Antifa

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Antifa ( acronym for Antifascist Action ) is an "umbrella term for various, usually loosely structured, ephemeral autonomous currents of the left to left-wing extremist scene". At its most basic level, the Antifa is a set of ideas and behaviors that come together in a social movement . The Antifa has no organizational structure, no leaders and no headquarters. At the local level, however, there are also individual anti-fascist groups that are more clearly defined and have permanent organizational structures.

Since around 1980, groups and organizations have been called Antifa who, according to their own self -image , actively combat neo - Nazism , anti-Semitism , racism , ethnic nationalism and right-wing historical revisionism . You are placing yourself in the tradition of historical anti-fascism since the 1920s.

Many anti- fascist groups understand fascism following the neo-Marxist critical theory as a special form of capitalism and anti-fascism therefore as part of a revolutionary struggle to overcome any class society . In order to distinguish themselves from “bourgeois” or “state-compliant” antifascists, they call themselves “autonomous”, “militant” or “independent antifascists”. Nevertheless, depending on the situation, they can also seek alliances with other civil society groups.

The use of force is discussed broadly and in detail in the autonomous Antifa. The willingness to be militant is consensus, but the positions that fall under this range from non-violent actions of civil disobedience , sit-down and violence against property to situational, physical violence against people. Targeted attacks on life and limb by neo-Nazis or representatives of the state and business are usually rejected.

The domestic secret service of some states, including Germany, assigns autonomous anti-group groups to left-wing extremism and is monitoring some of them.

Historical background

Poster of the anti-fascist action of 1932

With the collective term of fascism , fascism in Italy , National Socialism in Germany, Francoism in Spain and other nationalist-authoritarian regimes and movements in Europe have been classified as comparable and related phenomena since 1922 . They tried to explain fascism theories realistically and to justify the prospects of a common struggle against it. The active fight against such forces and ideologies with the aim of overcoming them permanently was called "anti-fascism". In many countries this fight became a central field of activity of the various left groups and parties.

In the Weimar Republic , many leftists have been calling for joint anti-fascist actions against the associations of the völkisch movement and the rising NSDAP since 1923 . Few foresee the devastating consequences for democracy and the labor movement early and correctly. The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) each founded their own anti-fascist combat alliances, but at the same time were hostile and irreconcilable to each other on all key issues of practical politics. Their party leaderships mutually equated one another with fascism. The anti-fascist action proclaimed by the KPD in June 1932 was rejected by the SPD and remained an organizationally largely inconsequential campaign for the Reichstag election in July 1932 . There were only joint anti-fascist actions at the local and regional level, especially among independent communists, social democrats and anarchists who were excluded from the SPD and KPD.

Antifa also referred to the anti-fascist camp committees in the Soviet prisoner-of-war camps, which were organized by the Soviet leadership in coordination with the NKFD to train prisoners and to use prisoners of war for propaganda purposes.

After the Second World War , surviving anti-fascists from all political directions formed hundreds of anti-fascist action committees in the four occupation zones , which wanted to carry out the necessary denazification of all areas of German society and to overcome the split in the left-wing parties. However, after a few months they were banned, dissolved or placed under official administrative bodies. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany took over the allied ban on all Nazi organizations, but the Bundestag parties largely abandoned the anti-fascist post-war consensus on a thorough social transformation and replaced it with cross - party anti - communism . The German Democratic Republic (GDR), in turn, defined itself as an anti-fascist state, but largely tabooed the failure of the KPD before 1933 and the social approval of the population for National Socialism.

In the 1960s, the West German Extra-Parliamentary Opposition (APO) uncovered a variety of continuities from the Nazi era, enlightened institutions and individuals about the Nazi past, and developed anti-authoritarian forms of action against processes and tendencies that they viewed as fascist. After the assassination attempt on Rudi Dutschke (April 11, 1968), the SDS disintegrated into various K groups . For them, anti-fascism was only a sideline to their orthodox-Marxist class struggle concepts. The somewhat later left-wing terrorist groups Revolutionary Cells , the 2nd June Movement and the Red Army Faction did not carry out any actions against neo-Nazism and were ruled out as models for the anti-fascist movement. This began with spontaneous actions by the undogmatic New Left against the NPD in order to prevent its threatened entry into the Bundestag in the 1969 Bundestag election . This new anti-fascist movement has no organizational continuity with the KPD, SPD or other parties, but ties in with the non-party anti-fascism since 1923 and the APO of the 1960s.

Germany

1970s

The Communist Federation (KB), anchored in northern Germany , has been developing a new concept of action since 1971, which became the starting point for the anti-fascist movement:

  • He formed regional and local initiatives against neo-Nazi marches, which were open to anti-fascists of all kinds, but did not seek alliances with other organizations.
  • He relied on militant forms of action that not only included parallel protests but also direct confrontation with neo-Nazis and the police forces protecting them.
  • He collected and published information about the structures of right-wing extremist groups, their supporters and relationships, including with state authorities.

With this concept, the KB took up attempts in the Weimar Republic to build up a “young workers from below” against the SA . In 1973 he published analyzes of fascism from the 1920s and 1930s in order to theoretically justify the current engagement against neo-Nazis.

Like all K-groups that emerged from the APO, the KB represented anti-imperialism and wanted to overthrow global capitalism in the long term . In doing so, however, he represented a pragmatic "revolutionary realpolitik " that took into account his own limited scope for influence and gave priority to intervening in daily political conflicts over dogmatic loyalty to the line. The KB saw the current danger of fascism in the fact that the capitalist metropolises could react to several simultaneous anti-imperialist uprisings in the “ Trikont ” with a “preventive counterrevolution”. The KB also advocated a “fascization thesis”: since Benno Ohnesorg's assassination at the demonstration on June 2, 1967 in West Berlin, the Federal Republic had changed from a “post-fascist” to a “pre-fascist” state. In particular, the dismantling of basic democratic rights in the course of the state's anti-terrorist measures against the RAF is indirectly directed against future social protests. Antifascism must therefore not only be directed against neo-Nazis, but also against those parts of the middle class that are susceptible to fascist ideas and means, against xenophobia and nationalism in the middle of society. In 1985 the KB tried to adapt its fascization thesis with a non-linear regulation theory to newer developments: The Federal Republic was a "preventive security state" typical of the current situation of capitalism. Both theses were criticized in the anti-fascist movement: the first as an inaccurate prognosis, the second because it leveled the particular West German continuities with National Socialism. The KB also argued: The state tolerates neo-Nazi activities in order to establish a “fascist pillar”. This is fed by a "brown zone" made up of old Nazis, neo-Nazis and Christian conservative circles. At the time, this view was still not well received.

