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Antifa is a network of autonomous militant anti-fascist groups in the United States. It is associated with the global Antifascist Action movement. Spreading from Germany, the network in the United States was initially known as Anti-Racist Action. As of June 2017, the Department of Homeland Security in New Jersey lists Antifa as a domestic terrorist group, claiming that they "incite violence." Members of the group have defended acts of violence committed by other members.

Name

The name "Antifa" was originally used as a shorthand for the German Antifaschistische Aktion group in the 1980s and the terminology eventually spread throughout the rest of the Western world as a synonym for any militant anarcho-communist associated anti-fascist groups, including the Anti-Racist Action group in the United States and the Anti-Fascist Action group in the United Kingdom. On the international level, from 2003, many of these groups affiliated with the "Antifa-Net: International Antifascist Network for Research and Action" network.

History

In the 1920s and 1930s, antifascists battled fascists in the streets of Germany, Italy and Spain. In response to rise of Neo-Nazism after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Antifa was formed in Germany in the 1980s; since that time, it "has active cells across the world, including in Germany, the U.S., Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Czechia, and France." Cells forming in the United States, "initially called their groups Anti-Racist Action, on the theory that Americans would be more familiar with fighting racism than fascism."

In 2013, the "most radical" chapters of the Anti-Racist Action formed the Torch Antifa Network, which has chapters throughout the United States. Other Antifa groups are a part of different associations, such as NYC Antifa, or operate independently.

Activity

Antifa is a political movement, not a formal organization. Activists typically organize protests via social media and through websites and list-serves. According to Salon.com it is an organizing strategy, not a group of people, and is commonly associated with a willingness to engage in a show of force. Antifa groups have most notably protested the 2016 election of Donald Trump.

Protestors under the Antifa banner participated in the 2017 Berkeley protests where they gained mainstream media attention. Later, Antifa groups threatened to disrupt the 2017 Portland Rose Festival parade after hearing that the Multnomah County Republican Party would participate. They had sent the parade organizers an email, saying, "You have seen how much power we have downtown and that the police cannot stop us from shutting down roads so please consider your decision wisely". The email also said that 200 people would "rush into the parade" and "drag and push" those marching with the Republican Party. The parade ended up being canceled by the organizers due to safety concerns.

Antifa protestors participated against the 2017 Unite the Right rally.

Approaches

The nature and activities of Antifa have caused some debate in the far-left; the prominent anarcho-communist website It’s Going Down published a critique of Antifa in November 2016 originally from Lucha No Feik, entitled On Antifa: Some Critical Notes. The article criticised Antifa for essentially being a reactive, rather than a proactive force. The article (employing New Left tools such as critical race theory and Foucaultian structuralism, as well as left communist approaches derived from Gilles Dauvé) argues that Antifa are too hyper-focused on micro Neo-Nazi groups or single figure such as President Donald Trump as a be-all and end-all, when the United States itself as a system is "white supremacist." It's Going Down stated that the Antifa's ideological position was "but a few steps removed from the Liberal position that we should just all get along." It also pointed out that Antifa did not protest against the administration of President Barack Obama. This elicited a response from the Philly Antifa and NYC Antifa chapters, with What do US Antifascists Actually Believe?, where they claimed, "Mobilizing large radical movements against neoliberal (or populist) capitalism is not the focus of anti-fascism; this is the work of the anarchist and anti-capitalist movements as a whole."

See also

• Anti-racism
• Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice

References

1. ^ "US anti-fascists: 'We can make racists afraid again'". Al-Jazeera. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
2. ^ Kozak, Edmund (24 April 2017). "The Shadowy Extremist Group Behind the Anti-Trump Riots". LifeZette. Retrieved 14 August 2017. Antifa was formed originally in Germany in the 1980s, its members taking the name of the communist paramilitary groups that engaged the Nazis in street-fighting in the 1930s. It now has active cells across the world, including in Germany, the U.S., Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Czechia, and France.
3. "Neo-Nazis Face a New Foe Online and IRL: the Far-Left Antifa". Wired. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
4. ^ Beinhart, Peter. "The Rise of the Violent Left". The Atlantic. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
5. "Anarchist Extremists: Antifa". New Jersey Homeland Security. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
6. Steakin, William (5 May 2017). "What is Antifa? Controversial far-left group defends use of violence". AOL. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
7. "Inside the Underground Anti-Racist Movement That Brings the Fight to White Supremacists". Mother Jones. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
8. Lennard, Natasha (19 January 2017). "Anti-Fascists Will Fight Trump's Fascism in the Streets". The Nation. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
9. ^ "Behind Berkeley's Semester of Hate". New York Times. 4 August 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
10. "There's a legacy of people resisting white supremacy in the US. Antifa is not new". Salon. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
11. Lennard, Natasha (19 January 2017). "Anti-Fascists Will Fight Trump's Fascism in the Streets". The Nation. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
12. Tuttle, Ian (5 June 2017). "The Roots of Left-Wing Violence". National Review. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
13. Mettler, Katie (27 April 2017). "Portland rose parade canceled after 'antifascists' threaten GOP marchers". The Washington Post. Retrieved 14 August 2017. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
14. "Car Hits Crowd After White Nationalist Rally in Charlottesville Ends in Violence". The New York Times. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
15. ^ "On Antifa: Some Critical Notes". It's Going Down. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
16. "What do US Antifascists Actually Believe? A Reply to "On Antifa: Some Critical Notes"". Anarchist News. Retrieved 3 August 2017.

External links

• Official Website
• Torch Antifa at Twitter

• Far-left politics in the United States
• Anti-fascism in the United States
• Anarchist organizations in the United States