values participated.
This is one of the murders in a series of attacks on American political figures, including two assassination attempts on the US President, Donald Trump, that happened last year, which confirmed a sharp rise in political violence. “ This is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation,” said Utah Republican Governor Spencer Cox, adding: “I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination.” “What happened today was not just an attack on Charlie personally but really an attack on the idea that we resolve these things through reason, debate and elections,” said Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, according to NBC 6, emphasising the importance of realising that political disagreements should not be resolved through the use of violence. “This is a great loss for our country. Charlie was a fighter for our values, and this attack is an attack on all of us,” emphasised US President Trump, who warned that the rhetoric of the radical left is responsible for the terrorism we are witnessing today in the USA. “For years, the radical left has been comparing wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the worst mass murderers and criminals in the world,” he said, calling for an end to such rhetoric.
We spoke with Dr Bogomil Ferfila, professor and expert in American studies, about the assassination, which, according to Trump, will only strengthen the conservative movement. When asked what Kirk’s assassination means for the USA, referring to Trump’s reaction, who expressed his condolences upon his death and recalled what a good man he was, Ferfila said that he had not noticed any major response. “I didn’t think it had any major political significance.” However, since Kirk was considered one of the most prominent young conservative voices, he noted that his death would be felt among conservatives. That is also why he was quite surprised by Trump’s reaction, as it was quite moderate. “When I saw that the day before yesterday that a black man stabbed a 23-year-old Ukrainian woman who had just fled to the USA, he spoke up and immediately demanded the death penalty for him.”
Left-wing violence in America has always been strong
According to Ferfila, people tend to forget that left-wing violence has always been strong in America. “The question is whether it will start again, because we have somewhat forgotten that during Trump’s first term, left-wing and black movements, as well as others, were constantly rioting in American cities and department stores. There were constant riots throughout his first term. Perhaps this is why Trump reacted more modestly this time,” he pointed out, adding that the Democrats are upset about the deployment of the army to major cities. “There are also some Republican cities at the top of the list of crime-ridden cities, but he is sending the National Guard to Democratic cities. This is also likely to upset the left.”
Democrats express their opposition to Trump with their reaction
When asked how he views the reaction of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, who refused to say a short prayer after a minute of silence, he replied: “This is a typical move. It’s a rebellion against Trump, a rebellion against the policies he’s initiating,” he explained, adding that it was clear that in this specific case, it was the work of a left-wing terrorist. “The Democrats indirectly expressed their agreement with this. Well, they couldn’t exactly do that, but they were very limited in their response to what was clearly a terrorist act. If a Democratic politician had been killed, they would have made a slightly different fuss,” Ferfila believes.
When asked whether the Democrats will now play the card of emphasising the importance of gun control, Ferfila said he does not believe that the Democrats will exploit the murder of a Republican politician. According to him, they prefer to exploit events such as mass shootings at schools because the public response to those is even more intense. He said that the police officers he works with told him that, fortunately, they had already discovered some things early on. “I think they made one thing public, but most of the time, it doesn’t get out. In short, we’ve had quite a few copycats here, too. These are definitely reactions to the huge media response, and then you have some crazy kid who thinks it’s cool. The media response to mass killings is, of course, problematic.” Fortunately, there have been no mass killings in Slovenia so far, but according to him, the police believe that this is also possible.
Since the Republicans have made it clear that this is an attack on freedom of speech, we asked whether they would go in that direction. Ferfila agreed that they would take that approach. “It’s possible that even Trump will introduce something, although I think some restrictions on long guns have already been adopted. But you can still get revolvers in practically every store,” he said, noting that this is not a matter of federal law, so some states are taking more radical measures, while others are taking less radical ones.
The right promotes values, faith, and nationhood
We were also interested in why leftists tend to shoot right-wingers more often. He explained that this is not only typical of America, but also of Europe. “Left-wing terrorism is much more prevalent than right-wing terrorism. Why? It’s these crazy boys, the revolution, the working class, all means are permitted, including the use of violence. This is typical left-wing propaganda that promotes this. The right does not promote this. The right promotes values, faith, the nation, while the left promotes revolution, violence, and the seizure of power,” he pointed out, adding that the fact is that left-wing terrorism is much stronger in the USA and Europe than right-wing terrorism. “When right-wing terrorism occurs, there is immediate uproar because even in the USA, the situation is practically the same as in Europe, with the majority of the media being left-wing. They make a fuss, but in this case, they probably won’t,” he concluded.
Ž. N.
