0:00:02.152,0:00:04.705 Greeting troublemakers... welcome to Trouble. 0:00:04.705,0:00:06.314 My name is not important. 0:00:06.314,0:00:07.369 Right up there with slavery, 0:00:07.369,0:00:09.805 the Crusades, the colonization of the Americas, 0:00:09.805,0:00:11.465 and Nickleback's most recent album, 0:00:11.465,0:00:12.531 No Fixed Address, 0:00:12.531,0:00:14.714 World War Two ranks pretty high on any person's 0:00:14.714,0:00:16.748 list of the worst things that human beings 0:00:16.748,0:00:17.572 have ever done. 0:00:17.572,0:00:18.822 It was a horrific slaughter 0:00:18.822,0:00:21.132 marked by the wholesale flattening of entire cities, 0:00:21.132,0:00:22.887 an unprecedented global death toll, 0:00:22.887,0:00:24.550 and the worst atrocities ever committed 0:00:24.550,0:00:25.808 on European soil. 0:00:25.808,0:00:27.517 And so it's not surprising that by the time 0:00:27.517,0:00:28.738 the smoke had cleared 0:00:28.738,0:00:30.891 the political ideology that kicked things off, 0:00:30.891,0:00:33.169 facism, had become a nearly universal 0:00:33.169,0:00:35.448 synonym for pure, absolute evil. 0:00:35.448,0:00:38.053 But while fascism has struggled with a serious branding issue 0:00:38.053,0:00:40.855 ever since, the ideas and material factors that led 0:00:40.855,0:00:43.451 to its initial rise never truly disappeared. 0:00:43.451,0:00:45.472 Today, with the neoliberal capitalist order 0:00:45.472,0:00:48.233 in a period of intense crisis, fascism is once again 0:00:48.233,0:00:50.369 being spoken about as a serious threat. 0:00:50.369,0:00:52.441 The revival of far-right nationalism, 0:00:52.441,0:00:56.597 white supremacy, misogyny and other toxic reactionary ideologies 0:00:56.597,0:01:01.317 has, in turn, provoked renewed enthusiasm for anti-fascist, or antifa organizing. 0:01:01.317,0:01:03.162 If we hope to build on this momentum, 0:01:03.162,0:01:06.966 it is vitally important that we move past using fascist as a pejorative, 0:01:06.966,0:01:08.878 or a slur for our political opponents, 0:01:08.878,0:01:12.702 and instead seek a better understanding of just what it is that we're up against. 0:01:12.702,0:01:15.015 Over the next thirty minutes, we'll bring you the voices of 0:01:15.015,0:01:18.200 a diverse crew of anti-fascist and anti-racist organizers, 0:01:18.200,0:01:20.701 as they share their experiences of bashing the fash, 0:01:20.701,0:01:22.251 and making a whole lotta trouble. 0:01:47.360,0:01:49.960 Hail Trump! Hail our people! 0:01:49.960,0:01:51.779 Hail victory! 0:01:51.779,0:01:55.511 It's a highly debated question about how you define fascism, 0:01:55.511,0:01:57.465 and there's a lot kind of at stake here, 0:01:57.465,0:01:59.827 because when we label a movement as a fascist movement, 0:01:59.827,0:02:02.070 it means that we, from the very beginning, 0:02:02.070,0:02:03.646 aren't going to engage with it intellectually, 0:02:03.646,0:02:05.592 we're not gonna engage with its arguments, 0:02:05.592,0:02:07.909 and furthermore, it's acceptable to use violence 0:02:07.909,0:02:09.413 to suppress the movement. 0:02:10.883,0:02:12.450 For decades the left has really defined 0:02:12.450,0:02:14.775 fascism as how the state responds 0:02:14.775,0:02:16.448 to capitalism in crisis. 0:02:16.448,0:02:19.889 The capitalist system, when there's a crisis, 0:02:19.889,0:02:22.970 uses right-wing or fascism to fight 0:02:22.970,0:02:25.521 social and left-wing movements. 0:02:25.521,0:02:29.917 Fascism is an ideology that's inherently reactionary 0:02:29.917,0:02:31.651 and authoritarian. 0:02:31.651,0:02:34.029 As anarchists and communists, 0:02:34.029,0:02:37.122 we consider fascism as counter-revolution, 0:02:37.122,0:02:41.310 the exact opposite of what we are fighting for. 0:02:41.310,0:02:43.664 It's a political movement, which seeks to 0:02:43.664,0:02:46.629 destroy its political opponents through force, 0:02:46.629,0:02:49.522 and therefore we must resist it by any means necessary. 0:02:49.522,0:02:52.504 Fascism, I would define as a 0:02:52.504,0:02:56.120 authoritarian, reactionary, nationalist movement, 0:02:56.120,0:03:00.641 rooted in an idea that there is a conspiracy 0:03:00.641,0:03:03.421 against the white man, 0:03:03.421,0:03:06.437 there's a conspiracy against western civilization. 0:03:06.437,0:03:08.507 There is a need for a street movement, 0:03:08.507,0:03:10.578 aimed at their political enemies, 0:03:10.578,0:03:12.386 so the left and minorities, 0:03:12.386,0:03:14.803 and social groups seeking liberation. 