Antifa? Antifa

Dear Alfonsina,

I heartily laughed to hear that the fingernails of the little cat have scratched Zora’s nose, and I continue to laugh every time I think about it. Surely, it is a good lesson not only for Zora and other child, but for mankind. The little cat knows very well it has a sharp nails, and that when a little girl molests it, it is enough to scratch a little her nose for be let free. People too have sharp fingernails, and the noses of tyrants and oppressors is make of flesh too. Oh, how much less sorrowness and misery would be among the mortals if they know just what a little cat knows.

Antifa. Anti-fascist. A few words on the subject, inspired by the demented ramblings of a tabloid hack and an anonymous English critic.

Antifa: Red, White & Blue

Rick Lyons of The Guardian (Antifa’s gift to the BNP, September 3, 2008) reckons that at the BNP’s recent Red White & Blue Festival “By fighting with police and scaring residents, the militant anti-fascists made the BNP seem the more reasonable group”.

Rick normally writes for the Sunday edition of tabloid the Daily Star — “Simply the Best 7 Days A Week!’. Antifa in the UK have criticised Rick’s reportage, but I think it’s awesome. For example:

September 29, 2008:
‘Kylie in terror threat’
“”KYLIE Minogue and 2,000 VIP guests could be targeted by al-Qaida at the world’s most expensive party. Kylie, 40, will be the star turn at the £20million launch of Dubai’s Atlantis Hotel – seen by Islamist extremists as a symbol of decadence. British spies are tracking claims that al-Qaida plan to bomb the development on which the £1billion, £14,000-a-night hotel stands…”

September 14, 2008:
‘Britain’s worst joke’
“AFTER being swamped with entries in our crazy Britain’s Worst Joke Competition we’ve found the top groan-worthy gag…”
‘Robbie swaps pop for UFO hunt’
“RECLUSE Robbie Williams wants to quit the music business and devote himself to looking for aliens. The 34-year-old has become obsessed with life on other planets and claims to have seen aliens twice…”
‘Biggs I’m back to die in Brazil’
“FRAIL Ronnie Biggs will return to Brazil when he gets out of jail next year. The 79-year-old Great Train Robber is due to be released on compassionate grounds at a parole hearing on Valentine’s Day 2009. He is wheelchair-bound, eats via a tube and communicates by pointing to letters of the alphabet…”

April 20, 2008:
‘Paris mutt see telly show’
“Paris Hilton is happy to be in the doghouse after signing up to star in a UK pet grooming TV show…”

April 13, 2008:
Angie is Bourne winner’
“ANGELINA Jolie has landed her biggest film role yet… playing a foxy female super-spy…”

February 3, 2008:
‘Lineker gets it in neck’
“MATCH Of The Day host Gary Lineker’s relaxed dress code has sparked a betting frenzy. Footie fans have started gambling on how many buttons he’s got undone on his shirt…”

November 25, 2007:
‘No more Led in our pencils’
“SORRY girls… but the last thing Led Zeppelin want is a Whole Lotta Love. They’ve ordered staff at London’s O2 Arena to keep groupies at bay…”

September 9, 2007:
‘Fat Boy Slim’
“CELEBRITY couple Norman Cook and Zoe Ball are cashing in on their luxury yacht – after turning it into a boutique “hotel”. Zoe and Norman – aka Fatboy Slim – moor the 100ft Barracuda in Sardinia. But since last month the couple have been allowing others to sample life aboard the £250,000 vessel – for a price…”

Anyway, Rick commences his article on a rather odd note: the decapitation of a wax figure of Mister Hitler in Berlin in July by Frank L. Supposedly, ‘Mr L. resigned from the Berlin police after being assigned to quell a May Day demonstration of left-wing anarchists – “I realised I belonged on the other side,” he said. Since then he has been active in the punk and squatter scene; since February he has been a care worker. His girlfriend Yvonne said: “I’m really proud of him. I’ve been furious about Hitler for days”.’ Odd because ‘Antifa’ refers to both particular organisations and networks and is a more general term, used to refer to ‘anti-fascists’. Odd also because (militant) anti-fascists have engaged in an array of actions over the last period. Certainly, if Rick wanted to establish some kind of malevolent intent, there’s no shortage of potential evidence.

