WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE FRANCE - news journal UPDATE - (en) France, Monde Libertaire - Ideas and struggles: Anti-fascism, its past, its present and its future (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 "Anti-fascism is the expression of collective self-defense." ---- No,

fascism did not disappear on May 8, 1945. Networks have always operated
since that date, the survivors have pursued their destructive goals.
Today, demonstrations, publications, and election results show that the
danger is permanent in America, in Europe. It has never died in Spain,
Italy, France, Great Britain... The recent anti-immigrant demonstrations
in this country highlight that behind an appearance of tolerance, an
odious racism reigns under the surface. Mark Bray's book, Anti-Fascism:
Its Past, Present, and Future, published by Lux, is particularly
relevant in explaining the fascist phenomenon and the actions against
it. Drawing on numerous interviews with anti-fascists from around the
world, he lists the tactics adopted by the movement and analyzes its
philosophy. "I argue that militant antifascism is a sensible and
historically based response to the fascist threat that persisted after
1945 - and that has never been as strong as in recent years."

Let us recall the phrase attributed to Buenaventura Durruti: "Fascism is
not discussed. It is fought..."

Where did fascism come from? From Italy, to use a classic response with
Mussolini and his ilk? It is difficult to give a strict definition, as
its construction is so complex and varies from country to country. For
historian Robert Paxton, fascists "reject all universal forms in favor
of the success of chosen peoples in a Darwinian struggle for supremacy."
He notes that fascism is marked by "an obsessive preoccupation with the
decline of society, with its humiliation and victimization, with the
compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity." The activists,
convinced nationalists, are supervised by a party founded on the masses
in collaboration with the elites. It sweeps away the ideological
recoveries of the left, abandons democratic freedoms in favor of a
policy of redemptive violence. "A double objective of internal cleansing
and external expansion." Everyone can think of Nazism, Italian fascism
but also more recent attitudes and statements in France and Great Britain.

How to fight?

To show one's opposition, should one be content to march with other
slogans? Write columns in the media? Should one unite the forces of the
left? Adopt a legalistic approach or, on the contrary, a frontal
struggle? "In general, this strategic debate around the interpretations
of anti-fascism divides the left." Still according to Mark Bray, "After
Auschwitz and Treblinka, anti-fascists promised to fight to the death
the possibility for organized Nazis to say anything." Ultimately,
"Anti-fascism is the expression of collective self-defense."

To accompany the reader in his analysis, Mark Bray develops a historical
fresco that will find its source in the Action Française that the
historian Nolte considers to be the first proto-fascist group. Paxton
who underlines the role of the Ku Klux Klan. Faced with the violence of
fascist groups, the forces of the left therefore have varied responses.
Thus in Germany, let us highlight those of the anarchists with in
particular the creation of the anarchist militia Schwarze Scharen (Black
Clouds) founded in 1929 to protect meetings. The hesitation waltz of the
socialists, the opposition with the communists contributed largely to
the paralysis of the left.

Among the post-war myths, that of a united England to preserve democracy
in the face of Nazism makes us forget how powerful the extreme right was
before the war with the movement of a certain Mosley. The historical
journey up to the current struggles allows us to understand and put into
perspective to better measure the actions to be taken today.

Lessons from the past
Mark Bray draws five lessons from this journey.

- Fascist revolutions never succeeded. The fascists won power legally.
- Many anti-fascist leaders before the war did not measure the danger of
fascism in time.
- Socialist and communist leaders were slower than their base to react.
- Fascism steals the left's ideology, strategies, imagery and culture.
- Fascism does not need many fascists to come about.

Some statements deserve debate and this is one of the interests of this
book. I would add that the chapter on freedom of expression must also
nourish reflection. Is there freedom for the enemies of freedom?
Finally, everyday antifascism opens up forms of action to preserve human
society.

* Mark Bray
Antifascism, its past, its present and its future
Ed. Lux, 2024

https://www.ainfos.ca/fr/ainfos27098.html
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