0:03:14.803,0:03:16.054 People basically fighting back 0:03:16.054,0:03:17.854 whether it's the working class as a whole, 0:03:17.854,0:03:20.116 groups that are oppressed under white supremacy, 0:03:20.116,0:03:21.680 women trying to fight back 0:03:21.680,0:03:22.898 against patriarchy, 0:03:22.898,0:03:25.159 these are seen as the extreme social ills 0:03:25.159,0:03:26.462 that their movement has to face 0:03:26.462,0:03:27.643 and defeat in order for them to 0:03:27.643,0:03:29.183 get to where they want to go. 0:03:29.183,0:03:30.694 Contemporarily, it seems like 0:03:30.694,0:03:32.931 pretty much everything is considered fascism 0:03:32.931,0:03:34.472 depending on who it is you ask. 0:03:34.472,0:03:35.407 The left and the right 0:03:35.407,0:03:37.683 both characterize each other as fascist... 0:03:38.543,0:03:41.326 which is.... interesting. 0:03:41.326,0:03:42.757 There's many kinds of fascism, 0:03:42.757,0:03:44.136 just like there are different kinds of 0:03:44.136,0:03:46.784 socialism, anarchism or communism. 0:03:46.784,0:03:48.984 But they all share similar qualities of 0:03:48.984,0:03:50.773 being extremely authoritarian, 0:03:50.773,0:03:53.934 nationalistic, and ultimately based on 0:03:53.934,0:03:58.256 preserving hierarchies of class, race and gender. 0:03:58.256,0:04:00.341 A fourteen-year-old girl in Rockville Maryland, 0:04:00.341,0:04:02.698 was raped in a highschool bathroom by 0:04:02.698,0:04:05.015 two men, allegedly in this country illegally. 0:04:05.015,0:04:06.435 The way in which migrants are 0:04:06.435,0:04:09.396 kind of being scapegoated by the mainstream media, 0:04:09.396,0:04:11.674 by the government, by the ruling class essentially, 0:04:11.674,0:04:13.781 and fascists, they see an opportunity in this 0:04:13.781,0:04:17.012 and also push those agendas and push forward 0:04:17.012,0:04:20.105 that kind of racist, anti-migrant rhetoric in order to 0:04:20.105,0:04:21.952 fuel their political agenda 0:04:21.952,0:04:23.219 which is to destroy any 0:04:23.219,0:04:24.305 working-class resistance 0:04:24.305,0:04:25.888 and any left-wing organizing. 0:04:25.888,0:04:27.385 I think there's a real mistake to see 0:04:27.385,0:04:29.838 fascism as a list of principles 0:04:29.838,0:04:31.743 that could be applied to 0:04:31.743,0:04:34.746 any kind of political movement in any kind of country 0:04:34.746,0:04:35.966 in any time period. 0:04:35.966,0:04:39.343 It's an actual real living political movement. 0:04:39.343,0:04:40.762 I think part of the problem is 0:04:40.762,0:04:42.953 with asking "is something fascist?" or 0:04:42.953,0:04:44.537 "are we in fascism?" is 0:04:44.537,0:04:47.541 is this the worst thing that could possibly exist? 0:04:47.541,0:04:49.261 And I think that as a conceit 0:04:49.261,0:04:51.360 is really ham-fisted, 0:04:51.360,0:04:53.483 especially for North Americans. 0:04:53.483,0:04:55.095 Arguably, the United States 0:04:55.095,0:04:56.646 wouldn't have a worse history 0:04:56.646,0:04:58.684 and Canada wouldn't have had a worse history 0:04:58.684,0:05:00.958 if overt fascists were at the helm. 0:05:00.958,0:05:02.576 I just, like... I fail to see it, 0:05:02.576,0:05:04.942 and I think it negates the horror 0:05:04.942,0:05:06.973 of North America 0:05:06.973,0:05:09.245 by claiming that it could have somehow been worse. 0:05:09.245,0:05:11.741 In Canada and in the United States, 0:05:11.741,0:05:15.206 the basis of these countries are racist. 0:05:15.206,0:05:18.276 It was forged through the mass genocide 0:05:18.276,0:05:20.029 of its Indigenous people, 0:05:20.029,0:05:22.342 and through slavery, which has built 0:05:22.342,0:05:24.555 what we know today as America. 0:05:24.555,0:05:26.563 I think the actual functions of 0:05:26.563,0:05:28.604 white supremacy, patriarchy, 0:05:28.604,0:05:31.020 authoritarianism, settler-colonialism, 0:05:31.020,0:05:32.711 within North America should be 0:05:32.711,0:05:35.724 understood more deeply as it actually 0:05:35.724,0:05:37.952 exists.... and not in comparison with 0:05:37.952,0:05:39.342 other places. 0:05:40.352,0:05:42.863 Hardline fascist movements are fairly similar in 0:05:42.863,0:05:44.178 the United States and in Europe. 0:05:44.178,0:05:46.596 The main difference is the concept of identity 0:05:46.596,0:05:48.614 that the fascist movements are standing up for. 0:05:48.614,0:05:51.137 In the United States, our identities are mostly 0:05:51.137,0:05:52.856 defined by the category of race. 0:05:52.856,0:05:55.245 We're a settler nation, people were brought here 0:05:55.245,0:05:58.327 against their will, of various racial groups. 0:05:58.327,0:06:00.493 And white supremacy is a way to break that 0:06:00.493,0:06:02.789 possible class solidarity, against the people 0:06:02.789,0:06:04.400 that own and control the society. 0:06:04.400,0:06:05.927 In Europe this notion of race 0:06:05.927,0:06:07.196 doesn't exist in the same way. 0:06:07.196,0:06:10.534 And so the fascist and the other far-right entho-nationalist movements 0:06:10.534,0:06:14.441 tend to define themselves tightly around their country of origin. 