Metro

Anarchists react to Justice Dept. labeling NYC an ‘anarchist jurisdiction’

Among those who don’t take kindly to the Department of Justice labeling New York City an “anarchist jurisdiction” are, well … anarchists.

Proud members of the lawlessness-and-disorder set have pushed back against the designation — first reported by The Post — which could see federal funding siphoned from the city unless it clamps down.

“It reinforces the trope, and that’s kind of f–ked,” groused Thom Kennon, a self-identified anarchist and adjunct marketing professor at NYU, to Gothamist.

Kennon particularly bristled at the Trump administration’s imprecise phrasing.

“Anarchists don’t do ‘jurisdictions,'” he told the outlet. “We do what’s called prefigurative politics, building new more equitable worlds now.”

New York Post cover
The cover of The Post on Monday, Sept., 21, 2020

Daryle Lamont Jenkins, an anarchist and head of the Antifa — or “anti-fascist” — One People’s Project, told Gothamist that the rhetoric was “playing to a base that wants an excuse to go after people they already hated — whether they’re black or wearing black.”

Still, Jenkins got a kick out of the front page of Monday’s Post.

“I saw the New York Post cover where they had the Big Apple with an anarchist ‘A’ and I said, ‘Remind me to use this next time we put on a punk show,'” he cracked.

Two people less than enthused about the designation — which was also slapped on Portland, Ore. and Seattle — are Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who fumed over the move.

Kennon, however, found a potential silver lining, telling Gothamist, “I immediately signaled one of my comrades and said, ‘Look, what a chance this could be to educate people about what we’re really like.'”