No Pasaran

The New Gold Standard on Antifascism

I put this book on my wish list after listening to a round table discussion featuring the editor and some of the contributing writers on the podcast It Could Happen Here. Given current events in 2024, it felt wise to finally read this.

In a previous review of Mark Bray’s “Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook,” I noted I felt the book was harmed by how limited its scope was in terms of subject matter. ¡No Pasaràn! makes up for this in spades. The chapter on Hindu nationalism alone makes this book worth a buy. And the surprising lack of discussion of online radicalization by Bray was made up by a chapter here discussing the subject via a case study of a contrarian punk-turned-Proud Boy and how his friends reacted.

I stumbled across an interview with the editor where he said the book was written so that readers could read whichever entries catch their attention first. I found this surprising, as I read it cover to cover and I found many of the chapters often flowed from one into another thematically rather seamlessly. A chapter on the international far-right’s love for the Assad regime in Syria (which is hinged largely on Islamophobia) comes before a chapter on Hindutva, which has Islamophobia as a pillar of its ideology. The above mentioned chapter on online radicalization is preceded by a chapter on knowing when to show sympathy to those who can be deradicalized from the far-right without throwing vulnerable communities under the bus.

I did find the entry closing out the second section on internationalism to be lacking. Most of the talking points I’ve read elsewhere and brought nothing new to the table, and some even made me roll my eyes. Which speaks more to the quality of the other chapters than anything else. Also there were two entries about anti-blackness in relation to fascism. Which isn’t bad, belt felt redundant as both ended up covering similar events and information. Especially when I feel that this book could have benefited from an entry written from an indigenous or a disabled/neurodivergent perspective, ideally both.

Overall, I feel this book is a great crash course for those who want a more in depth understanding of the far right and how to better oppose them. It’s not the last word; history marches on, and one should always be adding to their knowledge. But four years from when the bulk of this book was written, this book is still loaded with insight.