0:06:14.441,0:06:18.449 If you look at, arguably, how the Irish were internalized into 0:06:18.449,0:06:20.209 the American nation 0:06:20.209,0:06:23.528 after the end of slavery, you can see how 0:06:23.528,0:06:25.809 the roots of whiteness are very different 0:06:25.809,0:06:27.844 than say, somewhere in like Italy, 0:06:27.844,0:06:30.230 where you have now, the Northern League, 0:06:30.230,0:06:32.303 who argues that, y'know, 0:06:32.303,0:06:34.139 only the north are proper Italians, 0:06:34.139,0:06:35.480 and are white. 0:06:35.480,0:06:37.309 And the south of Italy 0:06:37.309,0:06:38.437 are not white. 0:06:38.437,0:06:40.473 And that distinction wouldn't be made 0:06:40.473,0:06:41.417 in America. 0:06:41.417,0:06:44.119 So in Europe, the fascist parties have always looked 0:06:44.119,0:06:47.848 for a racialized understanding of class politics. 0:06:47.848,0:06:52.281 They reject communist or anarchist critiques of class society 0:06:52.281,0:06:55.121 and instead they replace that with a racialized ruling class 0:06:55.121,0:06:58.823 which is always "the jews" or maybe it's thinly-veiled anti-semitism, 0:06:58.823,0:07:00.128 like the globalists. 0:07:00.128,0:07:02.579 Fascist groups in America, make that enemy 0:07:02.579,0:07:05.810 into the immigrant, into the Black Lives Matter activist, 0:07:05.810,0:07:07.146 into the refugee. 0:07:07.146,0:07:09.316 Not the people that actually own and control society, 0:07:09.316,0:07:11.116 or the people that are basically turning the gears, 0:07:11.116,0:07:14.331 like landlords, politicians, police officers... 0:07:14.331,0:07:16.643 y'know, people in control of the prison industry. 0:07:16.643,0:07:18.347 And that's always really what fascism in the US 0:07:18.347,0:07:19.386 has always tried to do. 0:07:19.386,0:07:20.993 Y'know it's always tried to make enemies 0:07:20.993,0:07:24.099 out of people below white workers. 0:07:24.099,0:07:26.959 And as we can see with Trump.... I mean, that sells. 0:07:28.991,0:07:30.790 American novelist Sinclair Lewis 0:07:30.790,0:07:32.256 is often quoted as predicting 0:07:32.256,0:07:33.959 "when fascism comes to America, 0:07:33.959,0:07:35.147 it'll be wrapped in the flag 0:07:35.147,0:07:36.409 and carrying a cross." 0:07:36.409,0:07:38.275 Pretty good as far as guesses go... 0:07:38.275,0:07:40.956 but as it turns out, it was Pepe the frog memes. 0:07:40.956,0:07:42.997 Yup, we live in strange times. 0:07:42.997,0:07:45.304 But sure enough, it was a Pepe pin 0:07:45.304,0:07:47.579 on the lapel of posh alt-right theorist 0:07:47.579,0:07:49.659 and unrequited Depeche Mode groupie, 0:07:49.659,0:07:51.775 Richard Spencer, when he was righteously 0:07:51.775,0:07:53.786 clocked on the streets of Washington DC, 0:07:53.786,0:07:55.474 during Donald Trump's inauguration. 0:07:55.474,0:07:57.219 This haymaker heard 'round the world 0:07:57.219,0:07:59.576 titillated radicals and liberals alike, spawning 0:07:59.576,0:08:01.688 dozens of hilarious Youtube remixes. 0:08:01.688,0:08:04.328 I know I've probably watched the clip about a hundred times. 0:08:04.328,0:08:07.053 While Spencer himself can trace his political pedigree back to 0:08:07.053,0:08:09.368 the Italian fascist theorists of yesteryear, 0:08:09.368,0:08:13.087 the broader movement he belongs to is somewhat more politically diverse, 0:08:13.087,0:08:14.510 and thoroughly contemporary. 0:08:14.510,0:08:16.954 Today's reactionary movements are the toxic byproducts 0:08:16.954,0:08:18.907 of our particular time and place, 0:08:18.907,0:08:22.400 an age characterized by widespread chaos and insecurity on one hand, 0:08:22.400,0:08:25.133 and the mass proliferation of social media, on the other. 0:08:25.133,0:08:26.557 This is the world we live in. 0:08:26.557,0:08:28.018 And it's an ideal breeding ground 0:08:28.018,0:08:29.756 for a new brand of fascism. 0:08:29.756,0:08:32.131 So a lot of far-right groups are different 0:08:32.131,0:08:34.096 than maybe traditional conservative groups. 0:08:34.096,0:08:36.599 Far-right and especially fascist movements 0:08:36.599,0:08:39.184 tend to be much more revolutionary and messianic. 0:08:39.184,0:08:40.885 They don't just want to keep society stable, 0:08:40.885,0:08:43.248 they wanna restructure it in their vision. 0:08:43.248,0:08:46.585 So it started with, uh, this guy, Richard Spencer. Boop. 0:08:46.585,0:08:48.656 He came up with the name alt-right, alternative right, 0:08:48.656,0:08:49.786 and I like this guy. 0:08:49.786,0:08:52.369 The alternative right is a rebranding of 0:08:52.369,0:08:54.696 paleoconservatism, white nationalism, 0:08:54.696,0:08:55.625 all these different things. 0:08:55.625,0:08:58.840 They started as a fascist movement, I think pretty clearly. 0:08:58.840,0:09:02.051 They emerged at a time when the fascist movement was 0:09:02.051,0:09:05.222 resetting itself in its aesthetic and cultural references. 