Antifa | |
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Country | United States |
Motives |
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Ideology | Anti-fascism Anti-authoritarianism Anti-capitalism Anti-statism Anti-Trumpism Anarchism Socialism Communism |
Political position | Left-wing |
Major actions | Direct action Community organizing Harassment Digital activism Doxxing Picketing Political violence Protesting Rioting Looting |
Status | Active |
Opponents | Boogaloo movement[not in body] Oath Keepers[not in body] Proud Boys[not in body] Patriot Prayer[not in body] Three Percenters[not in body] |
Part of a series on |
Anti-fascism |
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Antifa (/ænˈtiːfə, ˈænti(ˌ)fə/) is a left-wing anti-fascist and anti-racist political movement in the United States. It consists of a highly decentralized array of autonomous groups that use nonviolent direct action, incivility, or violence to achieve their aims.[1][2] Antifa political activism includes non-violent methods such as poster and flyer campaigns, mutual aid, speeches, protest marches, and community organizing.[3][4][5] Some who identify as antifa also use tactics involving digital activism, doxing, harassment, physical violence, and property damage. Members of antifa aim to combat far-right extremists, including neo-Nazis and white supremacists.[6]
Individuals involved in the movement subscribe to a range of left-wing ideologies, and tend to hold anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist, and anti-state views. A majority of individuals involved are anarchists, communists, and socialists who describe themselves as revolutionaries, and have little allegiance to liberal democracy,[7] although some social democrats also participate in the antifa movement.[5][8][9] The name antifa and the logo with two flags representing anarchism and communism are derived from the German antifa movement.[10] Dartmouth College historian Mark Bray, author of Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, credits Anti-Racist Action (ARA) as the precursor of modern antifa groups in the United States.[11][12]
The American antifa movement grew after Donald Trump was elected president of the United States in 2016. Antifa activists' actions have since received support and criticism from various organizations and pundits. Some on the political left and some civil rights organizations criticize antifa's willingness to adopt violent tactics, which they describe as counterproductive and dangerous, arguing that these tactics embolden the political right and their allies.[13] Both Democratic and Republican politicians have condemned violence from antifa.[14][15][16][17] Many right-wing politicians and groups have characterized antifa as a domestic terrorist organization or use antifa as a catch-all term[18] for any left-leaning or liberal protest actions.[19] Some scholars claim that antifa is a legitimate response to the rise of the far-right.[20][21] Scholars tend to reject an equivalence between antifa and right-wing extremism.[2][22][23][24] Some research suggests that most antifa action is nonviolent.[25]
There have been numerous efforts to discredit antifa by various right-wing groups and individuals.[26][27] Some have been done via hoaxes on social media, many of them false flag operations originating from alt-right and 4chan users posing as antifa backers on Twitter;[28][29][30] some hoaxes have been picked up and portrayed as fact by right-leaning media and politicians.[28][31][32][33] There were repeated calls by Donald Trump and William Barr to designate antifa as a terrorist organization.[34] Academics, legal experts, and others have argued such an action would exceed the authority of the presidency and violate the First Amendment.[35][36][37] Several analyses, reports, and studies have concluded that antifa is not a major domestic terrorism risk.[38][39][40]
In general, antifa falls on the less structured side of this continuum. It is not a highly organized entity. It has not persisted over time. There is little evidence of a chain of command or a stable leadership structure. To this point in time antifa seems to be more of a movement than a group.
Beauchamp 2020
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Sacco 2020
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).[...] Antifa, a highly decentralized movement of anti-racists who seek to combat neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and far-right extremists whom Antifa's followers consider 'fascist' [...].
In the United States, most [antifa groups] have been anarchist or antiauthoritarian since the emergence of modern antifa under the name Anti-Racist Action (ARA) in the late eighties.
Antifa is anti-government and anti-capitalist, and their methodologies are often perceived as more closely aligned with anarchists than the mainstream left.
[...] the diverse collection of anarchists, communists and socialists has found common cause in opposing right-wing extremists and white supremacists.
For the most part, these are pan-leftist groups composed of leftists of different stripes. They all seem to have different views of what they think the ideal social order looks like. Some of them are Marxists, some are Leninists, some are social democrats or anarchists.
And its politics are not just negatory — they also aim to adapt "preexisting socialist, anarchist, and communist currents to a sudden need to react to the fascist menace.
Trump's rise has also bred a new sympathy for antifa among some on the mainstream left. 'Suddenly,' noted the antifa-aligned journal It's Going Down, 'anarchists and antifa, who have been demonized and sidelined by the wider Left have been hearing from liberals and Leftists, 'you've been right all along.' An article in The Nation argued that 'to call Trumpism fascist' is to realize that it is 'not well combated or contained by standard liberal appeals to reason.' The radical left, it said, offers 'practical and serious responses in this political moment.
Anti-fascists of the movement tend to be grouped on the leftward fringes of the US political spectrum, many describing themselves as socialists, anarchists, communists or anti-capitalists.
Socialists, Anarchists, and Communists
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Beinart 2017
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Bray intro
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).As I argued in my essay, some of their tactics are genuinely troubling. They're troubling tactically because conservatives use antifa's violence to justify—or at least distract from—the violence of white supremacists, as Trump did in his press conference. They're troubling strategically because they allow white supremacists to depict themselves as victims being denied the right to freely assemble. And they're troubling morally because antifa activists really do infringe upon that right.
Pelosi Statement Condemning Antifa Violence in Berkeley
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Fact check: Joe Biden has condemned Antifa
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Relman 2020
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Wallace 2020
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Nguyen
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Bray & Sycamore 2017
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Noam Chomsky
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Beckett 2020
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Jaccoud
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).GQ
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Far-right smear campaign against Antifa exposed by Bellingcat
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).vice
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).HabermanSavage
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Perez
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Bray 2020
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Swan 2020
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).