In 1974 the KB founded a central anti-fascist commission for the nationwide fight against organized neo-Nazis and their events. It conducted systematic research to uncover Nazi structures and thus set the style for all of the later anti-fascist work, especially that of the autonomists. In 1977, for example, the KB published collected information on the Action Front National Socialists / National Activists (ANS / NA), the first neo-Nazi group to openly refer positively to National Socialism. This publication met with national media interest. With their help, the leadership of the ANS / NA around Michael Kühnen was arrested in 1978 ; In 1983 this group was banned. Representatives of the extremism theory of the protection of the constitution also recognized the KB's information brochures as well-founded.

On June 17, 1977 the KB proceeded with some 1000 anti-fascists against the first “Germany meeting” of the NPD (~ 3000 participants) at the Römer town hall in Frankfurt, despite a ban on demonstrations . In 1978, the KB mobilized around ten thousand demonstrators against this annual neo-Nazi march, who appeared together as the Black Block for the first time and occupied the destination. Some participants were seriously injured during the police eviction. The KB organized the first rock against right-wing concert against the NPD march on June 17, 1979 . Around 50,000 anti-fascists of all spectrums, far beyond the KB supporters, came to Frankfurt. In doing so, the KB integrated the alternative cultural scene into the Antifa movement. The NPD meeting was then banned.

1980s

Since about 1980, spread after the Italian Autonomia movement of the Autonomous in many Western countries. In accordance with their anti-state and anti-capitalist stance, they try to fight for self-determined freedom and ways of life and to radicalize existing one-topic protests in the direction of a critique of society as a whole. In the Federal Republic of Germany they were initially involved in the anti-nuclear power movement , the peace movement , in the resistance against the West Runway and in squatting . Because they saw fascism as an outgrowth of oppression and competition in the capitalist social order, they represented a "revolutionary anti-fascism". Although some of their slogans (such as “Police SA SS”) equated German state organs with those of the Nazi state , their actions were mostly aimed only at neo-Nazis.

In 1980 the Communist Party of Germany / Marxist-Leninists (KPD / ML) started the Stop Strauss! against Franz Josef Strauss's candidacy for chancellor in the 1980 federal election . It was recalled that Strauss wanted to equip the Bundeswehr with nuclear weapons , supported the Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet and, in the German autumn of 1977, had considered shooting the RAF prisoners. Badges with the stop ostrich slogan and the Antifa logo were common. On August 25, 1980, 15,000 people demonstrated in Hamburg against a campaign by Strauss despite a ban on demonstrations. Olaf Ritzmann (16) was run over by a train while fleeing from a police club and died four days later of his serious injuries.

At the invitation of the KB, autonomous anti-fascist groups from eight cities, the Socialist Workers' Group (SAG) and the popular front of the KPD / ML founded the North German anti-fascist meeting on November 21, 1981 in Hanover to regularly exchange information and agree on joint actions. This was the first time that an “autonomous antifa” emerged as a movement of the radical left. While the SAG and the Popular Front were soon eliminated, the Antifascist Action Hamburg joined them in 1982 . Like the KB, the North Germans mainly conducted research to uncover the masterminds of the right-wing extremist scene, functionaries of right-wing parties and groups, their contacts and connections and to distinguish them from fellow travelers. Actions should disrupt or prevent right-wing extremist meetings by attacking their venues. According to the criticism of the KB that one was only after brawls with Nazis, the aim was above all to combine the Hamburg actions against Nazis with the fight against the "imperial ruling apparatus", to overcome the fragmentation of the autonomous groups and their subcultural isolation.

Although they often criticized concepts of the German culture of remembrance , anti-fascists also took part in large-scale demonstrations organized by other anti-fascists. At a DGB rally against a veterans' meeting of the SS Totenkopf Division in May 1983, North German anti-group groups attacked members of the ANS / NA and were then handed over to the police by the DGB stewards. In June 1983 they occupied a hall rented by neo-Nazis in Celle. There was mutual violence during the police eviction. The North German Antifa then took part in supraregional meetings of the DGB and the VVN-BdA in order to jointly prepare further demonstrations. In October 1983 around 2,500 anti-fascists, including many autonomous people, demonstrated against the NPD party congress in Bad Fallingbostel in order to block it. The autonomists attacked right-wing extremists and their cars and tried unsuccessfully to storm the event hall. The KB criticized this as a reactive chasing after and overestimating such Nazi meetings and favored a state ban on the NPD . The Autonomous Antifa, on the other hand, saw the reliance on such bans as a lack of delimitation from the state. As a result of this conflict, the KB was forced out of the North German Antifa alliance. Similar debates often resulted in autonomous and bourgeois anti-fascists breaking up.

From 1983 onwards, some anti-group groups declared the entire capitalist system to be “state fascism” in their position papers. In order to keep the participation in their actions open to everyone, they rejected firearms, military explosives, assassinations and an identifiable form of organization. In 1984 they were unable to build an ideologically uniform militant cadre organization. A feminist women-anti-fascist meeting could not be enforced either.

Despite similar topics, the autonomous Antifa differed from the political understanding of older K groups. Their direct attacks on right-wing extremists largely reacted to the skinhead and hooligan scene of the 1980s, which increasingly attacked people with “alternative” external characteristics and threatened left-wing projects and meeting places. During autonomous counter-attacks, there were repeated clashes with the police. During a demonstration against the NPD party congress on September 28, 1985, Günter Sare was run over by a water cannon and killed.

In 1987 Berlin Autonome founded an anti-fascist information sheet and an anti-fascist press archive and education center Berlin (APABIZ) in order to evaluate their research on the right-wing extremist scene and to offer it in general. The information sheet did not print any discussion papers or notice of posting. The anti-imperialist Antifa radically preferred the magazine , which was banned in the Federal Republic because of the printing of texts by the Revolutionary Cells , and which had been distributed from abroad since 1984. In order to prevent this, in 1986/87 state authorities searched hundreds of bookshops and private apartments and initiated 192 investigations; five people eventually received suspended sentences. To unmask ( outing ) neo-Nazis, autonomous anti-group groups have also been using the scene papers Interim , Die Schwarze Garde , Agitare bene and others since the 1980s .

