Antifa: The Anti-Facist Handbook by Mark Bray (PDF)

Description

[Read by Keith Szarabajka]In the wake of tragic events in Charlottesville, Virginia, and Donald Trump’s initial refusal to denounce the white nationalists behind it all, the ”antifa” opposition movement is suddenly appearing everywhere. But what is it, precisely? And where did it come from?As long as there has been fascism, there has been anti-fascism — also known as ”antifa.” Born out of resistance to Mussolini and Hitler in Europe during the 1920s and ’30s, the antifa movement has suddenly burst into the headlines amid opposition to the Trump administration and the alt-right. They could be seen in news reports, often clad all in black with balaclavas covering their faces, demonstrating at the presidential inauguration, and on California college campuses protesting far-right speakers, and most recently, on the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, protecting, among others, a group of ministers including Cornel West from neo-Nazi violence. (West would later tell reporters, ”The anti-fascists saved our lives.”)Simply, antifa aims to deny fascists the opportunity to promote their oppressive politics, and to protect tolerant communities from acts of violence promulgated by fascists. Critics say shutting down political adversaries is anti-democratic; antifa adherents argue that the horrors of fascism must never be allowed the slightest chance to triumph again.In a smart and gripping investigation, historian and former Occupy Wall Street organizer Mark Bray provides a detailed survey of the full history of anti-fascism from its origins to the present day — the first transnational history of postwar anti-fascism in English. Based on interviews with anti-fascists from around the world, Antifa details the tactics of the movement and the philosophy behind it, offering insight into the growing but little-understood resistance fighting back against fascism in all its guises.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: About the Author Mark Bray is a historian of human rights, terrorism, and political radicalism in modern Europe who was one of the organizers of Occupy Wall Street. He is the author of Translating Anarchy and the coeditor of Anarchist Education and the Modern School. His work has appeared in Foreign Policy, Critical Quarterly, Roar, and numerous edited volumes. He is currently a lecturer at Dartmouth College.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I thought this book would be a tactics manual, it isn’t. It is a well written examination of the historical development of anti-fascism from the 1920s to the present day. Highly readable, very interesting and well documented, it concentrates on the continuing politics of repression, fascism and danger these forces represent to freedom and democracy. Highly recommended, but I am going to order the USMC Infantry Tactics Manual.

⭐This book gives the reader a better understanding of the history and tactics of this terrorist group and why it is so dangerous.

⭐I grasp everything in the book. It is a more difficult read than you would expect, especially considering it starts you off in the most complex example with some of the more difficult names and titles. But if you make it through the French Revolution, you’re in the clear.Anyone paying attention while reading and has a general understanding of history will point out, not only is it cherry-picking examples of “positive” Antifa movements, it completely vilifies others to the point they allege that those movements are “fascists” in spite of the obvious facts they correlate precisely to the Antifa movements they cherish.For example, the books blasts the Nazi uprising in Germany and the KKK militia of the mid-1900s. But when Mark Bray explains their tactics (which sometimes he doesn’t even bother) you see that both the Nazi Party and the KKK/Democrats did the exact same thing that all the other Antifa movements did. I think this is done intentionally as to not complicate things further, but it comes off as disingenuous and frankly hypocritical.If you’re not interested in reading, I understand, it’s not a “fun” book to read and it’s highly controversial. It’s not written poorly and there is some great research, but the conclusion is left up to the reader with the text acting as a leading argument. Mark wants you to think that Antifa is always virtuous, and the virtue justifies the means. But with any critical thinking, you realize, Antifa is just a way to say you’re against the rule of the populous. It has no inherent virtue, it’s just a group of outcasts who want to rule the people differently than how they are currently being ruled and their actions are as bad or worse than how the establishment took their power. The ultimate irony being, once Antifa achieves their goals they become the establishment. So they successfully become the thing they fought against and a new-Antifa needs to be created.So you can say: Antifa is a fascist movement by its own definition.Fascist/Antifa equals Terrorist/Freedom Fighter.

