Antifa
The Antifascist Handbook
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“Focused and persuasive . . . Bray’s book is many things: the first English-language transnational history of antifa . . . and a record of advice from anti-Fascist organizers past and present.”—THE NEW YORKER
As long as there has been fascism, there has been anti-fascism — also known as “antifa.” Born out of resistance to Mussolini and Hitler, the antifa movement has suddenly burst into the headlines amidst opposition to the Trump administration and the alt-right.
In a smart and gripping investigation, historian Mark Bray provides a detailed survey of the full history of anti-fascism from its origins fighting Hitler and Mussolini, to the present day — the first transnational history of postwar anti-fascism in English. Today, critics say shutting down political adversaries is anti-democratic; antifa adherents argue that the horrors of fascism must never be allowed the slightest chance to triumph again. Bray amply demonstrates that antifa simply aims to deny fascists the opportunity to promote their oppressive politics, and to protect tolerant communities from acts of violence promulgated by fascists.
Based on interviews with anti-fascists from around the world, Antifa details the tactics of the movement and the philosophy behind it, offering insight into the growing but little-understood resistance fighting back against fascism in all its guises.
Customer Reviews
A Strong Starting Point
I bought this after having it on my to-read list for some time now. It’s a fascinating time capsule, written after Richard Spencer was punched in the face, but before Charlottesville. And it serves its intended purpose of being a primer on Antifascist organizing in response to Antifa becoming a hot button topic in 2017. Time has actually proven it right in some places, especially in how the main two examples of far-right speakers, Ann Coulter and Milo Yiannopoulos, have both fallen out of the spotlight since publication.
That said, I do have some issues with it. The biggest being the author never bringing up the internet as a factor in fascist organizing. This would been acceptable maybe a decade earlier, but this book was written in the aftermath of the Quebec City mosque shooting, in which a man radicalized through far-right websites and content creators attacked local muslims. The book even references Gamergate and ISIS, two prominent examples of online radicalization then still fresh in collective memory. Treating far right organizing as something that largely happens face-to-face reads as woefully out of touch after events like Christchurch and Jan 6th.
On the more nitpicking side of things, I was a touch disappointed Canadian Antifascism ended up being a footnote in the story of US activists. I bought this after recent events in Canada and was disappointed that events like The Christie Pits Riot never came up.
Also, while I do understand the scope of this book was reduced in order for the book to have a timely release, bringing up Antifa organizing in Latin America and east Asia made me really wish I could have learned about that. It is organizing I never hear about, aside from some tweets mentioning organizing against Bolsonaro supporters in Brazil.
That said, this book is overall a quick read that covers all of its most important points extremely well. It disentangles many talking points thrown against Antifascists by media figures while acknowledging different points of view and the limits of certain tactics.
Also as a leftie who gets frustrated at western leftist apologia for the USSR, I was really pleased with the book pointing out the failures statist communists made in preventing fascists from organizing both pre and post WW2.
Overall, for anyone curious about Antifa that have been looking for a non-fear mongering explanation, this is a good starting point. If you are someone whose been following the surge of far right politics after 2016, you might learn some neat bits of history, and find it an interesting snapshot of 2017 politics, but you are probably already familiar with a lot of what’s discussed here. Either way, this book is only a starting point, and shouldn’t be treated as the last word on opposition to far-right politics.