In 1987, the North German Antifa mobilized nationwide against the annual autumn meeting of the neo-Nazi Wiking youth in Hetendorf . According to media reports that the meeting had been canceled, only around 400 Autonomous people came to Hetendorf on October 3, and the police surrounded them for hours. The West German and South German anti-alliances disbanded soon afterwards due to personal conflicts and increased state surveillance. By 1988, the nationwide Antifa coordination lost its ability to act. After the (ultimately inconclusive) state charges of the formation of a terrorist organization against four Hamburg autonomous groups in June 1989, the North German Anti-Fatal Meeting also dissolved.

Against election campaigns of the NPD and the Republicans party , new local anti-group briefly emerged, which disbanded after each election. On the initiative of a Göttingen anti-alliance, 1,500 anti-fascists, including many autonomous people, demonstrated against a FAP center in Mackenrode in May 1988 . In September the alliance broke up: one part did not want to give up their own more radical positions, the other part wanted to continue the alliance work and remain publicly perceptible and accessible with a continuous address. An anti-fascist emergency telephone was set up against attacks by neo-Nazis. Conny Wessmann was killed in a car accident in November 1989 during an agreed procedure by the police against the Göttingen Antifa . 20,000 autonomous people, and another 7,000 in the following year, then demonstrated in Göttingen against neo-Nazis and police. In 30 German cities, the autonomists deliberately destroyed the windows of department stores, financial institutions and government buildings, which, as symbols of capitalist society, made them jointly responsible for Wessmann's death.

After a neo-Nazi attack on a concert in East Berlin's Zionskirche , some anti-Fa groups also formed in the GDR from 1987 onwards. In Halle (Saale) punks briefly formed an armed self-defense. The Antifa Potsdam printed and distributed leaflets to get government agencies to deal with neo-Nazis. In January 1988 the group tried unsuccessfully to contact the FDJ and Jewish communities. After an attack by neo-Nazis, around 100 punks devastated their bar. In February 1989 an anti-group was founded in the Church of Lower (GDR) in East Berlin to mobilize against a planned neo-Nazi party for Hitler's birthday (April 20). This resulted in the Autonomous Antifa Berlin (East) in May . It published a newspaper providing information about Nazi activities in the GDR and organized an anti-day with 1,500 visitors. In July around 300 members of Antifa self-help groups met in the Erlöserkirche (Potsdam) . In September they took part in the state rally for the victims of fascism . Stasi employees snatched a warning banner from them ! Neo-Nazis also in the GDR . On November 9, 1989, around 600 people demonstrated with the Potsdamer Antifa on the anniversary of the November pogroms in 1938 . After the fall of the Wall in the GDR , the Antifa from Potsdam and East Berlin dissolved.

Berlin, November 3, 1990: Demonstration “Death is a Master from Germany” at the beginning of a week of action in memory of the November pogroms in 1938 .

1990s

In 1990 the dissolution of the Soviet Union , the end of the Warsaw Pact and German reunification fundamentally changed the overall political situation. German nationalism grew. The number of registered xenophobic crimes in Germany multiplied from 2426 (1991) to 6336 (1992). The perpetrators used the reunification for new attacks against immigrants, foreigners, leftists, homosexuals and others and murdered at least 80 people for racist motives by 1994. If they were caught, the murderers usually received only short sentences. Police attacks against immigrants also increased. The Republicans got into state parliaments. After the pogrom-like xenophobic riots in Hoyerswerda and Rostock-Lichtenhagen and the murder attack in Mölln , the CDU / CSU, FDP and SPD severely restricted the right of asylum with the asylum compromise of December 6, 1992. Because of the interaction of assassinations, cheering spectators, lack of police protection for those threatened, arrests of supporters and subsequent tightening of the law, the autonomists feared a new German fascism, against which attempts to disrupt Nazi meetings would not be sufficient. As a result, many new anti-group groups emerged in the old and new federal states.

In connection with the planned appearances of the philosopher Peter Singer , who questions the right to life of disabled people, members of political disability movements, nuclear opponents, critics of genetic and information technologies, advocates of the hospice idea and isolated anti-fascist initiatives joined forces to form an “anti-euthanasia -Forum Ruhrgebiet “together. At the 26th Evangelical Church Congress in 1995 , an alliance of autonomous "cripple, lesbian women and anti-fascist groups" issued a leaflet that rejected the discussion about the right to life of the disabled as hostility to the disabled .

In 1990 the Göttingen Autonome Antifa (M) emerged from the 1988 anti-alliance against the FAP . In March she came out with an appeal against the incorporation of the GDR. For autonomous, atypical, professionalized press work, artistic agitpropactions, history and youth work. Your posters, leaflets and brochures were designed by the Art and Struggle initiative around Bernd Langer. Its main characteristic was large alliance demonstrations against neo-Nazi centers, in each of which a well-equipped black bloc was integrated. Your “Discussion Paper on Autonomous Organization” triggered a nationwide debate among the Autonomous.

On September 27, 1991, an anti-fascist demonstration with around 5000 participants against the racist attacks on refugees took place in Hoyerswerda. On August 23, 1991, autonomous groups rushed to Rostock-Lichtenhagen to protect the Vietnamese, who were trapped in the “sunflower house” set on fire to applause from around 3,000 spectators. The police arrested 60 autonomous people. On August 29, around 15,000 people demonstrated with the Antifa in Rostock despite enormous police checks. After the Mölln murders, new anti- group groups took part in the fairy lights against racist attacks, which have been common in many cities since December 1992 under the motto “Colorful instead of brown”.

Eleven groups participating in a Göttingen demonstration “against fascism and police terror” (New Year's Eve 1991/92) founded the Antifascist Action / Nationwide Organization (AA / BO) in July 1992 , which consistently identified its publications with the black and red Antifa logo. In contrast to the earlier nationwide coordination, it aimed for fixed group structures with responsible contact persons, broad public impact, opening up to the mass media, alliances and regulated supra-regional cooperation. A jointly developed binding definition of anti-fascism was intended to give concrete form to the previous vague anti-capitalism, but it did not materialize. East German anti-group groups mostly rejected anti-imperialist rhetoric and tight organization; from the new federal states only the group Schwarzer Ast - Südthüringen , later Antifa Plauen, participated in the AA / BO. In 1993 criticism of the AA / BO gave rise to the nationwide Antifa meeting (BAT), which primarily conducted research, archive work and the coordination of actions against neonacite meetings . More East German groups that arose from local direct confrontations with neo-Nazis took part in it.

