Post-World War II anti-fascism
Anti-fascist movements and anti-fascist action networks are groups that describe themselves as anti-fascist. Such movements have been active in several countries in the second half of the 20th and early 21st century.
History
Europe
Germany
According to German government institutions the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Federal Agency for Civic Education, the contemporary Antifa or anti-fascist movement in Germany—the terms are often used interchangeably in German—is composed of multiple far-left, autonomous, militant groups and individuals who describe themselves as anti-fascist. The use of the epithet fascist against opponents and the understanding of capitalism as a form of fascism are central to the movement. According to political scientist and Christian Democratic Union politician Tim Peters, the term anti-fascism is primarily used by the far left in contemporary Germany.In West Germany there was anger among leftist youth at the perceived failure of the post-war denazification due that government positions were often occupied by ex-Nazis. German President Walter Scheel and Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger were both former members of the Nazi Party. In 1950, a major controversy broke out when it emerged that Konrad Adenauer's State Secretary Hans Globke had played a major role in drafting anti-semitic Nuremberg Race Laws in Nazi Germany. Despite the failure of the student movement a change in political consciousness lasted throughout the country. Criticisms of West German officials' ties to the old Nazi Party brought the concept of Vergangenheitsbewältigung to the forefront of political discussion. Other various left-wing causes also gained popularity and helped solidify a protest culture in Germany. Rudi Dutschke was a student activist in the growing student protests. On April 11, 1968 he was shot by the far-right Joseph Bachmann. Dutschke was injured but survived the shooting. The attempted assassination of Dutschke would be later regarded as the formal beginning of the West German student movement. According to German government institutions, the modern movement has its roots in the West German Außerparlamentarische Opposition left-wing student movement during the 1960s and 1970s and largely adopted the aesthetics of the Antifaschistische Aktion during the late Weimar Republic, including the abbreviated name Antifa and a version of its logo, while being ideologically somewhat dissimilar. The first Antifa groups in this tradition were founded by the Maoist Communist League in the early 1970s. From the late 1980s, West Germany's squatter scene and left-wing autonomism movement were the main contributors to the new Antifa movement and in contrast to the earlier movement had a more anarcho-communist leaning. The modern movement has splintered into different groups and factions, including one anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist faction and one anti-German faction who strongly oppose each other. German government institutions describe the contemporary Antifa movement as part of the extreme left and as partially violent, and Antifa groups are monitored by the federal office in the context of its legal mandate to combat extremism; the federal office states that the underlying goal of the Antifa movement is "the struggle against the liberal democratic basic order" and capitalism.
Sweden: Antifascistisk Aktion activities
Militant anti-fascism emerged in Sweden in the early 1990s, in particular around the yearly November 30 protests in Lund and Stockholm propelled by blockades of neo-nazi marches in both cities in 1991. The main militant antifascist group in the country was the Antifascistisk Aktion, founded in Sweden in 1993 with as many as 20 branches in the late 1990s. It was inspired by a group with the same name that had started in Copenhagen in 1991 and British groups with similar names from the 1980s. The early tactics mainly focused on large demonstrations, in particular blockades of marches inspired by the 30th November events in Lund between 1991 and 1993. In parts of Sweden where these actions were less anchored in memory culture, a more territorial repertoire of interpersonal violence instead dominated, particular in the late 1990s. It was in this period that AFA published a detailed Activity Guide describing tactical uses of violence against neo-Nazis. In the early 2000s Antifascist Action split, with the now defunct, more Marxist and Workerkist Revolutionära Fronten forming out of remnants of its Gothenburg, Stockholm and Örebro branches. Since the late 2000s the type of militant street-based antifascism that AFA and Revolutionära Fronten represented has declined, in response to a more parliamentarian and online focus in the far right. This is evident by the very limited public role in many of the largest antifascist demonstrations in the 2010s, including the large 2018 Gothenburg blockade of the Nordic Resistance Movement, the massive Kärrtorp protest, and the massive 13.000 person strong demonstration in 2014 in response to the stabbing of Showan Shattak and three other antifascists in Malmö.United Kingdom: against the NF and BNP
After World War II, Jewish war veterans in the 43 Group continued the tradition of militant confrontations with Oswald Mosley's Union Movement. In the 1960s, the 62 Group continued the struggle against neo-Nazis.In the 1970s, fascist and far-right parties such as the National Front and British Movement were making significant gains electorally, and were increasingly bold in their public appearances. This was challenged in 1977 with the Battle of Lewisham, when thousands of people disrupted an NF march in South London. Soon after, the Anti-Nazi League was launched by the Socialist Workers Party. The ANL had a large-scale propaganda campaign and squads that attacked NF meetings and paper sales. The success of the ANL's campaigns contributed to the end of the NF's period of growth. During this period, there were also a number of black-led anti-fascist organizations, including the Campaign Against Racism and Fascism and local groups like the Newham Monitoring Project.
The SWP disbanded the ANL in 1981, but many squad members refused to stop their activities. They were expelled from the SWP in 1981, many going on to found Red Action. The SWP used the term squadism to dismiss these militant anti-fascists as thugs. In 1985, some members of Red Action and the anarcho-syndicalist Direct Action Movement launched Anti-Fascist Action. Their founding document said "we are not fighting Fascism to maintain the status quo but to defend the interests of the working class". Thousands of people took part in AFA mobilizations, such as Remembrance Day demonstrations in 1986 and 1987, the Unity Carnival, the Battle of Cable Street's 55th anniversary march in 1991, and the Battle of Waterloo against Blood and Honour in 1992. After 1995, some AFA mobilizations still occurred, such as against the NF in Dover in 1997 and 1998. However, AFA wound down its national organization and some of its branches and had ceased to exist nationally by 2001.
