Anti-Fascist Activism & the Value of Nonviolence

By Films For Action / filmsforaction.org

/ Jan 28, 2020

Anti-Fascist Activism & the Value of Nonviolence

This collection of articles from the Films For Action library looks at the tensions, disagreements and varying strategies within the anti-fascist movement from a variety of authors.

How to Smash Neo-Nazi Events

Arno Arr Michaelis IV · Organize a fundraiser for a peacebuilding non-profit across the street from their event, or somewhere close by.

How (Not) to Challenge Racist Violence

Aviva Chomsky · "Protesters are eager to expend extraordinary energy denouncing small-scale racist actors. But what about the large-scale racist actors?"

How to Take on Fascism Without Getting Played

George Lakey · In front of a standing-room-only crowd at the Howard Zinn Book Festival in San Francisco earlier this month, historian Mark Bray and I debated the value of using violence to quell the growth of neo-Nazis and white supremacists...

The Strategic Naiveté of Antifa

Molly Wallace · We’ve all heard the argument before: However “nice” the use of nonviolence may be, in the real world violence is necessary — and ultimately more effective, so the thinking goes — for challenging a brutal regime, fighting injustice or...

How Norway Avoided Becoming a Fascist State

George Lakey · Instead of falling to the Nazi party, Norway broke through to a social democracy. Their history shows us polarization is nothing to despair over.

Why the Moral Argument for Nonviolence Matters

Kazu Haga · “Bernard? Oh yeah, he’s great. He was always the principles guy.”

Why Black Bloc Tactics Won't Build a Successful Movement

Kazu Haga · I admit, I laughed a little too. When I first saw videos of white nationalist Richard Spencer getting punched by a protester, I thought it was funny. And even now, I’m not exactly shedding a tear for him. I certainly pray that the...

Can Antifa Build an Effective Broad-Based Anti-Fascist Movement?

Sue Curry Jansen and Brian Martin · In March, Richard Spencer, a prominent white supremacist, cancelled his speaking engagements at U.S. universities, saying he was deterred by “antifa,” a loose international network of radical anti-fascist groups that aims to shut down...

Former White Supremacist: Why Punching Nazis in the Face Is a Bad Idea

Arno Arr Michaelis IV · I see all sorts of well-meaning and otherwise intelligent and thoughtful people applauding neo-Nazi Richard Spencer being punched in the face. Here’s why this is not something to celebrate: Punching this fool validates all of his...

Why Reconciliation and Redemption Are Central to Countering White Supremacy

Sarah Freeman-Woolpert · It’s been a roller coaster year for Sammy Rangel, the executive director of Life After Hate — a non-profit organization that encourages people to leave violent extremist groups by offering them support and a community of other...

We Need a Revolution: Overcoming Fascism with a Movement of Love

Martin Winiecki · November 9th, the day after the U.S. election, will be a peculiar anniversary. On this day in 1938 more than 1000 synagogues and 7000 Jewish businesses were burning all over Germany, set ablaze by the Nazis. Going down in history as...

Don't Feed the Trolls — How to Combat the Alt-Right

Kazu Haga · Nazism and white supremacy are forms of violence. Let’s start there.

How Should We Protest Neo-Nazis? Lessons From German History

Laurie Marhoefer · After the murder of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, many people are asking themselves what they should do if Nazis rally in their city. Should they put their bodies on the line in counter demonstrations? Some say yes.

Towards a Tranformative Anti-Fascism

Emmi Bevensee · The Relevance of Radicalized Peacebuilding to Antifa Praxis

The Cult of Violence Always Kills the Left

Chris Hedges · The Weather Underground, a clandestine revolutionary organization that advocated violence, was seen by my father and other clergy members who were involved in Vietnam anti-war protests as one of the most self-destructive forces on the...

Why Nazis Are so Afraid of These Clowns

Sarah Freeman-Woolpert · Trolls chanted in the streets the day of a planned neo-Nazi rally in the small ski town of Whitefish, Montana earlier this year. But they were not the trolls that residents had been expecting — namely, white supremacists from around the...

It's Time to Go on the Offensive Against Racism

George Lakey · When I read this in the morning paper, my heart stopped: Just 40 minutes away from me, the white mother of black children in New Jersey was repeatedly harassed via Facebook by a stranger, who told her that her children should be hung.

Violence Brought Us Trump, It's Not How We Will Stop Him

Kazu Haga · What’s next? That is the big question facing this country after the election of Trump. And many people have been sharing their thoughts on that over social and traditional media, over dinner conversations, at the office and on the bus...

Drawing Equivalencies Between Fascists and Anti-Fascists Is Not Just Wrong, It's Dangerous

Stanislav Vysotsky · We must be very wary of any attempts to excuse or normalize white supremacy.

What Martin Luther King Jr. Can Teach Us about Nonviolence

John Dear · I've been reflecting on the principles of nonviolence that Martin Luther King Jr. learned during the historic yearlong bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala.

Violence, Authoritarianism, and the Future of America: Using Science to Progress Past Tribalism

Angela Tripp · Will progressives accept the empirical data behind the efficacy of nonviolence?

Can We Go to the Very Root of Violence and Be Free from It?

J. Krishnamurti · FEAR, PLEASURE, SORROW, thought and violence are all interrelated. Most of us take pleasure in violence, in disliking somebody, hating a particular race or group of people, having antagonistic feelings towards others. But in a state of...

Redneck Revolt Presents: A Message to the Patriot Movement

6 min · Over the past few weeks, Redneck Revolt has been communicating with a former member of a III% Patriot Militia based out of Ohio. Peter made contact with our organization after questioning the basis for an upcoming operation that his...

Redneck Revolt on the Problems With White Ally Politics

Redneck Revolt and others · A discussion about the politics of SURJ

A Deep-Roots Strategy to Combat Hateful Ideologies: Offer Them More of What They Truly Want

Tim Hjersted · "Influence is NOT about convincing people to want different things than they already want. It's about showing them that the way to get what they already want, is by following you." - Charlie Houpert Lately, I've been interested in...

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