Anti-Antifa

An insightful article by Diana Johnstone on the Counterpunch website that begins with the poignant quote by the Italian writer, Ennio Flaiano,  “Fascists are divided into two categories: the fascists and the anti-fascists.”

Johnstone writes " Antifa...apologists thrive on the “nipped in the bud” claim: “if only” Antifascists had beat up the fascist movements early enough, the latter would have been nipped in the bud.  Since reason and debate failed to stop the rise of fascism, they argue, we must use street violence – which, by the way, failed even more decisively. This is totally ahistorical.  Fascism exalted violence, and violence was its preferred testing ground. Both Communists and Fascists were fighting in the streets and the atmosphere of violence helped fascism thrive as a bulwark against Bolshevism, gaining the crucial support of leading capitalists and militarists in their countries, which brought them to power..."

She observes, "The masked militants of Antifa seem to be more inspired by Batman than by Marx or even by Bakunin."

 She goes on to say  "Self-appointed radical revolutionaries can be the most useful thought police for the neoliberal war party. I am not suggesting that all, or most, Antifa are agents of the establishment. But they can be manipulated, infiltrated or impersonated precisely because they are self-anointed and usually more or less disguised...We are in a period of great political confusion.  Labeling every manifestation of “political incorrectness” as fascism impedes clarification of debate over issues that very much need to be defined and clarified."

Johnstone explains, "Antifa USA, by defining “resistance to fascism” as resistance to lost causes – the Confederacy, white supremacists and for that matter Donald Trump – is actually distracting from resistance to the ruling neoliberal establishment, which is also opposed to the Confederacy and white supremacists...The facile use of the term “fascist” gets in the way of thoughtful identification and definition of the real enemy of humanity today."

Diana Johnstone then concludes " Antifa has gone on the offensive against the one weapon still in the hands of the people: the right to free speech and assembly."