There was a surge in fascist activity across Europe from 1989 to 1991 after the collapse of Communism. In 1991, the Campaign Against Fascism in Europe coordinated a large militant protest against the visit to London by French right-wing leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen. This sparked a surge in anti-fascist organizations throughout Europe. In the UK alone, in 1992 a number of left-wing groups formed anti-fascist front organizations, such as a re-launched ANL in 1992, the Socialist Party's Youth against Racism in Europe YRE, and the Revolutionary Communist Party's Workers Against Racism. A number of black-led organizations, along with the Labour Party Black Sections and the National Black Caucus, formed the Anti-Racist Alliance in 1991, which eventually became the National Assembly Against Racism.
In August 2018, the Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell called for a revival of "an Anti-Nazi League-type cultural and political campaign" following a number of far-right and racist incidents in the UK, including fascist attacks on a socialist bookshop by members of the far-right and UKIP, marches in favor of far-right activist Tommy Robinson and high-profile Islamophobia in the Conservative Party. This "welcome and timely" call to action was supported in a Guardian letter signed by the league's founders, which included former Labour minister Peter Hain, political activist Paul Holborow and leading musicians from Rock Against Racism.
Asia
Japan
In 2013, when Counter-Racist Action Collective, which had been counter-acting against the conservative group Zaitokukai, began to denounce Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as a "fascist," groups calling themselves "Antifa" appeared around them. In addition to Tokyo, Antifa also have appeared in Hokkaido, Shizuoka, Aichi, and Hiroshima prefectures.They then promoted the Democratic Party's presidential election and participated in "Abe Out" demonstrations with liberals and opposition members of the Japanese Communist Party and the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.
In 2020, the activities of Antifa increased. In February, those waving the flag of Antifa were identified among those who were counter-acting against Zaitokukai.
In May, Antifa also participated in the protest against the Abe Cabinet's coronavirus measures. In the protest, a foreign man was holding the Antifa flag, which was written in German as "ANTIFASCHISTSCHE AKTION."
On May 17, Antifa was among the organizers of a nationwide protest against the revision of the Public prosecutor's office Law.
When George Floyd protests occurred in the U.S. at the end of May, protest of "Black Lives Matter" were held in Tokyo and Osaka in June, and Antifa was also seen.
On May 30 and June 6, Antifa and others led the protest against the hate crime by the police around the Shibuya Police Department. George Floyd protests were also held at the same time, and many foreigners and opposition members of the Diet also participated in the protests.
Antifa's flag was raised, and there were arrests in the fight.
The incident began when a Kurdish man in Japan claimed to have been unfairly questioned by Metropolitan Police officers and subjected to violence. Mainichi Shimbun and Kyodo News reported this as a hate crime though the Metropolitan Police denied.
On June 10, the General Information Center for Foreign Residents of immigration bureaus across Japan received a "bomb threat" e-mail from a person claiming to be "Antifa" targeting the Immigration Bureau and the Shibuya Police Department for abusing foreigners.
However, on June 13, the Japanese Kurdish Cultural Association, which consists of Kurds, expressed a negative view of the protest claims on their official Facebook page. The association declared that they did not support the protest and did not take any part in it, and abandoned the said person, saying there was no room to defend his actions in light of Japanese laws and customs.
And the association announced that the demonstrators were not all involved in their usual protests against the crackdown on the Kurds or in their support activities.
They said that a less-than-justified demonstration like this seems to have encouraged prejudice against Kurdish residents in Japan. They also said it's strange that no Japanese major media have covered them at all on this matter.
United States
After World War II, but prior to the development of the modern antifa movement, violent confrontations with Fascist elements happened sporadically in the United States. In 1958 over 500 Lumbee men armed with rocks, sticks and firearms attacked and disrupted a Ku Klux Klan rally, wounding several Klansmen in an event known as the Battle of Hayes Pond. In 1979 the Maoist Communist Workers' Party confronted a local Ku Klux Klan chapter, first by disrupting a screening of The Birth of a Nation in China Grove, North Carolina and later organizing a rally and a march against the Klan on November 3 called the "Death to the Klan March" by the CWP. The Maoistsdistributed flyers that "called for radical, even violent opposition to the Klan", suggesting the Klan “should be physically beaten and chased out of town." In response, as the marchers collected, a caravan of ten cars filled with an estimated 40 KKK and American Nazi Party members confronted the protesters, culminating in a shootout known as the Greensboro Massacre.
In the 2010s, self-described antifa groups have become increasingly active in Western Europe and North America. These loose collectives first arose in the early 2010s in response to growing nationalism in countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, and France. In the US, anti-fascist groups had existed since at least 1988 in the form of the Anti-Racist Action, but an American movement using the same name has become increasingly active since 2016, often affiliated with anarchism, and have become known for their clashes with far-right and alt-right groups. US anti-fascist activities have included violent disruptions and demonstrations which have drawn criticism from both sides of the mainstream political spectrum. Through their anarchist and anti-nationalist orientation, antifa groups have sometimes been linked to the punk subculture both in the US and in Europe.