Radical left unique evil, need to crush it forever: Rubio

Washington, Jul 16 (PTI) The United States on Thursday launched a global effort to counter far-left political terrorism, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio terming it as a "distinctive and unique evil" that needs to be dismantled to defend civilisation. Inaugurating the international ministerial on 'The Resurgence of Political Terrorism' here, Rubio said many people in positions of power have repeatedly dismissed acts of violence and terrorism as legitimate forms of political expression, so long as they served a left-wing cause. “We can and we must identify and map this threat and rebuild our counter-terrorism architecture to defeat it,” Rubio said while addressing representatives and diplomats from several countries. The Trump administration's 2026 counter-terrorism strategy identifies three primary threats: "Islamist terrorism", "narco-terrorism" and "violent left-wing extremists, including Anarchists and Anti-Fascists". White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also addressed the inaugural session of the meeting. Rubio said that over the past several years, left-wing violence was not just excused, but treated as sacrosanct and a protected class unto itself.  "That era has to end…t can no longer be denied. And it can no longer be ignored. Because it is time to crush this evil forever,” Rubio said. He described radical leftism as "a distinctive and unique evil" that has always been driven by a hatred for civilisation itself.  "It is a revolt of the worst against the best; of the weak and the cowardly against the strong and the good. It is perpetrated by those who cannot build, cannot create, cannot achieve great things - and take their revenge upon the world for their own inadequacy by seeking to destroy those who can,” Rubio said. Some critics of the Trump administration's counterterrorism approach have claimed its focus on threats from the far left is misguided.  Analysis conducted by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in 2025 found that while left-wing violence in the US has increased over the past decade, "it has risen from very low levels and remains much lower than historical levels of violence carried out by right-wing and jihadist attackers."  The CSIS report concluded it was "important to resource all dimensions of the terrorism threat." PTI SKU ZH ZH