On Wednesday, the US State Department announced that it is designating the Italy-based extremist group Autistici/Inventati (“A/I Collective”) for its role in providing digital infrastructure for Antifa cells and other radical left-wing networks in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere across the world. At the same time, the Department also announced a ban on the transnational group Masar Badil and UK-founded Palestine Action.
Later in the day, the Department separately released a fact sheet that identifies Portland-based Rose City Antifa as one of the US-based organizations that uses A/I Collective tools to "organize and incite violent and criminal acts domestically, including an attack on Customs and Border Patrol helicopters that led to a federal indictment" and to "disseminate doxing lists and release illegally obtained personal information of Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement."
The fact sheet also stated that a "far-left extremist media group claiming to be a 'tool' for global militants to share 'essential information' to be 'acted upon,' relies on A/I Collective tools and services to publish official communiqués and calls to action for US-designated foreign terrorist organizations such as Hamas, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hezbollah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
The Department said the same group was recently cited in a federal criminal complaint against a domestic terrorist who was sentenced to 19 years in prison for targeting a federal building and police car with improvised explosive devices.
While the Department does not name the group, The Jerusalem Post has identified it as Abolition Media which calls itself "an online news source for revolutionary movements" and a "tool for movements dedicated to anarchist, abolitionist, and revolutionary perspectives."
The quotes the State Department attributes to the unnamed group are lifted exactly from Abolition Media's 'About' page.
Furthermore, Abolition Media has alluded to the accusations leveled against it. It published a statement on Thursday saying it is aware of the State Department sanctions on I/A, which it called "disproportionate." It then said "we deny all allegations included in the statements, while we strongly affirm our dedication to providing a platform of tools for digital self-defense, addressing the need of free communication for activists and other individuals, groups and associations."
Additionally, at the bottom of the website reads the banner "hosted by Autistici/Inventati."
What is Abolition Media?
Abolition Media is overt in its support for Palestinian and Iranian terror groups, and also in its anti-Israel advocacy.
It publishes communiqués directly from US-designated groups. For example, on Thursday, Abolition Media published a statement The Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, Masar Badil, responding to its new designation.
It also published a communiqué from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on the "25th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of its Secretary-General, Comrade Leader Abu Ali Mustafa."
The communiqué calls for the rebuilding of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and resistance "in all its forms."
In fact, Abolition Media publishes PFLP communiqués almost daily, as well as ones from Hamas and the IRGC.
US official says AI Collective provides infrastructure for extremist organizations
A State Department Official told the Post that "The A/I Collective is a central node in the far-left’s war on our civilization — providing crucial digital infrastructure to violent organizations to enable their acts of terror in the United States and abroad."
"There will be no refuge for violent extremists who plot to undermine law and order, destroy critical infrastructure, assault political opponents, or conceal their crimes from authorities," the spokesperson added.
The department did not respond to the questions on Abolition Media.