Antifa
Confirmed 88,757
| Navigation |
| About • History • Related Memes • Search Interest • External References • Recent Images • Recent Videos |
About
Antifa is the modern name for Anti-fascism, the more militant movement of the left that stands in opposition to fascist ideologies, often with violent methods.
History
Anti-fascism started in Italy with the creation of organizations such as Arditi del Popolo and the Italian Anarchist Union following World War I in order to combat the nationalist and fascist surge in the country.[1] In the years leading up to World War II, the Italian movement began to spread into the Balkans and Albania, while anti-fascist groups started in Germany, Spain, France, and the United Kingdom. In the United States, anti-fascist groups began in opposition to organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Friends of New Germany. During the Red Scare, a post-WWII witch hunt for communist sympathizers, being anti-fascist "prematurely" (before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor) was cause for suspicion.
Antifa in the United States
Following the presidential election of Donald Trump, anti-fascist groups, commonly known as Antifa, began garnering mainstream attention for their response to certain events, particularly the Punch of Richard Spencer. The event started a national dialogue on what was acceptable resistance in the face of white nationalism. Antifa groups made waves again when they protested alt-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos speaking at UC Berkeley. That led to a profile of the Antifa movement on Wired,[2] who investigated the online war between Antifa groups and Neo-Nazis.
Related Memes
Bash the Fash
Bash the Fash is a phrase used by antifascists advocating violence as an acceptable form of resistance against fascism. Although the phrase had been a slogan for antifascist groups since at least the 1980's it saw a resurgence after Richard Spencer was punched in the face.
Search Interest
External References
[1] Wikipedia – Anti-fascism
[2] Wired – Neo-Nazis Face a New Foe Online and IRL: the Far-Left Antifa
Share Pin
![As discussed by several intelligence analysts, to understand the genesis for VAAI, one must take the events of the summer into context. In many conversations, Mr. Murphy stated that the violent protesters in Portland were connected to or motivated by ANTIFA. This may have made sense to Mr. Murphy based on his own beliefs, but I&A did not have collections (evidence) to show it and absent reporting or some other evidence on motivation, I&A analysts could not ascribe motivation to the violent actors as Mr. Murphy expected. Mr. Murphy would tell the analysts to cite to existing OSIRS as evidence of the motivation, but the OSIRS did not draw a connection to ANTIFA. For weeks, the analysts had been telling Mr. Murphy that because ANTIFA was not in the collection, it could not be put into the analysis. Notwithstanding this feedback from the I&A analysts, on July 25, 2020, Mr. Murphy sent an email to his senior leadership instructing them that henceforth, the violent opportunists in Portland were to be reported as VAAI, unless the intel "show[ed] ... something different."468 The analysts stated 466 See, e.g., A7; All; A12; A24; A27; A44; A51; A56; A77; A78. 467 See, e.g., ICD 203, Analytic Standards, § D.4.b. 468 Ex. B6 64 Unclassified/For Official Use Only (U/FOUO) that "if you lived through the process, you could see where this VAAI definition was coming from a mile away. He got tired of the analysts telling him they did not have the reporting and he was convinced it was ANTIFA so he was going to fix the problem by changing what the collectors were reporting." 46⁹](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/002/467/923/052 "\"he was going to fix the problem by changing what the collectors were reporting”")