Since 1988 neo-Nazis have organized an annual “ Rudolf-Heß-Gedenkmarsch ” every August 17th and since 1991 have also avoided state demonstration bans in the district of Wunsiedel . Against this, anti-group groups mobilized nationwide protests. As part of the AA / BO campaign “Proceeding against the fascist centers”, larger demonstrations against neonacite meeting places took place in Adelebsen (March 20, 1993), Mainz-Gonsenheim (April 17, 1993), Detmold- Pivitsheide (February 5, 1994) and Northeim (June 4, 1994). From July 1994, prosecutors charged a total of 32 autonomous people, primarily the Göttingen Antifa M, with forming a terrorist organization and advertising for the RAF. At the beginning of August 1994, the Antifascist Action '94 was founded , which worked decentrally with AA / BO and BAT. In many places, through largely non-violent demonstrations and blockades, it prevented the neo-Nazis from leaving for the Hess memorial march. In 1996, the 1994 conditional charges were dropped. State bans on ten neo-Nazi groups (1992–1995) reduced their public presence, so that anti-group groups also disbanded in many places. AA / BO and BAT continuously lost members, so that they came closer together and for the first time in 1997 called for demonstrations against the Rudolf-Heß-Marsch and against a Nazi center in Saalfeld / Saale . The latter demonstration (October 11) was banned for a short time and around 1200 arriving autonomous people were arrested. During the same period, the neo-Nazi scene became radicalized, formed violent free comradeships and an anti-antifa that copied autonomous features (clothing, symbols). From such groups emerged in 1997 the cadre organization Thuringian Homeland Security (THS), penetrated and co-financed by constitutional protection agents, and in 1998 the terrorist organization National Socialist Underground (NSU).

In 1996, Antifa activists made known right-wing extremists who had built up the Thule network and hindered their internal exchange of information. The planned “Thule TV” did not materialize; the operators attributed this to "left anti- sabotage " among other things .

Anti-group groups mobilized nationwide against a large NPD rally on May 1, 1998 at the Monument to the Battle of the Nations in Leipzig . The approximately 5000 right-wing radicals were expected by a much larger crowd. Because a large police force kept them away from their destination, street battles with police forces broke out in Leipzig. On May 12, the Federal Criminal Police Office and the State Criminal Police Office in Bavaria searched the homes of suspected autonomists throughout Germany in order to find evidence of the formation of a terrorist group. 32 members of the Antifa Passau were charged, which had previously successfully obstructed several annual meetings of the DVU in Passau.

From July 2nd to 5th, 1998, the AA / BO held the "Organizes revolutionary resistance" camp at Ludwigstein Castle in order to give its member groups new impulses. In the following campaign “Stop the right advance! Antifa-Offensive '99 “took part more than 40 anti-group groups nationwide with camps, concerts, lectures and other things. The “Fight Fortress Europe” demonstration against the EU summit in Cologne on May 29, 1999 took place in a few thousand, the rally in front of the NPD office in Stuttgart on October 9, 1999 attracted around 1500 autonomous participants. However, the hoped-for broader public impact did not materialize. The BAT disbanded.

Since 1994, an “action alliance for the right to stay ” in Berlin has been drawing attention to the threat of deportation of refugees and inhumane conditions in collection facilities and deportation prisons with sometimes spectacular actions. New anti-group groups in schools tried to prevent classmates from being deported, among other things by sitting down at airports. In 1998 helpers for refugees started the no man is illegal campaign with annual border camps in which autonomous anti-group groups took part. They published a manual with the campaign motto (1999) and an anthology on self-organization and support projects for undocumented people in Europe (2000).

2000s

After an arson attack on the New Synagogue (Düsseldorf) in October 2000, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder proclaimed an “ uprising of the decent ”, which was not intended to suppress “violence”, as before, but “ right-wing extremism , xenophobia and anti-Semitism ”. Many youth projects have received funding from the federal, state and local authorities for a number of years. Parts of the anti-fascist scene took part, others kept their limits: By co-opting the issue and celebrating itself as the “better anti-fascist”, it narrowed the scope of extra-parliamentary groups. State anti-fascism only replaces völkisch nationalism with an internationally accepted nationalism without disruptive elements. The "German responsibility" of the Berlin Republic, which was inferred from the Nazi era, justified the first German war effort since 1945 in the Kosovo War in 1999, while at the same time current capital interests in accordance with social cuts and security laws were tightened, useful and useless immigrants were racially differentiated and the long-delayed compensation of former Nazi forced laborers would be subject to legal certainty for German companies.

The AA / BO tried to use the public's attention on the subject to make their concept better known and to radicalize other anti-fascists. At a large demonstration in Berlin-Köpenick on October 7, 2000, the Antifascist Action Berlin (AAB) demanded “Get rid of the NPD headquarters and the deportation prison” in order to attack state racism. The Alliance Against Right Leipzig (BgR) participated in a local alliance against a Nazi march to the Anti-War (September 1, 2000), but also demonstrated "against civil society militarism and new world order : declare war on Germany!"

From April 22nd to 22nd, 2001 Autonome Antifa (M), AAB and BgR organized a congress in Göttingen, which was attended by around 600 interested parties. They founded the theory sheet phase 2 for self-understanding. The AA / BO dissolved in order to enable the desired nationwide reorganization. This did not happen, however, mainly because of the escalating ideological conflicts with anti-Germans . This tendency emerged from the Radical Left's Never Again Germany campaign in 1990. Out of solidarity with Israel , they endorsed the US intervention in the Second Gulf War (January 1991), Israel's measures against the Second Intifada (September 2000 to February 2005) and the war in Afghanistan since 2001 . As a result of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 , they equated criticism of US wars of intervention with anti-Americanism and latent anti-Semitism and demonstratively wore Israeli and US flags. As a result of the conflicts, many anti-group groups broke up, including the Göttingen Autonomous Antifa (M) in 2004.

