Anti-Fascist Action
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Anti-Fascist Action (AFA, Antifa) is an international anti-fascist and anti-capitalist movement. Broadly adhering to left-anarchist and autonomist views, the group's largest section is in Germany, where its members are regularly involved in street battles with members of neo-Nazi groups and with the police, and in protests over issues such as militarism, global summits and police crackdowns on squatting and graffiti. The group also has sections and supporters in countries such as Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Slovakia, Poland and Ireland. Outside of Germany, its main influence is in northeastern and central Europe and Scandinavia; it has been less successful in western and southern Europe, though anarchists in these regions often adopt similar tactics to confront neo-fascists.
History and German AFA
The first AFA, Antifaschistische Aktion, was created in 1930s by the German Communist party, first as a defense organisation against outer enemies such as fascists (in the broader usage of term, including nazis), and later as a resistance group within Nazi Germany. In its current incarnation, its position is that fascism is an outgrowth of militaristic global capitalism. AFA maintains that fascism is a major threat to individual freedom, and that the way to defeat it is to confront it physically at every opportunity, denying a public platform to neo-Nazi groups by blocking their marches, disrupting their festivals and conferences, and physically confronting their street-gangs and supporters. Groups identified as fascist are typically those associated with white supremacy, racism and political authoritarianism, whether of an openly Nazi or fascist character, or of a looser kind of right-wing populism. Targets have included the NPD and Republikaner Party.In addition to confronting fascists, the group is involved in broader radical political campaigns, such as the protests against NATO and EU summits, protests against the annual WEF summit in Davos, protests against various western-led wars such as those in former Yugoslavia and against Germany's membership of NATO, campaigns in defence of immigrants' rights, and campaigns against consumerism and for radical alternative cultures, such as the squatting and graffiti movements. AFA is involved in Germany's annual Mayday protests which usually involve anti-corporate or anti-fascist mobilisations involving confrontations with the police. The group links these issues to its core alignment of anti-fascism by arguing that fascism is symptomatic of capitalism and militarism, that their other targets (militarists, international institutions and repressive state agencies) help create the conditions for fascism, and that important elements in Germany especially (in terms of state agencies, laws, and major corporations) were involved in the Nazi regime.
British AFA
The British Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) was a British far-left organisation founded in 1986. It was active in fighting organisations it claimed were fascist or racist, such as the National Front and British National Party. The group was partly a reaction to the perceived inadequacies of the original Anti-Nazi League (ANL), which at the time had wound up its operations. AFA accused ANL of failing to directly confront fascists, of allying with moderates who were complicit in racism, and of being a vanguardist organisation run as a front by the Socialist Workers' Party. AFA's tactics were criticised for their squadism and use of violence. They had many Skinheads amongst their numbers, drawing heavily on the redskin scene.The group retired from fighting on the streets, for reasons best expounded by the defunct anti-fascist far-left organisation Red Action, which was the largest group within AFA. Red Action instead put its energy into the Independent Working Class Association.
Other anti-fascists, including elements from the Militant Tendency stewards group, and groups not ready to abandon physical confrontations, continued under the banner of No Platform, which is now defunct.
Antifa
A British anarchist group called Antifa adopts a similar policy to that held by AFA and No Platform.Irish AFA
There was also an AFA in Ireland, which appeared to be modelled on the British group, but had a greater emphasis on supporting Irish Republicanism.Swedish AFA
In Sweden there is also a group called "Antifascistisk aktion" which means the same thing and has the same acronym AFA. Their activities include engaging in street fights with Swedish nationalists, racists and fascists. See Antifascistisk aktion.Dutch AFA
An AFA also exists in the Netherlands. It participates in demonstrations and has its own newspaper, called Alert!.Serbian AFA
There is an AFA group in the Serbian city of Novi Sad (Antifašistička akcija Novi Sad). They organize public discussions, protests and concerts.References
- No Retreat by Dave Hann and Steve Tilsey
See also
- Anti-fascism
- Anti-Racist Action the less physically-oriented North American near-equivalent of AFA, still in existence.
External links
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