0:09:05.222,0:09:07.376 One of the things they've been able to do 0:09:07.376,0:09:09.530 is they're saying "look, we look good, 0:09:09.530,0:09:13.264 we have nice haircuts, we're not these kinda classical skinhead types 0:09:13.264,0:09:15.966 or people wearing klan robes, y'know, we're something different" 0:09:15.966,0:09:18.119 and the media has really gone gaga over that. 0:09:18.119,0:09:22.608 You remind me of like a young, gay, alive Christopher Hitchens. 0:09:22.608,0:09:24.602 Even among the fascist part of the alt-right 0:09:24.602,0:09:27.121 there's a more neo-nazi wing around Andrew Anglin 0:09:27.121,0:09:28.139 and the Daily Stormer. 0:09:28.139,0:09:31.063 The Muslim hordes, we've fought these people for how long? 0:09:31.063,0:09:32.865 And now we invite them in? 0:09:32.865,0:09:36.906 And give them free everything so they can rape women on the streets? 0:09:36.906,0:09:40.455 And then there's the more fascist, but not explicitly nazi wing 0:09:40.455,0:09:43.414 around the National Policy Institute and Richard Spencer. 0:09:43.414,0:09:49.538 To be white is to be a striver, a crusader, an explorer and a conqueror. 0:09:49.538,0:09:51.999 We don't exploit other groups. 0:09:51.999,0:09:55.622 They need us and not the other way around. 0:09:55.622,0:09:59.000 The alt-right scene, I suppose, is a bit of a gateway into 0:09:59.000,0:10:02.530 kind of more violent and extreme fascism. 0:10:02.530,0:10:05.085 Recently the movement has expanded 0:10:05.085,0:10:06.863 and attracted a lot of people. 0:10:06.863,0:10:08.420 So we get people like Gavin Mcinnes, 0:10:08.420,0:10:10.447 who is one of the founders of VICE magazine. 0:10:10.447,0:10:11.959 Why is blackface offensive? 0:10:11.959,0:10:14.686 And people who promote it, such as Milo Yiannopoulos. 0:10:14.686,0:10:17.958 This is a new populist conservative and libertarian movement, 0:10:17.958,0:10:20.778 that is going nowhere, so long as the left continues 0:10:20.778,0:10:23.796 to prioritize Muslim feelings over gay lives. 0:10:23.796,0:10:27.285 So long as the left continues to prioritize the feelings of 0:10:27.285,0:10:30.778 sociopathic feminist bitches over everybody else. 0:10:30.778,0:10:33.345 Milo! Milo! Milo! 0:10:33.345,0:10:36.149 The group that they want to inoculate and organize 0:10:36.149,0:10:40.160 is largely college-educated, upper-middle-class, straight men. 0:10:40.160,0:10:42.889 People who are very social media savvy, 0:10:42.889,0:10:44.471 people who are very tech-savvy. 0:10:44.471,0:10:46.219 They love their memes. 0:10:46.219,0:10:49.470 Groups like American Vanguard and Identity Evropa 0:10:49.470,0:10:52.387 are blanketing campuses across the country with posters. 0:10:52.387,0:10:55.802 And so it's attracted a lot of people in college Republican groups 0:10:55.802,0:10:58.491 who are not explicit white nationalists, but they like a lot 0:10:58.491,0:11:01.449 of the tenor and the style of the alt-right. 0:11:01.449,0:11:03.446 If you look at Richard Spencer, just this week 0:11:03.446,0:11:06.864 it's come out that he makes literally millions of dollars every year 0:11:06.864,0:11:10.804 because his parents own a cotton farm in Louisiana 0:11:10.804,0:11:13.821 in this hugely impoverished area of the country. 0:11:13.821,0:11:15.406 And that's a huge contradiction because 0:11:15.406,0:11:17.517 most white people are not wealthy in this country. 0:11:17.517,0:11:19.590 Most white people have to get up and go to work. 0:11:19.590,0:11:21.746 They don't get money from their parents for owning 0:11:21.746,0:11:23.697 a cotton plantation where black people used to work 0:11:23.697,0:11:25.202 as slaves and that's why they're rich. 0:11:25.202,0:11:28.764 It's a very fractured group, there's not necessarily a center to it. 0:11:28.764,0:11:31.987 They're not united and they all kinda bicker with each other. 0:11:31.987,0:11:34.269 And that's exactly where we want them to stay. 0:11:34.269,0:11:38.285 This side cares about western chauvinism and ideas. 0:11:38.285,0:11:40.610 This side says whites have to be a part of this. 0:11:40.610,0:11:44.536 Someone like Roosh V, who self-identifies as a pick-up artist, 0:11:44.536,0:11:48.860 he's a real piece of shit who wrote an article about raping an Icelandic woman. 0:11:48.860,0:11:51.628 You've also got members of the alt-right scene who use 0:11:51.628,0:11:54.038 the myth of the "rapeugee". 0:11:54.038,0:11:57.082 So the refugee, who is a danger to our women. 0:11:57.082,0:12:01.234 So they're still incredibly gender essentialist notions of womanhood, 0:12:01.234,0:12:05.561 but they'd be at odds with, for example, someone who boasts about raping women. 0:12:05.561,0:12:09.375 Matthew Heimbach has definitely ridden the wave of the alt-right. 