Since 2002, anti-group groups have been fighting the center against expulsions initiated by the Association of Displaced Persons (BdV) , lectures in the book Der Brand by Jörg Friedrich have been disrupted , the annual commemorations of the mountain troops involved in massacres during the Nazi era in Mittenwald and the radical right-wing funeral marches marking the anniversaries against the air raids on Dresden (February 13). They criticized the equality of the German expellees and victims of the bombing war with the victims of Nazi crimes as a relativization of the Holocaust and as a perpetrator-victim reversal. They referred to the enthusiastic reception of Friedrich's book in the neo-Nazi scene and to attempts at historical revisionist reinterpretation of the Nazi era in the new-right magazine Junge Freiheit .

Demonstration "Down with Germany" in Frankfurt am Main 2006

After a targeted hacker attack on the website of the right-wing extremist network Blood and Honor at the end of August 2008, Antifa activists published the data obtained in this way.

Front row of an anti-fame demonstration in Bern , August 2006

Since 2010

On February 13, 2010, the alliance Dresden Nazi-free and the nationwide No pasarán blockade alliance of independent anti -Nazi groups thwarted the annual parade of thousands of neo-Nazis in Dresden for the first time. More than 12,000 opponents hindered their arrival with railroad blockades and blocked the march route with sit-down blocks, barricades and human chains. These actions were carried out in spite of legal bans and forced the police to make the neo-Nazis return home. The march thus lost its attractiveness: in 2011 only around 500 neo-Nazis came to Dresden.

In 2013, a Hamburg anti-group published the names, photos, contact addresses, meeting points and activities of members of the Weisse Wölfe Terrorcrew on the Internet. This then largely stopped its activities. On October 17, 2015, the Antifa Bonn / Rhein-Sieg published photographs of right-wing radical demonstrations. They showed Frank Steffen, who tried to stab Cologne's mayor Henriette Reker with a knife on the same day and seriously injured him. The police, who had previously suspected a mental illness, then recognized political motives.

Without an umbrella organization, there were more than 100 local and regional groups and initiatives in Germany in 2011, which specifically follow the tradition of historical anti-group groups, make social racism the main theme of their actions, deal with current legal developments, do remembrance work and come to terms with Nazi history and pass on.

Public discourse

This section needs to be revised: Too many daily updates with no long-term relevance. Too long verbatim quotations.
Please help to improve it , and then remove this flag.

As part of an elaboration on the question of whether the Antifa could represent a criminal or terrorist organization within the meaning of § 129 or § 129a StGB , the Scientific Service of the Bundestag defined the term "Antifa" in 2018 as an "umbrella term for different, usually rather loosely structured, ephemeral autonomous currents of the left to left-wing extremist scene ”. He explained that due to the lack of clear organizational structures, an assessment of whether these are terrorist groups can only be carried out by the law enforcement authorities , according to the current status, in individual cases .

In 2018 Angela Marquardt , who had converted to the SPD from the left, wrote in Vorwärts : "In the fight against the right, the SPD also needs the Antifa".

In 2019, the Oscar-Romero-Haus sponsorship group awarded the Antifa Bonn / Rhein-Sieg a “Bonn Oscar Romero Prize for the commitment to the marginalized and disenfranchised in our society for a just, solidary and in harmony with creation world”. Pastor Detlev Besier gave the laudation.

The AfD parliamentary group in the German Bundestag submitted a motion in September 2019 with the title " Basic anti-extremist consensus in politics and society - protecting the rule of law and democracy - outlawing anti-factions ". In a speech on this proposal, the Left MP Martina Renner wore an Antifa sticker on her lapel. For this, their Bundestag Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki (FDP) issued a call to order . Following a recommendation for a resolution by the Interior Committee, the application was finally rejected by roll call with 85 to 554 votes. On June 17, 2020, the AfD parliamentary group submitted an application to the nationwide ban on “Antifa” in the Bundestag, which was referred to the Committee on Home Affairs and Home Affairs for examination.

The ARD fact finder Patrick Gensing wrote in connection with the protests following the death of George Floyd in the USA about a conspiracy theory according to which the Antifa is centrally organized and, lavishly financed by George Soros , strives for world domination : "In fact, there is no ' the Antifa '; the term stands for anti-fascism or anti-fascist action. AFA or the number code 161 is often used as an abbreviation. ”Gensing referred to the protection of the constitution and wrote that it was not a“ fixed organization, but a field of action, similar to anti-racism, anti-globalization or anti-gentrification ”. He added, referring to the scientific service of the Bundestag : So far, “neither in Germany nor abroad have individual anti-fascist groups been classified as criminal or terrorist organizations. In any case, there is not 'the Antifa' in the sense of a uniform organization, but a corresponding, not sharply defined scene. In particular, no “uniform action or a self-contained, politically-ideologically closed concept” can be assumed. "

In June 2020, SPD chairwoman Saskia Esken committed to Antifa by tweeting her age, “58 and Antifa. Of course. ”That earned her criticism, u. a. From CDU General Secretary Paul Ziemiak : “Against fascism and for democracy and human rights. Without violence. For me it goes without saying. Not for the Antifa. It's sad that the chairman [of the] SPD lacks the strength to differentiate. ”In a blog entry in June 2020, the historian Jan C. Behrends assigned the Antifa to the“ poisonous kitchen of Stalinism ”. “Antifascism was a key concept in the global civil war of the 1930s.” With an article in the newspaper Die Welt, the journalist Deniz Yücel defended the antifa as part of civil society , which Henryk M. Broder firmly rejected in the same newspaper.

Anna Schneider and Lucien Scherrer interpreted the “Antifa” label in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung as an “attempt to legitimize violence”. Greens and leftists would play down the problem of left-wing violence emanating from Antifa groups. According to the Swiss journalist and Green Party politician Hans Stutz , anti-fascist groups also sometimes carry out important educational and prevention work and have shown presence at marches by right-wing extremists, especially in rural areas. Bettina Röhl accuses the Antifa of being cowardly, "masking their faces and keeping their names a secret. What often calls itself Antifa threatens uninterrupted violence and attacks against politicians or police officers, for example, and it represents enormous amounts of senseless damage to property . "

Relationship to the protection of the constitution

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) regards autonomous anti-group groups as left-wing extremists and brings them together with right-wing extremists under the common umbrella term of extremism . While it attributed right-wing extremist acts of violence mostly to individual perpetrators, not to larger networks, it often located acts of violence in anti-fascist actions in autonomous groups and criminal associations. Activists of the autonomous Antifa, on the other hand, refer to connections between the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and neo-Nazi groups and their attempts to undermine existing organization bans with state help or tolerance.

