Updated 11/6/24 with this statement: antifascists of every ilk lost out in yesterday’s election. People like me did not fully anticipate the extent to which improvement plans rested on the lesser of evils, Harris. Now we feel in our gut the meaning of existential. Hatred and fear and ignorance won out over the scant chance of liberty. Now the need for change is more urgent, and the shape it will take is even less known. The details to achieve viable antifascism will necessarily adjust. The self-defeating war as indicated below remains as the driving catalyst. Democrat party message changes are of no consequence. Solidarity, which means engaging with people, is key to America. My MAGA brothers said that voting for Trump was easier than ever.

Trump and Harris are not antifascists. In fact, most of their behavior indicates they are ‘all in’ on fascism. There is nothing extreme in this observation. Whoever wins tomorrow’s election, they will leave the people with a pointed need to combat fascism. Trump is actively fascist and makes antifascists part of his gaslighting. Meanwhile, Harris turns a blind eye and says she will protect your right to disagree with her.

For these candidates, resistance to fascism is either a non-issue (that is, they want or need it, or just go with the flow), or the concern is above their pay grade (that is, the billionaires control). Fascism is the political product that bipartisanship is pushing on the American people. It is no fault of the people and fascism is not what most of us want. Neither candidate shows any intent to stop the slide away from democracy.

Saving Democracy Means Standing Up to Fascists

Antifascism – being against fascism or tyranny or whatever you want to call it – should not be another pointless, manipulated concept, but so far it is. Certainly, the politicians are not taking care of the issue, despite all the saving-democracy talk. But the concept is right-on, and America sorely needs it as part of a much-needed course correction. America needs bona fide, peaceful, strong antifascism. Are we not a democracy under dire threat?

The “kitchen table” issues are secondary to fascism. It is only stylistic differences between Trump and Harris that determines how fast and how strong the antifascists need to be. The prime example, today’s fascism lifeblood, is Israel’s terminator war in the Middle East, which either president will wage. You know, the dead end into which Israel is leading us. Hopefully, war only takes a few Americans before the people finally get the message and rise up. Sadly, war might again have to be the peoples’ great unifier. (By the way, who is minding the war store? It cannot possibly be Biden or Harris these days.)

Of course, the system has its ways of dealing with anything they do not control or respect, like antifascists, or resistors in general. Denial and suppression are looming large, so war-like violence has increased propensity to end up in the streets. Maybe the fascist-leaning elites are simply done worrying about democracy and people they do not really need.

What are antifascists, or what is antifa?

Antifa is short for antifascists. Over a short American history, it has shaped up as a vague and ill-defined movement, which is small (think hundreds rather than thousands). There are no clear rules or paths to involvement. So, they are dissimilar in operations and decentralized in general. They are more a movement than an organization.

If you google antifascists, antifa comes up, saying this: “a left-wing anti-fascist and anti-racist political movement in the United States. It consists of a highly decentralized array of autonomous groups that use nonviolent direct action, incivility, or violence to achieve their aims.” This seems a workable definition, assuming you can get past the ambiguity of both “nonviolent actions” and “violence” as their tools. It is actually correct, considering the dissimilar tactics of their operating cells.

The error or weakness in the definition is calling antifascists “left wing”. Or, at least the qualifier needs to be in better context. This is because, in lieu of the needs of mass multitudes of Americans, there essentially is no left wing in America. Barely a handful of committed politicians represents the leftists. Republicans are right and extreme right, while Democrats are right with a smattering of centrists. You are a leftist to be squashed if you don’t support endless war, including the politicos. Admittedly, there is critical need for left-leaning progressives to regroup. There is no shortage of people ready to ridicule leftist efforts; it provides good food for thought.

In the absence of state resistance to fascism, antifascists have been alone in the fight

In 2017, historian Mark Bray wrote “Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook.” It traces the history of antifascism as ramped up on the heels of WWII in Europe (Spain, Italy, Germany), which has more recently come to the USA. The book takes debatable stances, and sometimes justifies violence. The premise: such resistance is necessary if democracy is not to be turned against itself. It can be (and has been) more than any Proud Boys lobby insults back-and-forth with the local antifa-types. Aram Roston of Reuters wrote a nice day-in-the-life of a couple antifascists; individual antifas all seem to be aberrations, there is no clear profile other than heart-felt willingness to thwart fascism. It is that whatever-it-takes mindset.

Important: as long as there are fascists, there will be antifascists who are ready to stand and act against fascism. This is not inherently bad; in fact, it is good and natural. It is not unreasonable or logically unexpected. There is no more of a diabolical division of a democratic people than that of pitting the fascists against the antifascists, the right against the left. Or more directly today, letting the extreme right exterminate the floundering left, which is where we are, especially under relentless Israeli influence.

Success factors for antifascists

The antifascism cause is vital and needs to elevate, to improve on its previous efforts, to gain power and use it more productively to eradicate fascism. Two top-of-mind factors might seem simplistic at first blush, but they are not. (Click the arrows for more on each.)

America needs antifascists in a healthy, save democracy sense.

Antifascists can establish a role and responsibility in a revamped modernized American Democracy, which might first require working through the next American Revolution. Antifascists (or whatever name the function holds) must be the catalyst to save democracy.

Meanwhile, vote for your favorite lesser of evils. And buckle up. And pray to the one true God of all.