Megan Nathanson

Dr. McGovern
A4
October 11, 2017
Antifa

Unfortunately, America today is an extremely divided country. While the two

major American political parties have created a natural divide for a long time, extremists

on both sides have added to the tension. The idea of “peaceful protests” is practically

nonexistent now, with violence breaking out at almost every protest or rally. While this

violence is a major issue, it often gets blown up in the media, and the meaning behind

the protests become obsolete. One extremist group that is currently taking a lot of heat

in the media is Antifa, or anti-fascist. The Antifa movement is primarily “devoted to

combating racism”, and particularly opposes groups on the far right like neo-Nazis and

white nationalists (Mark Bray, Aug. 16, 2017).

Antifa groups are considered part of the alt-left, and are known to be anti-racist,

anti-sexist, anti-homophobic, and anti-capitalists. However, although Antifa groups can

be found around the world, they do not have a unified structure or any defined

leadership. As a result, it is unclear exactly what the group is meant to do. According to

Trevor Noah’s video entitled, “Antifa: The Anti-Fascists Antagonists of the Alt-Right”,

“antifa is any group that is willing to stand up against fascists by any means necessary”

(Trevor Noah, Aug. 31, 2017). Here, what unifies Antifa is their goal to fight back against

fascists, particularly neo-Nazis and white supremacists. Instead of trying to promote

certain ideas, Antifa is mostly geared at stopping white nationalists from gaining a
platform. This is often done by exposing neo-Nazis online, hopefully resulting in them

being publicly shamed for their racists beliefs. In addition, “the groups organize

educational campaigns, build community coalitions, monitor fascists, pressure venues

to cancel their events, organize self-defense trainings and physically confront the far

right when necessary” (Doug Stanglin, August 23, 2017). Here, the group does

whatever they can to prepare for confrontation with white supremacists.

While the media has made it seem like Antifa is a new group uniting as Donald

Trump came to power, anti-fascists groups have actually been around for a very long

time. A century ago, anti-fascists groups fought Mussolini in Italy, Hitler in Germany,

and Franco in Madrid. In addition, during World War II, Japanese imperialism was

fought by the Chinese with anti-fascist ideas in mind. Modern Antifa ideas in the United

States date back to the 1980s, where “activists of the Anti-Racist Action Network (ARA)

doggedly pursued Klansmen, neo-Nazis and other assorted white supremacists from

the late 1980s into the 2000s” (Mark Bray, Aug. 16, 2017). ARA used the moto “we go

where they go” to explain their behavior. Whenever neo-Nazis did something, ARA was

there to counteract their protest.

In contemporary times, Antifa groups typically dress in all black when confronting

their opposition, with their main goal being to “deny fascists a public forum” and to

“protect counter-protesters at events” (Doug Stanglin, Aug. 23, 2017). The biggest

misconception about Antifa is that they are a violent group. In reality, the group is

behaving in “self-defense” as they protect other protestors and confront white

nationalists. The group’s “willingness to physically defend themselves and others from

white supremacist violence and preemptively shut down fascist organizing efforts before
they turn deadly” is why the group is labeled violent, and why the media is constantly

reporting on their violent behaviors (Mark Bray, Aug. 16, 2017). Given that, “the goal of

fascism is to exterminate the vast majority of human beings”, it is not surprising that in

order to counteract fascism, violence ensues (Doug Stanglin, 2017). In addition, Antifa

members justify any violence they commit by remembering the horrors of slavery and

the Holocaust, that white supremacists to this day believe was right.

While the group’s violence is understandable in the sense that they are fighting

fascists, the violence completely takes away from their cause. Again, Trevor Noah

comments on Antifa’s violence by stating, “when you think you’re punching Nazis, you

don’t realize that you’re also punching your cause. Because your opponents- they’ll just

use every violent incident to discredit your entire movement, and they make it seem like

in a world where white supremacists have a friend in The White House, the real problem

is you guys” (Trevor Noah, Aug. 31, 2017). Here, Noah states very clearly that violence

only hurts their movement, and creates the misconception that the white supremacists

are being unfairly attacked. Every time Antifa members engage in violence, they further

play into “the white supremacist narrative of victimization” (Lisa Baumann & Sarah

Rankin, August 16, 2017). Antifa’s philosophy of preventing white supremacists from

gaining a public platform at all cost is giving most Americans the impression that the

group is “just another violent group”, which prevents Americans from wanting to know

more about the group and what they stand for. Here, Antifa members are put in a very

difficult situation. Taking the threat of white supremacy lightly is not an option, especially

with Donald Trump in the White House. In this way, the violence as a means of self-

defense is understandable. However, using violence to combat the white supremacists

also adds to the conflict in a negative way, discrediting their cause, and potentially doing

more harm than good.

 References

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