The BfV mentioned “autonomous” groups for the first time in 1981 and, from 1983, devoted their own chapters of its annual reports to them. It was not until 1986 that reports on the protection of the constitution mentioned anti-group groups. They presented their actions as terrorist violence or dangerous revaluation and provocation of neo-Nazis, their arson attacks on (other) political opponents as a reaction to them. For years they did not mention any non-violent reconnaissance and disruption actions by anti-fascist networks against anti-constitutional right-wing extremists, but set anti-fascist groups with violent autonomists and saw anti-factories almost only as a justification for violence and a “bracket” for left-wing extremist activities against the state.

Like the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the German political parties and trade unions criticize the fact that parts of the Antifa do not recognize the state's monopoly on the use of force . Uwe Backes (proponent of the extremism theory) classifies the antifa as the “hard core” of the militant left spectrum and sees the conflict between antifa and anti-antifa as one of the main reasons for increasing violence.

As a result of the sharp increase in Nazi acts of violence in the 1990s, political scientist Wolfgang Gessenharter and activists from APABIZ, the magazines Der Rechts Rand and the Antifa information sheet worked together in 1996 . This resulted in the jointly written manual of German right-wing extremism . In May 1997, a three-day meeting of around 70 anti-fascist activists with representatives of the constitution protection took place for the first time. Other anti-group groups criticized the fact that the term “fascism” was avoided at the conference and that the term “extremism” was hardly discussed as a problem. The critics later also referred to the representative Heitmeyer study on group- related enmity (2002–2011), according to which significant proportions of the population showed anti-Semitic, xenophobic, racist and violent attitudes.

According to an evaluation of reports by the federal and state offices for the protection of the constitution by Die Welt in June 2020, at least 47 antifa groups were observed by the protection of the constitution and classified as "extremist". However, this list is “not exhaustive, because the Office for the Protection of the Constitution emphasizes that generally not all of the observed groups need to be named in its reports. On the other hand, in addition to these 47 antifa groups classified as extremist, there are also borderline cases that primarily belong to another left-wing extremist group that is also in the sights of the protection of the constitution - such as the Antifascist Left Freiburg (ALFR / IL) ”.

In the 1970s, anti-fascist groups took up the signet of the "anti-fascist action" from 1932. Both flags and the lifebuoy were red at the time and stood for socialism and communism . The motif comes from a poster by the Bauhaus student Max Gebhard and the graphic artist Max Keilson . The most common variant of the logo today - larger red and slightly smaller black flag, red for socialism, black for anarchism - was designed in the 1970s by the Göttingen group “ Art and Struggle ” led by Bernd Langer . This variant became standard in the 1980s; since 1989 the flagpoles have always been pointing to the right.

International

Groups that describe themselves as "Antifa" or "Antifascist Action" (often under the acronym AFA) and use a double left-wing flag in a black circle or similar symbols can be found in almost all countries in Europe and North America. Their forms of organization and political orientation differ in some cases considerably.

After days of riots in many American cities, following the death of George Floyd during a police operation on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis , President Donald Trump announced on May 31, 2020 that he would fight more radical left groups and the Antifa, such as already considered since August 2019, to classify as a terrorist organization in the USA . On the other hand, it is asserted that, in contrast to organized white racism , which has been responsible for hundreds of murders since 2010 alone, no anti-fascist-related murder has become known by 2020.

Audio

See also

Additional information

literature

Germany
  • Collective school end (ed.): Tips and tricks for Antifas and Antiras. (1999) Extended new edition, Unrast, Münster 2017, ISBN 3-89771-220-2 .
  • Christin Jänicke, Benjamin Paul-Siewert (eds.): 30 years of Antifa in East Germany. Perspectives on an independent movement. 3rd, extended edition Münster 2019, ISBN 978-3-89691-102-5 (first 2017).
  • Bernd Langer: Antifascist Action. History of a radical left movement. 2nd edition, Unrast, Münster 2015, ISBN 978-3-89771-574-5 .
  • Horst Schöppner: Antifa means attack: Militant anti-fascism in the 80s. Series of antifascist texts, Unrast, Münster 2015, ISBN 3-89771-823-5 .
  • Editorial collective: Fantifa. Feminist Perspectives on Anti-Fascist Politics. Edition Assemblage, 2013, ISBN 978-3-942885-30-0 .
  • Mirja Keller, Lena Kögler, Moritz Krawinkel, Jan Schlemermeyer: Antifa, history and organization. 2nd updated edition, Schmetterling, Stuttgart 2013, ISBN 3-89657-678-X .
  • Jens Mecklenburg (Hrsg.): What to do against the right. Espresso-Verlag 2002, ISBN 3-88520-749-4 .
  • Jens Mecklenburg: Antifa Reader. Elefanten Press, 2001, ISBN 3-88520-574-2 .
  • Matthias Mletzko: Discourses of violence and violent acts of militant scenes - differences using the example of “Antifa” and “Anti-Antifa”. In: Kriminalistik , No. 8/9 2001, pp. 543–548, No. 10/2001, pp. 639–644.
  • Jens Mecklenburg (ed.): Handbook of German right-wing extremism. Edition Antifa, Elefanten Press, 1996, ISBN 3-88520-585-8 .
  • Antifaschistische Aktion Berlin (ed.): The Antifa Concept - Basic Texts and Concrete. Information brochure of the Antifascist Action Berlin 1995-98. Berlin 1998
  • Franz Josef Krafeld: Antifa and their fight against right-wing extremism. Thoughts on a controversial role. In: Konrad Schacht, Thomas Leif, Hannelore Janssen (eds.): Helpless against right-wing extremism? Causes, fields of action, project experience. Bund Verlag, Cologne 1995, ISBN 3-7663-2572-8 , pp. 383-398.
Great Britain
United States

Web links

Commons : Anti-Fascist Resistance  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
Antifa pages
defense of Constitution
Attempts to explain

