In a new episode of “Watch the Hawks,” Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges sits down with Tyrel Ventura and Tabetha Wallace to discuss violence between the “alt-right” and anti-fascist (“antifa”) movements. Hedges also responds to criticism of his recent Truthdig article comparing the two groups.

“It’s my job as a writer to, as stringently as I can, write what I see as the truth,” Hedges says. “What we’re encountering here in the United States is more akin to revolution, and revolutions are always fundamentally nonviolent.”

Hedges discusses his experience witnessing violence in war-torn countries, noting that while “nobody was sitting around in a basement arguing about pacifism,” the “poison of violence” still affects those who must resort to it to defend themselves.

“There is no moral equivalency between these right-wing, white nativist groups and antifa, and I was very clear about that in my column,” Hedges notes. “But I think when they [antifa] carry out these tactics, they actually squander their moral authority, because they have moral authority, and they play into the hands of [the] Trump administration.”Tyrel Ventura, and Tabetha Wallace