Last week I read a syndicated column reporting that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had arrested 15 suspected “Antifa” members for interfering with immigration enforcement activities.
Embedded in this story was the columnist’s lazy and manipulative use of the label “Antifa.”
America is full of activist groups. Left, right, center, environmentalists, gun owners, labor unions, business organizations, religious organizations, social organizations, veterans’ groups and countless others. They have names. Leaders. Membership lists. Websites. Phone numbers. Annual meetings. Dues. Go ahead and join any of them.
But you know what group doesn’t have membership lists, officers, conventions, chapter presidents, newsletters, or membership applications?
“Antifa.”
You literally can’t join it because it’s not really there.
In America, there is no meaningful national organization called Antifa. There is no headquarters. No president. No membership card. No annual convention at a hotel in Des Moines. Not even loosely affiliated groups — unless you want to make that part up in your head.
Rather, “Antifa” has become a convenient catch-all boogeyman label used to frighten viewers into believing a vast, organized far-left conspiracy lurks behind every protest sign and political disagreement.
Meanwhile, in the real world, any decent American who considers himself a patriot is, by definition, anti-fascist.
After all, that’s what the word means in its historical context.
So, to keep things straight, what exactly is fascism?
Fascism is a political ideology characterized by authoritarian rule, extreme nationalism, suppression of opposition, a cult of leadership, militarism, and the scapegoating of minorities or political enemies.
That makes me anti-fascist. I hope you are, too.
Being anti-fascist isn’t radical. It’s woven into the American experiment. Our Founders rebelled against a king and built a system designed to prevent any one person from accumulating too much power: checks and balances, separation of powers, free speech, free elections, a free press. Those aren’t fascist ideas. They’re the opposite.
So yes, I’m anti-fascist. You’re anti-fascist. We’re all anti-fascist.
My uncle who fought on Guadalcanal was anti-fascist. My father, the Marine in Germany, was anti-fascist. Every World War II veteran I’ve ever heard of was anti-fascist — at Normandy, across the Pacific, in the skies over Europe. They weren’t fighting for Republicans or Democrats. They were fighting fascism.
Which makes it strange that “anti-fascist” has somehow become suspect. Just who is vilifying the word, and why?
The columnist who threw the modern term “Antifa” around reached all the way back to 1930s Germany, to make a connection back when a communist group, Antifaschistische Aktion (anti-fascist action), opposed Hitler’s rise. Later, we allied with and equipped Stalin’s communist Soviet Union to defeat Hitler, our common enemy. Today’s Antifa label is simply a fake trope. Back then, nearly the entire world united to fight off Nazi Germany.
But the plague of fascism has again returned. Want to see what fascism looks like today? Try organizing opposition to Vladimir Putin. Try exposing government corruption in Russia. Try independent journalism there, or criticizing the Ukraine war. Exercise your Second Amendment rights. See how that goes. Book your 10-year stay in a cozy gulag.
American democracy, for all its flaws, still rests on free elections, civilian control of the military, a free press and government accountable to the people. That’s why most Americans remain anti-fascist — not because of some organization that doesn’t exist, but because we understand where the alternative leads.
Which brings me back to “Antifa.”
Don’t be fooled by the fake label.
It’s a political ruse designed to create fear and outrage while avoiding discussion of the real issues of anti-fascism. It’s a linguistic and political sleight of hand.
But if you’re inclined, try to find your local Antifa chapter. Find its officers. Find its annual convention. Find its membership application. Try to pay your dues. Go buy their flags and uniforms.
You’ll have better luck joining Americans for Space Invaders.
On the other hand, if you’d like to join the Audubon Society, Rotary Club, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, a local Republican club, a local Democratic club, a Quaker meeting, Doctors Without Borders, or any of a thousand other organizations made possible by our freedoms, have at it. Their names, phone numbers, and headquarters are readily available — because they’re real and they exist. They even sell swag.
That’s what a free society looks like.
Just remember to keep your guard up against the real thing.
Throughout history, powerful people have always sought more power. Greed apparently knows no bounds.
Remember, fascism never arrives waving a flag labeled “FASCISM.”
It arrives wrapped in nationalism disguised as patriotism, fear of outsiders, absolutism of belief, and promises that only one leader can fix what ails the nation, and ultimately, the ends justify the means.
The Founders understood that danger. That’s why they built a republic instead.
And that’s why being anti-fascist isn’t radical.
Being anti-fascist is about as American as baseball and the Marines.
Ask my uncle sweating bullets on Guadalcanal.
Gary Horton is chairman of the College of the Canyons Foundation board. His “Full Speed to Port!” has appeared in The Signal since 2006. The opinions expressed in his column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Signal or its editorial board.