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Scientific Services of the German Bundestag , draft 7-3000-069 / 18 of April 24, 2018: Left-wing extremism in the form of the so-called “Antifa” - organization-related criminal law implications : “6. Conclusion According to widespread understanding, the so-called antifa is not a specific, clearly delimited organization or association, but the generic term for various, usually loosely structured, ephemeral, autonomous currents from the left to left-wing extremist scene. "P. 13 ( PDF )
  2. ^ Anne Speckhard, Molly Ellenberg: Perspective. Why Branding Antifa a Terror Group Is a Diversion . Homeland Security Today, June 2, 2020, available online
  3. ↑ Horst Schöppner: Antifa means attack , 2015, pp. 11 and 68f.
  4. ↑ Armin Pfahl-Traughber: Antifascism as a topic of left-wing extremist agitation, alliance politics and ideology. In: Left extremism , dossier of the Federal Agency for Civic Education .
  5. ↑ Nils Schuhmacher: Defend yourself, do something - Antifa groups and scenes as a starting point and learning area in the process of politicization. 2013, p. 67. In: René Schultens, Michaela Glaser (Ed.): “Left” militancy in adolescence - findings on a controversial phenomenon. ( Memento of October 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) 2013, pp. 47–70 (PDF; 2 MB).
  6. ↑ Horst Schöppner: Antifa means attack , 2015, pp. 141–158.
  7. ↑ Mirja Keller et al .: Antifa , Stuttgart 2013, p. 7.
  8. ↑ Bernd Langer: Antifaschistische Aktion , Münster 2015, pp. 68–73.
  9. ↑ Marcel Bois: Communists against Hitler and Stalin. Berlin 2016, pp. 363–387.
  10. ↑ Reinhard Rürup (ed.): The war against the Soviet Union 1941–1945, Argon, Berlin 1991, section National Committee "Free Germany"
  11. ↑ Bernd Langer: Antifaschistische Aktion , Münster 2015, p. 167f.
  12. ↑ Mirja Keller et al .: Antifa , Stuttgart 2013, pp. 48–60.
  13. ↑ Ulrich Schneider: Antifascism. Cologne 2014, p. 79f.
  14. ↑ Mirja Keller et al .: Antifa , Stuttgart 2013, pp. 54–57.
  15. ↑ Mirja Keller et al .: Antifa , Stuttgart 2013, p. 59.
  16. ↑ Mirja Keller et al .: Antifa , Stuttgart 2013, p. 57f.
  17. ↑ Uwe Backes, Eckhard Jesse: Yearbook Extremism & Democracy, Volume 16. Bouvier, 2004, p. 221, fn. 8
  18. ↑ Mirja Keller et al .: Antifa , Stuttgart 2013, pp. 58f.
  19. ↑ Ulrich Schneider: Antifascism. Cologne 2014, p. 79f.
  20. ↑ Mirja Keller et al .: Antifa , Stuttgart 2013, pp. 63–67.
  21. ↑ Mirja Keller et al .: Antifa , Stuttgart 2013, p. 59f.
  22. ↑ Bernd Langer: Antifascist Action. Münster 2015, p. 178f.
  23. ↑ Mirja Keller et al .: Antifa , Stuttgart 2013, p. 68.
  24. ↑ Mirja Keller et al .: Antifa , Stuttgart 2013, p. 69; Bernd Langer: Art as resistance: posters, oil paintings, campaigns, texts from the Art and Struggle initiative. Pahl-Rugenstein, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-89144-240-8 , p. 50.
  25. ↑ Bernd Langer: Antifascist Action. Münster 2015, pp. 192–194.
  26. ↑ Sebastian Haunss: Identity in Motion. Processes of Collective Identity in the Autonomous and Gay Movement. Springer, Wiesbaden 2004, p. 119
  27. ↑ Mirja Keller et al .: Antifa , Stuttgart 2013, pp. 71f.
  28. ↑ Bernd Langer: Antifascist Action. Münster 2015, pp. 206–208.
  29. ^ Dirk Aschwanden: Adolescent right-wing extremism as an all-German problem. Nomos, 1995, ISBN 3-7890-3689-7 , p. 110.
  30. ↑ Bernd Langer: Antifascist Action. Münster 2015, pp. 202–206.
  31. ↑ Mirja Keller et al .: Antifa , Stuttgart 2013, pp. 72–75.
  32. ↑ Mark Bray: Antifa , London 2017, pp. 54f.
  33. ↑ Mirja Keller et al .: Antifa , Stuttgart 2013, pp. 75–77.
  34. ↑ Mirja Keller et al .: Antifa , Stuttgart 2013, pp. 79f.
  35. ↑ Birgit Rothenberg: The self-determined life principle and its meaning for university studies. Julius Klinkhardt, 2012, ISBN 3-7815-1850-7 , p. 39 (only mentioned in margin no. 79)
  36. ↑ Annerose Siebert: Delusion of Perfection? Bioethics Convention, Euthanasia and the Image of Man. LIT, Münster 1999, ISBN 3-8258-4159-6 , p. 59 and fn. 79/80
  37. ↑ Bernd Langer: Antifaschistische Aktion , Münster 2015, p. 210f.
  38. ↑ Bernd Langer: Antifaschistische Aktion , Münster 2015, pp. 218–222.
  39. ↑ Bernd Langer: Antifaschistische Aktion , Münster 2015, pp. 216–218.
  40. ↑ Bernd Langer: Antifaschistische Aktion , Münster 2015, p. 222.
  41. ↑ Bernd Langer: Antifaschistische Aktion , Münster 2015, pp. 223-234.
  42. ↑ Antifascist collective of authors: Masterminds in the brown net: A current overview of the neo-Nazi underground in Germany and Austria. Konkret Literatur Verlag, 1996, ISBN 3-89458-140-9 , pp. 203-205.
  43. ↑ Britta Bugiel: Right-wing extremism of young people in the GDR and in the new federal states from 1982-1998. LIT, Münster 2002, ISBN 3-8258-6155-4 , p. 280
  44. ↑ Bernd Langer: Antifaschistische Aktion , Münster 2015, p. 236f.
  45. ↑ Bernd Langer: Antifaschistische Aktion , Münster 2015, p. 237ff.
  46. ↑ Jens Mecklenburg: Antifa Reader , 1996, pp. 278 and 292.
  47. ^ Theo Bruns: Radically global: building blocks for an internationalist left. Association A, 2003, ISBN 3-935936-18-4 , p. 184.
  48. ^ Britta Schellenberg: The right-wing extremism debate: characteristics, conflicts and their consequences. Springer, Wiesbaden 2014, ISBN 978-3-658-04177-9 , p. 135 and fn. 526
