Antifascism does a lot of different things, and as time has gone on it's become a banner from which loads of different political projects are organised, through every one of these projects there are multiple outcomes that are sometimes planned for and sometimes an unintended consequence. I want to suggest that one normally unintended consequence of a large amount of traditional antifascist organising is being overlooked for it's usefulness, namely providing spectacle for the far right and diverting attention from other targets.

Critiques of Performative Antifascism

Antifascism as a modern movement has been criticised internally from the left and marginalised communities as performative a lot over the years, overwhelmingly these have been correct and as such haven't been listened to by many "leading" antifascist activists.

The performative squadist critique generally builds on the idea that antifascism provides an outlet for people on the left to fulfil their fantasies of normally machoistic violence and engaging in what effectively amounts to hooliganism, this is often paired with a critique on either class lines or gender lines.

On class lines it suggests squadists are middle class people looking for violent adventurism where they get to live dangerously for a while, often without too much personal stake in the struggle against fascism; whereas a working class person struggles against fascism from a point of self defence and survival as often fascism is rawest and most violent within working class communities, it's easier to go fight a Nazi if you go home to a well secured flat in a highly policed middle class area afterwards.

On gender and racial lines it suggests squadists are effectively fighting from a position of comfort as well, in this way it is a choice like donating to the RSPCA as opposed to the fight against fascism for self defence and survival that for example a black person or transgender person for example engages in. On this level it can mean that violent antifascists don't have to live with the consequences of their actions and can therefore act as parachutists coming in and doing one day's work and feeling accomplished, my favourite example of this is from 1978 when a member of the Bengali Youth Association telling antifascists from the Anti-Nazi League “Now you’ve had your curries and cleared your consciences, f**k off back to where you came from.” after a demonstration against the National Front in Brick Lane (Racial Violence: Challenging Old Orthodoxies’. CARF. January/February, 1992).

Probably most common is discussing gender, where effectively left wing men just enjoy getting in a bit of a scrap and therefore work a movement to find a way to do this with justification, you can get drunk and get in a stupid pub fight as an antifascist and still be considered both committed to what you're doing and a feminist ally!

All these things are true, and I think especially in regards to "floating antifascism" some antifascists have learnt lessons and choose only to engage where grassroots organisation either already exists and can be supported or where it can be set up, normally requiring left organisers living in an area targeted by the far right already.

Many antifascists came to this conclusion organically, as lessons are best learnt, speaking for myself and some friends, we all went through a long stretch of central London demonstrations happening extremely regularly in the post 2016 period until 2020. Antifascist demonstrations during this time were normally incredibly heavily policed and confrontations with the far right were incredibly rare, when they did happen, it was almost impossible to avoid taking arrests which would lead to a heavy blow to the antifascist movement if an organiser is lost to bail conditions, prosecution or police-assisted doxxing.

Through the Covid-19 pandemic and new policing laws, both the far right and much of the antifascist scene (aided by internal splitting and breakdowns) moved away from large demonstrations. The far right largely moved towards base building and restructuring their movement while antifascists and the left did the same to some extent but also lost momentum due to repeated blows to confidence from increasingly authoritarian laws being passed with social movements to oppose them failing or lacking will. After a while, the confidence was lost to a massive extent where antifascists rarely take to the streets unless incredibly urgent (the Honor Oak protests have been a very welcome step in the other direction! Although still require an immediate physical threat to the community to mobilise).

This lack of confidence has led to antifascists being incredibly careful with how and when resources are committed to a demonstration and organisers have been careful to avoid "performative" demonstrations as we often saw in 2016-2020, demonstrations with large numbers, lots of placard and flag waving and a kaleidoscope of left wing groups present. I want to suggest that these demonstrations served a purpose that often went missed, which is making antifascists front and centre in the minds of the far right and forcing the far right into competing spectacles.

Choosing to be the targets

The organised antifascist movement is well prepared to deal with pressure from the far right, it's the entire focus of many antifascist groups to do just this. Looking at who the far right target, antifascists are among the best prepared to take the heat, while the movement is weaker than it has been in previous years and decades, it still holds a large focus on security and is normally the best at analysing the far right's tactics and strategy.

As a result of this, I feel that it should be an intentional strategy to step into the spotlight and the crosshairs of the far right to take as much pressure as possible.

Post lockdowns, with both antifascists and fascists changing tactics, fascists have been more effective in choosing targets and applying heavy pressure, backed up by increasingly fascistic government rhetoric and policy as well as a vicious right wing media landscape, the two largest groups targeted by the far right (but definitely not the only ones!) have been asylum seekers and trans people, with a broader attack on all queer people taking place through the spearhead of transphobia.

Attacks and targeted demonstrations against hotels housing asylum seekers included some of the most concerning moments of far right violence in years like the rioting in Knowsley directed at a hotel housing asylum seekers as well the siege like protest attempting to stop food and supplies entering a hotel in Llanelli. Similarly, family friendly venues have been broken into, attacked and aggressively protested when fascists have targeted Drag Queen Story Hours.

Many attendees of fascist demonstrations and actions do so because they feel they won't receive serious backlash or consequences, in classic bullying fashion, one reason targets are selected is their vulnerability. Another reason for attendance of far right demonstrations and actions is actually fun, similar to going to the football, many on the far right get tanked and enjoy the feeling of being outcasts in society as they supposedly stand against the world.

Fascists are also very topical and times move rapidly, they tend to focus on the biggest news item of the moment, feuled by media hype more than almost anything else.

This is why it is important for antifascists to create spectacle as a means of forcing fascists to engage with them as the best prepared group for fascist pressure. I want to suggest that there's a direct link between the decline of large left wing demonstrations and events which were regularly targeted by Neo-Nazis (many antifascists will remember crews varying from about 4 to 30 Neo-Nazis such as Pie 'n Mash attending more left wing demonstrations than paid SWP organisers as well as trying to attack antifascist meetings and events) and the explosion of well-co-ordinated smaller scale attacks and protests by the far right on asylum seekers and trans people.

Antifascists have always driven fascists crazy, it's not that complicated, the hope is that if we can do this effectively and regularly, that every minute spent by Neo-Nazis attempting to dox antifascists, turning up to antifascist events and demonstrations and generally having their piss boiled is a minute they don't spend trying to dox NGO workers, refugee advocates and Drag Queens, a minute they don't spend attacking hotels filled with people who the government doesn't care for and a minute they don't spend thinking "how can we achieve our goals better". In short, never let the fascists get bored enough to pick a new target! Keep them thinking about ANTIFA 24/7 365 days a year and prepare as best as possible to deal with it!