Antifa @ The Gates of Vienna

Baron Bodissey, one of the handful of Europids defending the Gates of Vienna from the Islamic hordes (currently making their way from Sicily in 652CE), reckons the analysis of ‘The Blackhoods of Antifa’ by some English schmuck is good. I disagree. I think it’s great! Triggered by the bottom-spanking the far right received in Cologne last month, it demonstrates a near-total absence of serious research, awareness of historical precedent, ideology, political or social context for ‘antifa’ manifestations.

As readers of this blog will all know by now, the recent anti-Islamization demonstration planned to take place in Cologne was disrupted by groups of blackhooded thugs. These thugs, whom I will refer to collectively as Antifa for the purposes of this brief preliminary discussion, are a force the size and strength of which it is extremely difficult to discern through casually scanning the news reports concerning the event. With the help of a great deal of valuable research done by VH, already a regular contributor at Gates of Vienna, I propose to start thinking slightly more rigorously about these far-left hoodlums in the hope that we might come up with some ideas as to what, if anything, should be done about them. This essay will not and cannot propose any definite course of action or present any definite conclusions. It is no more than a speculative piece designed to foster and stimulate discussion amongst those who may be interested.

El Whingeing Pommy Bastard then proceeds to outline the most important questions weighing on his fevered mind:

1) How many of the buggers are there?
2) Where do they get their money from?
3) How on Earth do they attract yoof?
4) What are their strengths?
5) What are their weaknesses?

His answers:

1) How many of the buggers are there?

A few thousand — albeit a few thousand accompanied by the rousing cheers of thousands of others (“They may be complimented in any given situation by a significant number of normal protestors”).

2) Where do they get their money from?

A perplexing problem for the puzzled Pom: “As one might expect of a group of people who, despite their ideological differences, all reject the fundamental organizing principles of Western societies, Antifa members do not seem to be high earners.” He concludes that the money trail may be traced to a 1971 court ruling in the Netherlands recognising “squatters’ rights”.

How we get from a Dutch court’s decision to extend certain housing rights to squatters in 1971 to the shutting down of a fascist demo in Cologne in 2008 is somewhat lacking in detail.

In reality: “In the Netherlands, there is some legal protection for squatters. In 1971, the Dutch Supreme Court decided that the “house right”, which protects homes from being entered against the will of the occupants, applies to squatters. From that moment, it became illegal for landlords to evict squatters and squatting was no longer considered to be illegal, provided that the building was neither in use nor being worked on” ~ Hans Pruijt, ‘Is the institutionalization of urban movements inevitable? A comparison of the opportunities for sustained squatting in New York City and Amsterdam’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Vol.27, No.1, 2003 (fourth, online version). Needless to say, since 1971, there have been enormous changes. In the last few years, the Dutch state has determined to destroy the squatting movement, an aim achieved slowly through processes of domestication / legalisation / normalisation / recuperation, and more rapidly through the development of dedicated anti-kraak squads. See : End the rot // Squat the lot (March 1, 2007) for further disco and for a recent, personal account, see Philippa Burne, of ‘Squatting in Amsterdam’, November 6, 2007.

3) How on Earth do they attract yoof?

El Pom doesn’t know. He does, however, “imagine that many, if not most Antifa groups have some sort of web presence”, which demonstrates considerable research skills.

In terms of answering the first three questions he sets himself, El Pom demonstrates little more than incomprehension.

4) What are their strengths?

“The key strengths of the Antifa, for which we must give them their due, are their tactical and ideological coherence at street level.”

In shifting his focus on to contemporary events, El Pom is on more stable ground. In the context of the Cologne protest, he rightly notes that “the desire of the authorities in situations such as these is to do the bare minimum necessary to contain the situation, and ensure that ensuing problems are as minimal as possible”. Being crafty buggers, ‘antifa’ understand this as well as any student of Politics 101, and act accordingly. Thus, despite being little more than thugs and criminals, ‘antifa’ are also calculating, and El Pom opines that a failure to recognise this rat-cunning is a failure of freedom-loving, Muslim-hating bigots everywhere.

To be continued…