  49. ↑ Grauwacke AG: Autonomous in Motion: from the first 23 years. Association A, 2003, ISBN 3-935936-13-3 , p. 308; Freerk Huisken: Nothing but Nationalism, Volume 2. VSA-Verlag, 2001, ISBN 3-87975-805-0 , p. 162; Specifically, issues 1-12. Neuer Konkret Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-8267-5497-2 , p. 27.
  50. ↑ Mirja Keller et al .: Antifa , Stuttgart 2013, p. 122f.
  51. ↑ Mirja Keller et al .: Antifa , Stuttgart 2013, p. 124f .; Susanne Lenz: NPD opponents meet on Saturday. Berliner Zeitung, October 5, 2000
  52. ↑ Bernd Langer: Antifaschistische Aktion , Münster 2015, pp. 240–242.
  53. ↑ Mirja Keller et al .: Antifa , Stuttgart 2013, p. 128.
  54. ↑ Ralf Steckert: Enthusiastic suffering. On the media staging of the “brand” and its historical and political impact in the run-up to the Second Iraq War. ibidem, 2008, ISBN 3-89821-910-0 , p. 79, fn. 196 ; Historical Political Interventions Working Group (Berlin): Beyond Steinbach: On the controversy about a center of displacement in the context of the German victim discourse. AGI, 2010
  55. ↑ Hacker attack: The Office for the Protection of the Constitution is interested in neo-Nazi data . Spiegel Online , August 30, 2008
  56. ↑ Mark Bray: Antifa , London 2017, pp. 82f.
  57. ↑ Autonomous press group: Terrorize the white wolves! Riseup.net, 2013
  58. ^ Raphael Thelen: The Nazi hunters. Spiegel 3/2017; Jörg Diehl: Assassination attempt on Cologne's OB candidate: Knife stabber has a right-wing extremist past. Spiegel, October 17, 2015
  59. ^ History & organization of the Antifa. Anti-fascist information sheet 92, September 14, 2011.
  60. ↑ Scientific services: Left-wing extremism in the form of the so-called "Antifa" - organization-related criminal law implications. (PDF) German Bundestag, draft 7-3000-069 / 18, April 24, 2018, p. 7 ff.
  61. ↑ In the fight against the right, the SPD also needs the Antifa , Vorwärts, September 7, 2018
  62. ↑ Lina Hüffelmann from the Cologne Refugee Council and Pastor Detlev Besier give laudations at the presentation of the Romero Prize on Saturday. Oscar-Romero-Haus e. V., June 2019.
  63. ↑ Martin Hess et al .: Basic anti-extremist consensus in politics and society - protecting the rule of law and democracy - outlawing anti-beliefs. Bundestag printed matter 19/13521, September 25, 2019.
  64. ↑ Kubicki calls left politician to order in the Bundestag because of Antifa stickers. In: welt.de. Die Welt , September 27, 2019, accessed on September 27, 2019 .
  65. ^ Recommendation for a resolution and report by the Committee on Home Affairs and Home Affairs Bundestag printed matter 19/17197, February 14, 2020.
  66. ↑ a b Large majority against an anti-extremism motion by the AfD , German Bundestag, June 19, 2020.
  67. ↑ Jens Maier et al .: “ Preserving Democracy - Checking the Nationwide Ban on Antifa” Bundestag printed matter 19/20074, June 17, 2020
  68. ↑ Patrick Gensing: Fakes on protests in the USA - The “Antifa Soros Conspiracy”. In: tagesschau.de , June 2, 2020.
  69. ↑ Esken is one of the Antifa - criticism of a lack of differentiation In: Welt , June 2, 2020.
  70. ↑ Jan C. Behrends: Why I am not an Antifa - a historical classification. In: Salon Columnists , June 3, 2020.
  71. ^ Deniz Yücel: Antifa as civil society. In: Welt , June 5, 2020.
  72. ^ Henryk M. Broder: The "Antifa" is a sham. In: Welt , June 8, 2020.
  73. ↑ Anna Schneider, Lucien Scherrer: Who is «the Antifa»? Anyone who regards all militant anti-fascists as terrorists is wrong - whoever judges them only by their noble slogans, however, also. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , June 11, 2020.
  74. ↑ Bettina Röhl : The RAF is dead. Long live the Antifa ?. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , August 1, 2020.
  75. ↑ Horst Schöppner: Antifa means attack , 2015, p. 8f.
  76. ↑ Horst Schöppner: Antifa means attack , 2015, p. 34.
  77. ↑ Horst Schöppner: Antifa means attack , 2015, pp. 129–132.
  78. ↑ Uwe Backes: On the interaction dynamics of left and right-wing extremist violence. In: Left-wing extremist violence - threats, causes and prevention. Proceedings of the 9th symposium of the Thuringian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution on November 4, 2010. March 2011, p. 49.
  79. ↑ Horst Schöppner: Antifa means attack , 2015, p. 17f.
  80. ↑ Marcel Leubecher: At least 47 anti- fascist groups in the sights of the protection of the constitution. In: Welt , June 8, 2020.
  81. ↑ The inventor of the Antifa: In the footsteps of the Bauhaus graphic artist Max Gebhard , new Germany , December 14, 2019
  82. ↑ Mirja Keller et al .: Antifa , Stuttgart 2013, p. 70; Bernd Langer: Antifaschistische Aktion , Münster 2015, pp. 73 and 180.
  83. ↑ Mark Bray: Antifa. London 2017, p. 223.
  84. ^ After riots in US cities. Trump wants to classify the "Antifa" as a terrorist organization. Der Tagesspiegel May 31, 2020.
  85. ^ Anne Speckhard, Molly Ellenberg: Perspective. Why Branding Antifa a Terror Group Is a Diversion . Homeland Security Today, June 2, 2020, available online
  86. ^ Lois Beckett: Anti-fascists linked to zero murders in the US in 25 years. In: theguardian.com. July 27, 2020, accessed on July 28, 2020 .