Antifascistisk aktion
Encyclopedia
Militant
The word militant, which is both an adjective and a noun, usually is used to mean vigorously active, combative and aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in 'militant reformers'. It comes from the 15th century Latin "militare" meaning "to serve as a soldier"...
extra-parliamentary
Extra-parliamentary opposition
An extra-parliamentary opposition is a political movement opposed to a ruling government or political party that chooses not to engage in elections...
network in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and other countries, whose stated goal is to "smash fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
in all its forms". Some of its members are influenced by the theory of triple oppression
Triple oppression
Triple oppression is a theory developed by black socialists in the United States, such as Claudia Jones. The theory states that a connection exists between various types of oppression, specifically classism, racism, and sexism...
; its members oppose sexism
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
, racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
and classism
Classism
Classism is prejudice or discrimination on the basis of social class. It includes individual attitudes and behaviors, systems of policies and practices that are set up to benefit the upper classes at the expense of the lower classes...
. The point of the organization is to exchange information and to coordinate activities between local groups.
The group's activities have included handing out flyers, organizing demonstrations and engaging in vandalism and violence. They believe that a certain amount of physical aggression is inevitable in the struggle against fascism. In line with their ideology, and as a consequence of being constantly monitored by the police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
, the group has no central authority, and is organized in a platformist
Platformism
Platformism is a tendency within the wider anarchist movement originally theorised by Nestor Makhno and is mainly based on his concept of anarchism and the organisational theories in the tradition of Dielo Truda's Organizational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists ...
manner. This means it has a flat organization
Flat organization
Flat organization refers to an organizational structure with few or no levels of intervening management between staff and managers...
consisting of many independent groupings, without a board or leader. AFA works with other anti-racist
Anti-racism
Anti-racism includes beliefs, actions, movements, and policies adopted or developed to oppose racism. In general, anti-racism is intended to promote an egalitarian society in which people do not face discrimination on the basis of their race, however defined...
groups all over Europe.
Germany
The first German movement to call itself Antifaschistische Aktion was proclaimed by the German Communist Party (KPDCommunist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period until it was banned in 1956...
) in their newspaper Rote Fahne in 1932 and had its first rally in Berlin July 10, 1932. May 1932 the communist paramilitary organisation Rotfrontkämpferbund
Rotfrontkämpferbund
Rotfrontkämpferbund was a paramilitary organization of the Communist Party of Germany created on 18 July 1924 during the Weimar Republic. Its first leader was Ernst Thälmann...
had been banned and after a fight between Nazi and Communist members of parliament the Antifaschistische Aktion was created to ensure that the communists could have a militant organisation to rival the paramilitary organisations of the Nazis. After a forceful dissolution by the Nazis in 1933, the movement was revived during the 1980s.
Sweden
Antifascistisk Aktion (AFA) was founded in Sweden in 1993. Their Activity Guide advocates violence against neo-NazisNeo-Nazism
Neo-Nazism consists of post-World War II social or political movements seeking to revive Nazism or some variant thereof.The term neo-Nazism can also refer to the ideology of these movements....
. AFA members have admitted to arson by timed firebombs, and have pled guilty to burning the Tråvad spinnery in 2005. In January 2006, Swedish AFA members attacked the Norrköping immigration office and threatened officials. In June 2006, AFA members broke windows of an estate of the Christian Democrats
Christian Democrats (Sweden)
The Christian Democrats ) is a political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1964 but did not enter parliament until 1985 in an electoral cooperation with the Centre Party and on the Christian Democrats' own accord in 1991. The leader since April 3, 2004 is Göran Hägglund. He succeeded Alf...
in Kalmar. In October 2006, AFA members threatened to block a municipal council meeting in Gothenburg, because the Sweden Democrats
Sweden Democrats
The Sweden Democrats is a political party in Sweden, founded in 1988. SD describes itself as a nationalist movement although others use the term far-right. Since 2005, its party chairman is Jimmie Åkesson, while Björn Söder is the party secretary and parliamentary group leader. An Anemone...
had been elected to the council.
In July 2007, AFA members threatened and attacked an immigration judge in Gothenburg. The judge's front door was hit with an axe, and the house was vandalized with red spraypaint. Personal information about the judge and other judges was posted in the Internet. On 7 March 2008, Säpo, the Swedish security police agency, reported that AFA or people using its symbols constantly threaten municipal and provincial elected council members. In August 2008, AFA members spread announcements in Uppsala
Uppsala
- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
with the name and image of an opponent, encouraging people to attack him. For this, AFA promised to pay 500 krona and a free "knogjärn" (knuckle duster). In February 2009, AFA members attacked the National Democrats
National Democrats (Sweden)
The National Democrats is a minor political party in Sweden, formed by a faction of the Sweden Democrats in October 2001. The party describes itself as a democratic nationalist and ethnopluralist party....
politician Vávra Suk
Vávra Suk
Vávra Suk is a nationalist politician in Sweden. He is currently the party secretary of the National Democrats.- References :...
. The police called it an attempted murder.
Criticism
Some in the mainstream media have called Swedish AFA left extremistsFar left
Far left, also known as the revolutionary left, radical left and extreme left are terms which refer to the highest degree of leftist positions among left-wing politics...
. An editorial in the tabloid newspaper Expressen
Expressen
Expressen is one of two nationwide evening tabloid newspapers in Sweden, the other being Aftonbladet. Expressen was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and slogans "it stings" or "Expressen to your rescue", always on the reader's side....
argued that the label 'anti-fascist' was misleading, because of the organization's methods, such as stealing the subscriber list of the National Democrats
National Democrats (Sweden)
The National Democrats is a minor political party in Sweden, formed by a faction of the Sweden Democrats in October 2001. The party describes itself as a democratic nationalist and ethnopluralist party....
newspaper, and threatening the subscribers. Other critics say the group does not respect freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
, because some members have attacked right-wing
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
nationalists
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
. In 2006, the Swedish radio station P3 reported rapes and sexism in the AFA.