0:12:09.375,0:12:12.261 But what makes Heimbach different is that he is interested, 0:12:12.261,0:12:15.353 even though he himself comes from a very wealthy community 0:12:15.353,0:12:17.748 outside of Washington DC, it's called Poolesville, 0:12:17.748,0:12:23.029 he's very interested in talking to everyday, poor and disaffected white people 0:12:23.029,0:12:25.872 and trying to build a neo-nazi base within that. 0:12:25.872,0:12:27.936 The Traditionalist Worker Party, they're very open 0:12:27.936,0:12:29.045 that they are neo-nazi. 0:12:29.045,0:12:33.105 The patriot movement is the successor to the 1990s militia movement 0:12:33.105,0:12:37.053 who are famous for forming paramilitary groups around the United States 0:12:37.053,0:12:42.063 and two of its adherents bombing the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995. 0:12:42.063,0:12:45.008 The movement historically tends to be in a reverse cycle 0:12:45.008,0:12:46.849 with Democratic presidents. 0:12:46.849,0:12:50.745 They have a whole narrative about how the president is really a communist 0:12:50.745,0:12:53.466 who's a secret traitor to the country, and he's about to let 0:12:53.466,0:12:55.213 foreign armies invade. 0:12:55.213,0:12:57.449 The major organization is the Oathkeepers. 0:12:57.449,0:13:01.920 They recruit current and former military, police and first responders. 0:13:01.920,0:13:04.810 There's another group of sheriffs and other law enforcement called 0:13:04.810,0:13:08.629 the CSPOA, the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association. 0:13:08.629,0:13:12.363 There's a decentralized version of militias called the 3 Percenters, 0:13:12.363,0:13:15.211 and then there's sovereign citizens, who believe in some of these 0:13:15.211,0:13:16.989 sort of alternative legal theories... 0:13:16.989,0:13:20.289 based on a kind of crackpot reading of the law and of history. 0:13:20.289,0:13:24.597 A free inhabitant is-is-is... they are allowed to... 0:13:24.597,0:13:29.137 they are free people. They have all of the rights of a US citizen 0:13:29.137,0:13:31.136 without following any of their laws. 0:13:31.136,0:13:33.546 - Well that would just be pure anarchy if that was the case. [br]- Nope. 0:13:33.546,0:13:38.446 Breitbart is interesting because it's become a major media player fairly recently 0:13:38.446,0:13:42.265 and it has positioned itself firmly to the right of FOX News. 0:13:42.265,0:13:44.952 And so this has helped drive things further to the right, 0:13:44.952,0:13:48.565 and then clearly with their former head being in the Trump cabinet now, 0:13:48.565,0:13:53.563 they're almost acting as a semi-official media wing of the current Trump administration. 0:13:53.563,0:13:57.361 People hear stuff from the insurgent far-right about, for instance like 0:13:57.361,0:14:01.818 Syrian refugees in Sweden raping white women, which is not true. 0:14:01.818,0:14:04.342 And then Trump basically parrots these things, or speaks to them, 0:14:04.342,0:14:06.736 or dog-whistles to them or just repeats them as fact. 0:14:06.736,0:14:11.280 It's not about truth. It's about projecting force into the conversation. 0:14:11.280,0:14:14.581 It's about saying "No... fuck you, it's about refugees." 0:14:14.581,0:14:19.049 Or "Fuck you, it's about men being attacked in society by feminism." 0:14:19.049,0:14:22.297 So it creates this kind of potential insurgent base, 0:14:22.297,0:14:23.885 and I think that's the scariest part. 0:14:25.858,0:14:29.040 Historically, anarchists and anti-authoritarians have always been 0:14:29.040,0:14:31.189 at the forefront of anti-fascist resistance, 0:14:31.189,0:14:34.888 and over the decades we have experienced our share of both victories and defeats. 0:14:34.888,0:14:38.819 On the eve of the Second World War, anarchists in Spain and Catalonia 0:14:38.819,0:14:42.682 responded to a fascist coup d'etat against the sitting republican government 0:14:42.682,0:14:45.284 by launching a far-ranging social revolution. 0:14:45.284,0:14:47.637 After nearly three years of bloody civil war, 0:14:47.637,0:14:50.618 General Francisco Franco's fascist army won out 0:14:50.618,0:14:54.845 and tens of thousands of anarchists were summarily executed or forced into exile. 0:14:54.845,0:14:58.541 Despite its tragic outcome, the Spanish Revolution remains, to this day, 0:14:58.541,0:15:02.761 an unparalleled example of mass working-class resistance to fascism. 0:15:02.761,0:15:04.915 Anarchists also fought against fascist thugs 0:15:04.915,0:15:08.938 within the broader struggles waged by autonomists, feminists and militant youth movements 0:15:08.938,0:15:11.419 in Italy throughout the 1960s and 70s, 0:15:11.419,0:15:13.451 and in Germany during the 70s and 80s, 0:15:13.451,0:15:17.192 where the black bloc first emerged as a militant tactical formation. 0:15:17.192,0:15:20.110 These struggles also had an important influence on Greece, 0:15:20.110,0:15:24.505 where for years now, when anarchists haven't have been lighting cops on fire with Molotov cocktails, 0:15:24.505,0:15:27.164 they've been beating the crap out of members and supporters of 0:15:27.164,0:15:29.831 the country's main fascist party, Golden Dawn. 0:15:29.831,0:15:32.704 On March 30th, a crew of about 30 antifascists 0:15:32.704,0:15:34.947 attacked Golden Dawn's main headquarters, 0:15:34.947,0:15:38.834 located in one of the most heavily-guarded areas of downtown Athens. 