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Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) is a militant anti-fascist organisation that started in the United Kingdom and spread to other European countries.

British AFA

The British Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) was launched in London in 1985 by Red Action and the anarcho-syndicalist Direct Action Movement. It was active in fighting organisations it claimed were fascist or racist, such as the National Front and British National Party. The group was partly a reaction to the perceived inadequacies of the original Anti-Nazi League (ANL), a front organisation for the Socialist Workers Party (Britain) which at the time had wound up its operations. AFA accused ANL of failing to directly confront fascists, of allying with moderates who were complicit in racism, and of being a vanguardist organisation run as a front by the Socialist Workers' Party.

Although in the 1980s, many Trotskyist groups, independent socialists, anarchists and members of the Labour Party were active in AFA, the main group was always Red Action, a group formed out of disillusioned Socialist Workers Party members who had criticised perceived populist or popular front politics of the ANL and for whom militant anti-fascism was a central value. Affiliated organisations in the early period included Newham Monitoring Project and Searchlight magazine.

AFA had what they called a twin-track strategy: physical confrontation of fascists on the streets and ideological struggle against fascism in working class communities. Where anti-racist groups often orient to black communities, as the victims of racism, AFA oriented to the white working class, as fascism's main recruiting ground. AFA's tactics were criticised for their squadism and use of violence. Thousands of people took part in AFA mobilisations like the Remembrance Day demonstrations in 1986 and 1987 and a mobilisation against Blood and Honour in May 1987. In 1988, AFA formed Cable Street Beat, its musical arm, on similar principles to the Anti-Nazi League’s Rock Against Racism.

In 1986, AFA was disrupted by allegations made by Searchlight magazine about some of the anarchist groups involved, notably Class War, who were expelled from the group despite Red Action’s support for them. In 1989, there was a split in AFA between hardcore militant anti-fascists and groups closer to liberal anti-fascism. The militant groups relaunched AFA that year, with affiliates including Direct Action Movement and the Trotskyist Workers Power, as well as several trade unions. During this period, AFA high points included a Unity Carnival in East London with 10,000 participants and a demonstration in Bethnal Green with 4000 participants (under the slogan “Beating the Fascists: An old East End tradition”), both in 1991, and the “Battle of Waterloo” at Waterloo train station. Low points included the jailing of three AFA members for attacking a neo-fascist in 1990.

During the early 1990s, there was growing awareness of fascist, racist and far right activity in Britain, particularly with the rise of the British National Party and attacks on black teenagers Stephen Lawrence and Rolan Adams. In response, several groups were set up to challenge this, essentially competing with AFA: the black-led and Labour Party-linked Anti-Racist Alliance, a revived Anti-Nazi League (set up by the Socialist Workers Party (UK), Youth Against Racism in Europe (set up by the Militant Tendency) and Workers Against Racism (set up by the Revolutionary Communist Party).

In 1993, Derek Beackon, a candidate from the main UK far right party, the British National Party (BNP), won a council seat on the Isle of Dogs in Tower Hamlets, East London, under the slogan of rights for whites. This signalled a turn in the BNP's policy from confrontation on the streets to what Searchlight magazine has called 'Euronationalism', a bid for electoral respectability through the articulation of the concerns of white working class communities. AFA responded with its 'Filling the Vacuum' strategy, which argued that a new strategy was needed: positively taking a political alternative to these communities, rather than concentrating on challenging the fascist presence on the streets. Most AFA and Red Action activists have consequently devoted their energies to the Independent Working Class Association.

AFA in other countries

• Denmark's AFA group was founded in 1992 following the murder of a Danish anti-fascist. Activities have included confrontations with racist and fascist groups, and opposition to Danish immigration laws.

• Ireland's AFA group appears to be modelled on the British group, but its website implies that it has a greater emphasis on Irish Republicanism.

• Sweden has a group called Antifascistisk aktion, which means Anti-Fascist Action, and the group uses the same acronym, AFA. Their activities have included protests, information work, sabotage and acts of violence against political opponents.

• The Netherlands has an AFA group called Anti-Fascistische Aktie. It mainly participates in demonstrations against Dutch far right organisations like the NVU and the Nationale Alliantie. It has its own newspaper called Alert!.

• Greece has a group called Antifa, which sometimes uses the acronym AFA. The group organises marches and demonstrations against racism, and in support of immigrants. It has often engaged in confrontations with supporters of neo-Nazi organisations, mainly Hrisi Avgi. A recent example of antifa's use of violence against its political opponents is the attack against three young people in Athens, in July 2006. It is claimed that they were attacked because they were wearing a t-shirt with the Greek flag.

• There is a Serbian AFA group in Novi Sad (Antifašistička akcija Novi Sad). They organize public discussions, protests and concerts.

References

• Bullstreet, K. Bash the Fash: Anti-Fascist Recollections 1984-1993. ISBN 1-873605-87-0.
• No Retreat by Dave Hann and Steve Tilsey

See also

• Anti-fascism
• Antifascistisk aktion
• Anti-racism
• Anti-Racist Action
• Direct Action Movement
• Independent Working Class Association
• Militant anti-fascism
• Neo-Fascism
• Neo-Nazism
• Red Action
• Red-Skinheads
• Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice
• Squadism
• United Front

External links

• Article about AFA
• AFA Ireland
• Swedish AFA
• Dutch AFA
• AFA Novi Sad

• Anti-fascism
• Anti-neo-Nazi activism