American President Donald Trump seriously turned to Antifa. And while his administration is dealing with anti-fascists and trying to declare them terrorists, populist regimes and right-wing groups around the world use the opportunity to portray Antifa, that is, anti-fascists, as fascists who strike directly at freedom of speech and allegedly undermine democratic orders around the world with their violent actions.
What exactly is Antifa and how did anti-fascists come to be called fascists?
WHAT IS ANTIFA??
Antifa is an abbreviation of the word "anti-fascist" and does not refer to a single organization. It is an umbrella term that includes a decentralized left-wing movement around the world whose members base their activities on anti-fascism and anti-Nazism, that is, the fight against the extreme right in the modern age. The movement is composed of autonomous groups and activists without a centralized structure and formal leadership, and the activities they carry out vary - from political activism and peaceful protests, to individual cases where violent methods were used.
The roots of Antifa go back to the political situation in Germany in the twenties of the last century, that is, the period of the Weimar Republic (1919–1933). This fragile creation created after the First World War failed to secure and preserve a consistent government. In that deep socio-political crisis, various extreme right-wing organizations began to emerge, culminating in the rise of Nazism. In parallel with the rise of the right, various left-oriented, communist, socialist and anarchist organizations were created that opposed the Nazis in an organized manner. Antifa in Germany was brutally destroyed in 1933, after the Nazis took complete power after burning down the Reichstag.
Antifa played a significant role in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), where a broad front of anti-fascist organizations fought against the fascist dictatorship of General Francisco Franco. In the decades after the Second World War, fascism was exterminated in Europe (with the exception of Spain and Portugal to some extent), the extreme right was marginalized, and socialists and communists were in power in some countries - therefore Antifa as a movement was pacified.
In the later decades of the last century, especially from the 1970s and 1980s, Antifa experienced a revival in some European countries, in response to the emergence of neo-Nazi and supremacist groups, especially in Germany and Great Britain.
However, there are differences between historical and contemporary Antifa, first of all in the structure, ideological focus, but also in the context in which they operate. Historical Antifa was more organized through political parties, unions and formal organizations, while modern Antifa is decentralized and based on a network of autonomous groups. Furthermore, the historical Antifa had a clear ideological basis in socialism and communism, while contemporary groups include various leftist tendencies aimed at fighting the extreme right, racism, neo-fascism and other forms of discrimination, including minority rights and the LGBTQ+ community. Finally, the historical Antifa primarily operated in Europe, while contemporary groups operate globally, especially in the US, as a response to contemporary forms of right-wing extremism and social injustice.
TRUMP AGAINST ANTIFA
In the United States, Antifa became more visible in the early 2000s, in the form of decentralized groups that actively fight against racism, fascism, and right-wing extremism. However, it enters the airwaves after Trump's first presidential victory in 2016 and the ultra-right rally in Charlottesville in 2017, when there was a clash between right-wingers (gathered to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert Lee) and counter-protesters.
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After the riots that broke out in the US due to the killing of George Floyd in 2020, self-proclaimed Antifa activist Michael Rainall killed a member of the ultra-right group from Portland. Tyler Robinson, the young man who assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk, was immediately linked to Antifa, among other things, because of the inscription on the bullet casings he used, "hey fascist, get it" and the lyrics of the legendary song of the Italian partisans Bella Ciao, the unofficial anthems of Antifa. However, although some Antifa groups use violent methods, the aforementioned incidents involve self-proclaimed activists who have never been identified as belonging to any formal organization.
There is a widespread theory among the American right that a left-wing network led by Antifa is trying to undermine the US, free speech and the right to bear arms. Looking for an internal archenemy to his populist and extremely conservative rule, Trump calls Antifa a "sick and dangerous radical left disaster" and promotes the conspiracy theory that Antifa stands in the way of his dream - "make America great again". According to the Guardian, from 1975 to the present, there have been almost seven times more fatal attacks attributed to right-wing than left-wing extremists in the US.
But if Antifa does not exist as an organization, but represents a global movement gathered around the same idea, then are self-proclaimed individuals who resort to violent methods, including assassinations, representatives of Antifa? Of course not. As the "Guardian" writes, Europol in its report on terrorism for 2024 does not use the term Antifa, but cites violent incidents of "leftist and anarchist extremists".
However, the Trump administration disagrees. In a statement from the State Department from mid-September, it is stated that members of the violent Antifa groups from Germany, Italy and Greece - Antifa Ost, Informal Anarchist Federation / International Revolutionary Front (FAI / FRI), Revolutionary Class Self-Defense and Armed Proletarian Justice - will be designated as "Specially Designated Global Terrorists".
Viktor Orbán, the majority party in the Dutch parliament, as well as an extreme right-wing group in the European Parliament responded to Trump's call to fight against anti-fascists.
ANTIFA IN US
Historically speaking, Antifa in Serbia, i.e. Yugoslavia, rests on the achievements of the National Liberation Struggle. That Antifa was gathered around the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. Although the "anti-fascist tradition" is often emphasized in the post-Yugoslav space, the socio-political events of the past three decades are not really in its favor. Contemporary Antifa in Serbia and the Balkans in general is not nearly the same as American or Antifa in certain European countries such as Germany and Greece.
The rise of nationalist tendencies, thus the strengthening of the right, as well as the historical revisionism that has been carried out for more than two decades have largely marginalized Antifa, especially as an informal network of left-wing organizations, unions, groups and initiatives. Today, unfortunately, the rhetoric about two anti-fascist movements is officially represented, and the five-pointed star is equated with a cockade. Right-wingers, including the extreme part in which many do not hesitate to grab elements of fascism, are much more organized and united than the left spectrum. A good example of this is the gatherings organized by the extreme right, such as the mention of quisling Milan Nedić - the response of anti-fascists in the form of counter-gatherings is mostly modest or none.
The leftist network in Serbia, apart from the intellectuals gathered around a few faculties, is small and scattered among several smaller socialist and anarchist organizations and movements, which are neither visible nor have any notable activities. With the exception of individual examples such as organizations that advocate for social justice, the left-wing network in Serbia has never evolved into a significant driving force in society.
As Antifa became a "left-wing scourge" among conservative regimes, the pro-regime media also repeatedly wrote that Antifa controls "blockades" in Serbia. There are, of course, no arguments for this, and the mentioned media see the connection between student blockades and Antifa in sporadic graffiti and a few socialist-minded professors from the Faculty of Philosophy.
The Trump administration and its European followers can designate individual organizations as terrorists, but they cannot destroy Antifa because it does not exist as an organization. Antifa is a global movement based on an idea and any individual anti-fascist can be Antifa.