0:15:38.834,0:15:41.444 Anarchists have also set up dozens of squatted social centres 0:15:41.444,0:15:43.193 and buildings to house refugees, 0:15:43.193,0:15:46.351 and have helped to defend migrants from fascist paramilitary attacks. 0:15:46.351,0:15:50.921 In December of 2016, a group of western anarchists and anti-authoritarians 0:15:50.921,0:15:53.861 fighting in Northern Syria joined forces under the banner of 0:15:53.861,0:15:58.276 the Antifascist Internationalist Tabur, or AIT, claiming inspiration from 0:15:58.276,0:16:01.360 the international volunteers who fought in the Spanish civil war. 0:16:01.360,0:16:03.594 Of course, you don't have to travel across the world 0:16:03.594,0:16:05.587 to fight against reactionary politics. 0:16:05.587,0:16:09.327 In order to be effective, it's important that anti-fascists and anti-racists 0:16:09.327,0:16:11.687 be rooted in the communities in which they live, 0:16:11.687,0:16:14.686 and where fascists and other reactionaries will attempt to recruit. 0:16:14.686,0:16:18.462 I joined Anti-Racist action when I was 15, I think. 0:16:18.462,0:16:22.686 The Toronto chapter was a sizable chapter within a broader network 0:16:22.686,0:16:25.959 of ARA chapters that were organized city-by-city. 0:16:25.959,0:16:30.575 The intention of ARA was to expose, oppose and confront 0:16:30.575,0:16:33.950 racist and right-wing organizations and organizing. 0:16:33.950,0:16:37.485 In Toronto that took on various forms. 0:16:37.485,0:16:41.904 Sometimes it was very physical, other times it was not. 0:16:41.904,0:16:44.117 Sometimes it was skinheads. 0:16:44.117,0:16:47.438 Many times it was Christian Right organizations, 0:16:47.438,0:16:50.652 anti-choice organizations, anti-Native organizations, 0:16:50.652,0:16:53.368 and those politics generally were also grappled with 0:16:53.368,0:16:58.082 within a cultural engagement with broader sectors 0:16:58.082,0:16:59.751 of the population within Toronto. 0:16:59.751,0:17:01.714 So there was an attempt to develop 0:17:01.714,0:17:05.319 an anti-racist, feminist, anti-colonial politics. 0:17:05.319,0:17:08.444 It was mostly comprised of youth, and much of that 0:17:08.444,0:17:12.138 cultural engagement revolved around sub-cultural groupings. 0:17:12.138,0:17:15.959 So within the punk scene, sometimes within the hip-hop scene, 0:17:15.959,0:17:17.778 within the electronic music scene. 0:17:17.778,0:17:20.068 That was where the politics were disseminated. 0:17:20.068,0:17:27.057 Before I joined Toronto had a sizable on-the-ground white supremacist presence. 0:17:27.057,0:17:31.030 A physical struggle took place on the street for who held sway 0:17:31.030,0:17:32.805 and essentially the anti-racists won. 0:17:32.805,0:17:37.980 There were areas of Toronto that were declared no-go zones for white supremacists. 0:17:37.980,0:17:44.793 Nazis out! Nazis out! Nazis out! 0:17:44.793,0:17:49.267 Districts in Toronto that white supremacists were already in were declared no-go zones, 0:17:49.267,0:17:51.510 and then they were established to be no-go zones. 0:17:51.510,0:17:54.358 Then those districts were used as bases of operation 0:17:54.358,0:17:56.880 and then more districts were established across the city. 0:17:56.880,0:18:00.191 It was a process that took several years and was a lot of work 0:18:00.191,0:18:03.940 and at times very dangerous, but it was successful. 0:18:03.940,0:18:07.149 Then the question became: "what do you do with that success?" 0:18:07.149,0:18:12.026 And ARA continued. It adapted, but it essentially kept the same methods 0:18:12.026,0:18:13.447 and the same strategy. 0:18:13.447,0:18:16.336 And then that method and that strategy became less and less applicable 0:18:16.336,0:18:18.349 and it slowly petered out. 0:18:18.349,0:18:21.121 One of the unfortunate things of it petering out 0:18:21.121,0:18:23.033 was that it left very little legacy. 0:18:23.033,0:18:27.035 And it seems as though people are making it up anew 0:18:27.035,0:18:30.829 because, frankly, we left nothing behind for them to review. 0:18:31.199,0:18:34.708 Alerta! Alerta! Anti-fascista! 0:18:34.708,0:18:36.963 RASH has several groups all over the world 0:18:36.963,0:18:38.748 in different countries, in different cities. 0:18:38.748,0:18:42.674 Montreal RASH has been here since the 90s 0:18:42.674,0:18:45.731 to fight against the right-wing politics that were 0:18:45.731,0:18:48.015 infiltrated into the skinhead movement. 0:18:48.015,0:18:52.025 Collectively or individually, people in RASH do participate 0:18:52.025,0:18:55.235 in different struggles, either it be syndicalist, 0:18:55.235,0:19:00.437 feminist, in queer communities, anti-gentrification, for immigration rights. 