WORLD WORLDWIDE FRANCE News Journal Update - (en) France, UCL AL #338 - Culture, Read: Bourdon, "A life of struggle rather than a minute of silence" (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 Sébastien Bourdon, freelance reporter working regularly for Mediapart, signs,

with A Life of struggle rather than a minute of silence, his first book. ---- The
subject of this one, anti-fascism, has already caused a lot of ink to flow and
there are many books on the subject. The strong point of this one is that the
author (who had already worked a lot on the far right) went directly to meet
anti-fascist activists. The book is the result of sixty individual interviews and
a dozen collective interviews in more than ten cities in France. It aims to
deconstruct the pejorative media image of antifascists.
A global historical introduction allows those who are not very familiar with the
anti-fascist movement in France to better understand its recent history, the
different periods it has gone through and the strategies put in place at each
time. However, the rest of the book struggles to convince. Based largely on
testimonies from members of structures that have emerged over the past fifteen
years, mainly activists from Action Antifasciste Paris Banlieue (AFA-PB), and
their network, and to a lesser extent from the Young Guard, its content is
therefore very oriented on the history of these two groups and their practices
(mainly street activism and direct confrontation) with a focus on what would
differentiate the two organizations.

We regret that the collectives which are not part of these two "franchises" of
anti-fascism are only rarely mentioned, whereas in the majority the anti-fascist
collectives are independent of the Young Guard and the AFA. Furthermore, it is
also a pity to have interviewed very few members of political organizations or
trade unions, also active in the anti-fascist struggle, which would have made it
possible to draw a more complete portrait of the anti-fascists, by not limiting
ourselves to militants purely "antifa". The one that emerges from the book finds
itself naturally reductive. Consequently, if certain elements of the survey
presented make it possible to deconstruct elements of language regularly used
against the antifascists (their supposed belonging to the upper classes, their
student and immature characters, etc.), one emerges from this reading with the
feeling of 'a great homogeneity of profiles, paths and practices beyond the
differences expressed by the actors, thereby missing the stated objective of
reporting on the protean nature of antifascism and antifa.

Thus, if the book is interesting to read to get an idea of what a part of the
current French antifascist movement is, it lacks a real perspective and an
in-depth analysis which would have made it possible to better understand the
panorama of antifascism. in France in all its diversity of practices and realities.

Hugues (UCL Fougères) and Benjamin (UCL Orléans)

Sébastien Bourdon, A Life of struggle rather than a minute of silence:
Investigation of antifa, Seuil editions, March 2023, 224 pages, 18.50 euros.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Lire-Bourdon-Une-vie-de-lutte-plutot-qu-une-minute-de-silence
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