In anti-communist speech, Rubio says far-left political terrorism is ‘driven by a hatred for civilization itself’

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During an unprecedented July 16 summit hosting representatives of numerous governments to build a coalition against political terrorism, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke out against the surge in far-left terrorism that is claiming victims around the world and called on those present to work with the U.S. in bringing down the perpetrators. 

Speaking to the coalition of political leaders, law enforcement officials, and subject matter experts from more than 60 countries, Rubio acknowledged that those gathered come from a wide range of governments and parties and many of them disagree sharply with the U.S. on trade, energy, and immigration. 

However, he continued, “You did not come here because you have been persuaded on every single aspect of the American view of the world.”

“You came here, you are here because two weeks ago, a 72-year-old woman was burned on over 80% of her body, in her own home, in Greece and she died – executed by a firebomb because her daughter dared to stand for office,” Rubio said. “You are here today because for five days this winter, the lights went out in Berlin – the longest blackout in the city since the Second World War, sparked by an attack that left tens of thousands of households without power in the freezing cold, and an 83-year-old woman dead.”

“You are here and you came because a month after that Berlin blackout, a French 23-year-old succumbed to traumatic brain injuries – beaten to death on the streets of Lyon by a group of far-left militant thugs,” Rubio continued. “You are here because your political leaders are being attacked, and stabbed, and shot in your streets; because your businesses have been bombed; because your railways have been sabotaged; because your police officers have been beaten and burned.”

“You are here because this is real, and it is getting worse, and it can no longer be denied and it can no longer be ignored,” Rubio said of the violence. “Because it is time to crush this evil forever.”

The secretary emphasized that far-left political terrorism is not a fictional invention of conservative politicians. He recalled several historical instances of far-left political terrorism throughout the modern era, citing “the violent terror of the Tupamaros, the Montoneros, FARC, the ELN,” as well as the Maoist terrorists who murdered pregnant women and newborn children in Peru and the “tens of thousands of Marxist guerillas trained to kill in Castro’s Cuban terrorist camps.” 

Europe has suffered from terrorist violence as well — the Italian revolutionary Red Brigades, which executed a prime minister in 1978; the Red Army Faction’s deadly campaign in Germany; and Marxist extremists in Greece, Rubio said.

“And here in America, we remember the same reign of deadly terror, justified by the same slogans, motivated by the same wicked ideas,” he continued, citing the Weather Underground that bombed the Pentagon, State Department, and Capitol; the Black Liberation Army, which that carried out armed robberies and executed police officers; and the Symbionese Liberation Army.

Terrorist attacks are not abstract statistics; they’re realities leaving people in grief

According to Rubio, 93% of terrorist attacks in the West between 1970 and 1980 were from the far left. He noted that the majority of Americans would be shocked to hear this data because it is taught that such political violence is a myth. 

Today in the U.S., left-wing terrorist attacks and plots have risen “to levels not seen in decades,” Rubio continued. Germany and Greece have also seen sharp increases in such violence. 

“These are not abstract statistics,” Rubio said. “Americans have seen what those numbers mean. An all-out assault on our immigration officers – sniper attacks, explosives, armed ambushes. A transgender shooter opening fire on Catholic elementary school students as they pray, his gun marked with slogans like ‘Where is your God now?’ A healthcare executive executed in cold blood in the streets. Multiple assassination attempts on a sitting president.”

“And the murder of the greatest conservative activist of a generation – a man who also happened also to be a husband and the father of two young children, shot and killed while speaking to a crowd of students,” Rubio said, in the speech given less than a year after Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

“This is a distinctive and unique evil,” Rubio said. “It has always been driven by a hatred, above all else, for civilization 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, who cannot create, who cannot achieve great things – and take their revenge upon the world for their own inadequacy by seeking to destroy those who can.”

The nature of radical leftism: ‘Resentment cloaked in the language of equality’

Rubio emphasized that this is the nature of radical leftism, whether it is dressed up as anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, communist, anarchist, or Marxist. 

“It is a poisonous resentment cloaked in the language of equality, justice, liberation; an overwhelming need to tear down what greater men have built, to wreck what is beautiful and right, on behalf of people who are only filled with ugliness, and have nothing else to offer the world,” Rubio said. “Through violence and terror, they once again seek to impose their ugliness on all of us. The old dogma was wrong. None of this is driven by ‘idealism.’ It is not ‘utopian’ — quite the opposite, in fact.”

Rubio noted that sometimes people say that communism “sounds good in theory” but does not work in practice. According to Rubio, the notion that communism is even good “in theory” is nonsense.

“The world it envisions for all of us is small, flat and gray – leveled of all exception, drained of all that is good and noble in the human soul,” Rubio said. “It is a world without courage, creativity, or ambition; without heroes or glory or great causes to strive towards. Without miracles. Without myths. Without men who rise above the rest to do incredible and extraordinary things. Without God.

“For these architects of revolutionary violence, the towering achievements of our civilization are an unbearable humiliation – a reminder of what they cannot do or be. So they choose to destroy. They attack pipelines, railroads, laboratories, power grids: the physical, embodied symbols of power, invention and achievement. This is the nature of the terrorism we face today. They despise the West because the West is great.”

Rubio: An international threat requires a coalition of countries to fight it

Rubio emphasized that the threat is transnational because networks of terrorists are working to coordinate, travel, act, and train together across borders. He noted they share “the same infrastructure, the same enemies, the same mission.” He pointed to Antifa militants joining in attacks in Europe and the Americas, moving through underground networks, using transnational funds to finance their operations, and funneling propaganda. 

“Today’s far-left terrorists can raise money in one country, host their communications in a second, receive training in a third, recruit militants in a fourth, and strike a target in a fifth,” Rubio said. “We must confront this menace together. We will either cooperate across our borders – or the terrorists will continue to exploit the gaps between them.”

Rubio also said extremists work with hostile foreign states that have the same mission, pointing to Iranian proxy networks having ties to leftist militant groups and the Cuban regime’s intelligence network that helped create the far left in the Western Hemisphere.

The Secretary of State highlighted that the Trump administration is working to create the partnerships and strategy to fight back, noting that President Donald Trump signed the National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, which offers a plan to investigate and stop Antifa terror networks. The State Department also designated four far-left extremist groups as Foreign Terrorist Organizations in November 2025, Rubio said, adding, “There will be more designations soon.” 

Rubio noted that more efforts and initiatives are underway to counter the terrorist efforts and said that Germany will co-host the next Counterterrorism Law Enforcement Workshop, the second in a series of events inaugurated in the U.S. in May.

“The coalition we’re building together is already bearing fruit. We are here today to build on that work. We can – and must – identify and map this threat, and rebuild our counterterrorism architecture to defeat it – just as we have done together before,” Rubio concluded, after citing the counterterrorism efforts against Islamic extremism in recent decades. “Through intelligence and information sharing; through coordinated law enforcement strategy; through financial targeting and disruption; we will dismantle these networks, brick by brick.

“It is time for the people of the civilized world to defend ourselves – to stand united against this encroaching darkness and fight, fight for what is ours.”