0:19:00.437,0:19:04.419 We want to create a culture of anti-fascism in our subculture 0:19:04.419,0:19:09.342 to show that Montreal is red, we are here and fascism 0:19:09.342,0:19:11.704 and racism does not have its place here. 0:19:15.494,0:19:18.696 The Montreal Sisterhood is a non-mixed collective 0:19:18.696,0:19:23.397 formed by people who identify themselves as women. 0:19:23.397,0:19:28.152 It was born when we made a reflection about the place 0:19:28.152,0:19:32.451 of women in our scene, in the anti-fascist movement, 0:19:32.451,0:19:37.367 and our goal is to create feminine and feminist solidarity 0:19:37.367,0:19:38.790 in our movement. 0:19:38.790,0:19:45.118 We organize self-defense workshops, screenings, reading circles, 0:19:45.118,0:19:51.840 and we really try to bring forward feminist issues in our scene. 0:19:51.840,0:19:55.803 Our links with RASH are really good. We work together a lot. 0:19:55.803,0:19:59.151 Some girls are members of both organizations. 0:19:59.151,0:20:03.110 We could say that we are brother and sister organizations for sure. 0:20:11.937,0:20:14.279 Well I've been in LAF for a couple of years now. 0:20:14.279,0:20:18.039 When I initially joined, there was quite a low level of far-right activity. 0:20:18.039,0:20:22.584 Our group was established as the English Defense League was splintering. 0:20:22.584,0:20:26.846 That's kind of affected the organizational structure of London Anti-fascists. 0:20:26.846,0:20:32.104 We originally saw ourselves as the militant leading edge of a much wider 0:20:32.104,0:20:37.580 anti-fascist movement that would be led by traditional groups like Unite Against Fascism. 0:20:37.580,0:20:42.959 However, these groups have pretty much wound up, as the far-right has splintered. 0:20:42.959,0:20:46.803 Our response to the way in which we confront and combat fascism 0:20:46.803,0:20:50.705 has to change with the way in which the political climate is changing. 0:20:50.705,0:20:53.717 We still consider ourselves a militant anti-fascist group, 0:20:53.717,0:20:58.469 but we are now the main anti-fascist mobilizing force in London. 0:20:58.469,0:21:02.276 We consistently out-mobilize other more mainstream groups, 0:21:02.276,0:21:06.395 with a more radical, more direct action-oriented message. 0:21:06.395,0:21:09.527 We use an anarcho-syndicalist model of organizing. 0:21:09.527,0:21:13.133 It's actually really effective. It means that we're always accountable to one another. 0:21:13.133,0:21:18.547 We attempt to push a demonstration that we've called in a certain direction. 0:21:18.547,0:21:22.038 And having a really strong organizational base means that 0:21:22.038,0:21:24.842 when we're on actions we can trust our comrades 0:21:24.842,0:21:26.836 because we know that we've organized with them in a way that 0:21:26.836,0:21:28.444 they've been involved from the very beginning. 0:21:28.444,0:21:31.591 Other groups prefer to have an affinity group structure. 0:21:31.591,0:21:34.625 The important thing is that these strategies change and adapt. 0:21:34.625,0:21:38.696 We've been building links with various anti-fascist groups across Europe. 0:21:38.696,0:21:41.778 They've come to support our actions, we've sent people to support 0:21:41.778,0:21:43.527 some of their big mobilizations. 0:21:43.527,0:21:46.015 Obviously we have different political contexts 0:21:46.015,0:21:49.266 and therefore we respond differently to the kind of far-right activity 0:21:49.266,0:21:50.754 that's happening within our base. 0:21:50.754,0:21:53.328 It doesn't mean, however, that we can't learn from each other 0:21:53.328,0:21:57.970 in order to grow our group, and also grow militant anti-fascism. 0:22:00.110,0:22:02.849 These days it can sometime feel like we're all just 0:22:02.849,0:22:06.528 one Donald Trump twitter beef away from full-scale nuclear war. 0:22:06.528,0:22:09.908 And the feeling that there are incredibly powerful forces beyond our control 0:22:09.908,0:22:13.497 that hold so much sway over our lives can be pretty demoralizing. 0:22:13.497,0:22:15.833 But nobody ever said revolutionary struggle was easy 0:22:15.833,0:22:18.396 and given the fact that reactionary forces are steadily 0:22:18.396,0:22:20.308 gaining ground in countries around the world, 0:22:20.308,0:22:24.724 it's vitally important that anarchists and other anti-fascists not give into despair, 0:22:24.724,0:22:28.922 or take our eyes off the prize in pursuit of what may seem like urgent short-term gains. 0:22:28.922,0:22:32.818 In other words, we need to come up with, and put into play strategies and tactics 0:22:32.818,0:22:35.956 that build our collective power and autonomy in order to better prepare us 0:22:35.956,0:22:39.336 for the battles to come... even as we act against threats in the here and now. 0:22:39.336,0:22:42.219 As we enter into a highly dynamic period of transition, 0:22:42.219,0:22:45.160 it is vitally important that we keep our eyes open 0:22:45.160,0:22:48.329 and refuse to compromise on our visions of a better world. 