YouTube Pulls Video of Left-Wing Activists ‘Inciting’ Election Unrest

November 3rd, 2020 2:53 PM

YouTube has removed a video of radical leftist organizers planning to confront public officials, vandalize government buildings and surround the White House if the election does not turn out the way they want.

Several activist groups, including Black Lives Matter DC, ShutDownDC, Sunrise Movement and others have been holding activist trainings in the run up to the election. One of these digital events was organized on Zoom by the Sunrise Movement, according to Fox News. In an email, YouTube spokesperson Alex Joseph told TechWatch that the video recording of the event had been removed from the platform because their policies prohibit, “content encouraging interference in democratic processes,” which includes “inciting others to commit violent acts.”  

“We are going to be in a crisis, but we want it to be one that we are creating,” said radical left-wing organizer Lisa Fithian, “who has been described by Mother Jones ‘as the nation's best-known protest consultant,’” according to Fox News. “We have to be willing to put our bodies on the line and take on discomfort, sacrifice, risk in order to change things.” 

In the video, Fithian discussed breaking the windows of government buildings to gain access to them. “If that’s what we need to do, then we shouldn’t fight about that,” said Fithian. “Let’s do that. Let’s take over the buildings.” She also talked about the need to amass guns and ammo in the case of an insurrection. “Whoever's got the guns, often, can win.”        

The video also spoke about ShutDownDC’s “Action Planning Map,” which has publicly outed the locations of D.C.’s police stations, key government buildings, media outlets, and what ShutDownDC calls “organizations that have been leading attacks on democracy throughout the 2020 election cycle.” 

“[W]e’re going to hit the streets to confront the institutions and organizations that have been leading attacks on democracy throughout the 2020 election cycle,” said the map’s caption. It specified targeting the homes of “Trump campaign officials,” Trump “donors,” Trump “supporters” and “[m]edia organizations that call the election before the vote count is finished.”  

YouTube told TechWatch the video was removed for violating its policies prohibiting content that encourages the interference of democratic processes, which includes: “inciting others to commit violent acts.”

Activist groups have allegedly been coordinating “via Zoom calls and at some in-person events for months ahead of Election Day,” according to Fox News. These efforts aren’t limited to just young street protesters either. These groups hope to empower actual federal employees “seeking methods of professional civil disobedience,” Fox News reported. 

“Are people going to get killed?” Fithian asked her fellow comrades during the video that has now been taken down from YouTube. “Like, is that on anybody else’s mind?”

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