⭐First off, from a book reader perspective, especially me being curious about what Antifa is all about, I thought the writing was good. A bit of a “word salad” at time and the beginning has a dizzying plethora of acronyms. Overall, I did like the book….as a book.Secondly, the content is egregious. It appears antifa started as a good cause. It uses the term “nazi” and “fascist” interchangeably with conservative, republicans, the religious ( except for violent radical Islamist …they are cool ) , law abiding citizens, property owners, supporters of sovereignty, people who can cite , ya know…facts, and people who don’t unleash brutal physical attacks on people who disagree with you. So, basically any decent human being falls under the term “nazi” and “fascist” in this piece. The author and antifa are obviously obtuse, violently emotional, and deranged. Also, I found AT LEAST 7 instances of blatantly false information in this book. Especially with regards to President Trump. He obviously took a cue from our mainstream media and presented things either severely out of context for the efficacy of a hateful narrative, or just flat out lied. The sources he cites in the back are inaccurate from left wing activists/propagandist/ so called journalist.In conclusion, I read this to better understand the mindset of antifa. I do. They are hateful, incompetent, delusional, and have probably never worked hard for anything in their lives. Antifa are not activists for justice, they are terrorists for power. Also, the name antifa is pretty ironic…maybe superfa is more accurate.

⭐This book is dangerous because it promotes the same ideology as the KKK. Namely, it seeks to dehumanise certain groups of people, and then to justify committing violence on them. By setting themselves up in a ‘morally superior’ position, Antifa’s justification boils down to taking down ‘bad people’… in this case anyone that they consider ‘fascist’. This is a call to arms against ‘bad people’ i.e. anyone who disagrees with them politically.It appeals to our most basal human instincts, to want to be doing good in the world. How many children would agree that Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini were bad men? How many children might believe that to have killed or eliminated them would have made the world a better place? How many of us think like children? That is, in a simple, binary way – to view human beings as either good or bad? Following that, can evil be eradicated by any means necessary…by Machiavellian means? By encouraging us to view people as either friend or foe, what Antifa really seeks is to eliminate the enemy. It rips a society apart, when those who cannot put forward a rational argument, turn to inflaming public passions in order to pursue their own secret agenda – a Nietzschean will to power.Reading this book was difficult for me, because I do not believe that violence can be justified, especially if I disagree with the political views of another. In order to justify such attacks as we witness in incidents of groups such as ‘Occupy’ or ‘BAMN’ (By any means necessary), we must believe in ‘social justice’ or that we are ‘doing good’. I am certain that the KKK felt the same way yet we have rightly come to condemn it and its underlying philosophy. However, Antifa has adopted the same philosophies, by branding certain people (usually capitalists) as bad people, and seeking to destroy them. Antifa is a modern-day lynch mob.The psychological technique being used by Antifa is that of ‘projective identification’. This is Ensorcellment or brainwashing by any other name. It works by forcefully projecting into their opponents, the very things they themselves are guilty of…be it anti-Semitism, totalitarianism, hate-speech, intolerant attitudes towards the truly vulnerable etc. These same techniques are found in cults and serve to convince cult members that the outside world is bad. It even convinces some to engage in acts of violence on the basis that they are good and those that they seek to hurt are bad people. The KKK sought to demonise black people and to convince white people that slavery was good. Antifa seeks to demonise anyone who believes in capitalism and democracy, and to enforce Marxist ideologies by any means necessary…interestingly, Benito Mussolini was himself a Marxist, who believed in the use of force to silence political adversaries. In the end, Antifa are the old Anarcho-Communist rivals of Fascism, and Mark Bray’s Epigraph quotes Buenaventura Durruti, one of its leading advocates. Antifa have the same hateful ideology as that they seek to denounce – to use physical force to intimidate opponents in order to gain political and cultural power.The world needs to heal its splits not exacerbate them and Antifa’s stance only sows divisions.

⭐Well written, and un-like some books, this is a really good read !This should be on everyone’s reading-list!If I could, I would send a copy of this book to everyone in the country!Arrived here in top condition and quickly too!Many Thanks

⭐It’s too focused on Trump and short sighted in that it doesn’t layout a convincing groundwork on its own vision of a better society. In my opinion, if you want to tear down a society that people strive to join from around the world, you should at least have a concrete vision of how the new paradigm would be sustainable. We need to reject identity politics of every kind, or else we will continue to be divided and therefore under the thumb of tyranny.

⭐Really needed for these times. Inspiring historical references and beginning of a worldwide culture to counter the alt right populist narratives that are dominating

⭐If you’re interested in what ANTIFA is all about then buy this book, you will learn everything that they are about.

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