0:22:48.329,0:22:50.721 In short… it’s time to get our game face on. 0:22:50.721,0:22:54.377 You can give examples of left-wing navel gazing 0:22:54.377,0:22:58.547 when it comes to the 2008 financial crisis. 0:22:58.547,0:23:01.325 We've left the misery of working people 0:23:01.325,0:23:04.779 to be taken advantage of by the far-right 0:23:04.779,0:23:07.228 and other reactionary elements in society. 0:23:07.228,0:23:10.378 Reactionary ideologies have always been there. 0:23:10.378,0:23:13.103 People thinking that neo-nazis are a new thing 0:23:13.103,0:23:15.781 and fascist are a new thing is not true. 0:23:15.781,0:23:20.041 What we think is lately, yes, it has become more and more vocal. 0:23:20.041,0:23:23.989 We've seen waves and waves of arson attacks against mosques, 0:23:23.989,0:23:27.569 vandalism at Jewish places of worship and cemeteries. 0:23:27.569,0:23:31.906 We've seen continuous terrorists attacks both in Canada and the US 0:23:31.906,0:23:35.454 by Trump supporters and white nationalists, so I mean I think unfortunately 0:23:35.454,0:23:37.631 those kinds of attacks are going to continue. 0:23:37.631,0:23:40.677 We've gotta be prepared, if this is basically the baseline now, 0:23:40.677,0:23:43.199 it could be very scary in the next couple of years. 0:23:43.199,0:23:47.017 There is a political struggle going on for, for lack of a better word 0:23:47.017,0:23:48.584 the hearts and minds of the working class. 0:23:48.584,0:23:51.839 My humble suggestion would be that the best way to wage that struggle 0:23:51.839,0:23:56.876 is to form working-class organizations that take up working-class struggle, 0:23:56.876,0:24:01.090 that can develop politics that are best suited to the problems 0:24:01.090,0:24:02.801 that confront the working class. 0:24:02.801,0:24:06.058 Those politics are anti-white supremacist. 0:24:06.058,0:24:09.546 They are anti-Islamophobic, they are feminist 0:24:09.546,0:24:11.340 and they are communist. 0:24:11.340,0:24:14.099 These are the politics that need to actually be developed. 0:24:14.099,0:24:17.238 You need to build your organization. You need to build it strong. 0:24:17.238,0:24:20.026 You need to build it in the communities and workplaces 0:24:20.026,0:24:23.686 that you exist in, and then you need to make 0:24:23.686,0:24:26.166 you and your comrades ready for conflict. 0:24:26.166,0:24:30.344 You need to make sure that everyone is ready to stand and fight if necessary. 0:24:30.344,0:24:31.708 But don't fetishize that. 0:24:31.708,0:24:35.905 It's not only a physical thing. 0:24:35.905,0:24:38.962 Popular education is also a good way, propaganda, 0:24:38.962,0:24:42.046 doing some research about fascist groups. 0:24:42.046,0:24:44.395 These roles are just as valuable and just as important 0:24:44.395,0:24:46.272 as punching nazis in the face. 0:24:46.272,0:24:49.681 Which, I fully advocate... but again, it's not the be all and end all 0:24:49.681,0:24:53.623 of anti-fascism. It's often the most fun... but... 0:24:53.623,0:24:58.046 Organize. Don't wait for anybody, organize now with your friends, 0:24:58.046,0:25:01.017 with some people from your communities, with some people 0:25:01.017,0:25:02.804 in your workplace, in your neighbourhood. 0:25:02.804,0:25:07.880 We could keep going down the road that we've been going down 0:25:07.880,0:25:14.454 with an increasing obsession over a puritanical form of struggle 0:25:14.454,0:25:17.264 where we wish to improve ourselves more than 0:25:17.264,0:25:19.293 we wish to improve the world around us. 0:25:19.293,0:25:23.607 Or we can seek to reach out to the more reactionary, 0:25:23.607,0:25:26.517 unorganized elements of society and pull them into 0:25:26.517,0:25:28.437 a struggle to overthrow capitalism 0:25:28.437,0:25:30.964 and overthrow a system that oppresses us all. 0:25:30.964,0:25:34.084 We can't give up poor white people to these groups. 0:25:34.084,0:25:36.357 If there's nobody that's offering a counter-narrative, 0:25:36.357,0:25:38.419 nobody that's going door-to-door in a trailer park, 0:25:38.419,0:25:40.785 all that stuff... I mean, eventually these groups 0:25:40.785,0:25:42.701 will have an influence in these areas. 0:25:42.701,0:25:47.164 If we have no prospect of organizing with the working class 0:25:47.164,0:25:50.625 to cultivate politics that are counter to these politics, 0:25:50.625,0:25:53.944 then we are in far worse trouble than the black bloc 0:25:53.944,0:25:55.620 is capable of taking care of. 0:25:55.620,0:26:00.655 But, the bright side is I personally, and I think many other people 0:26:00.655,0:26:02.768 don't think we're in that position just yet. 0:26:02.768,0:26:05.373 It's unclear what's gonna happen, I think, even six months from now. 0:26:05.373,0:26:07.361 Right now there's a lot of moving pieces on the board. 0:26:07.361,0:26:11.387 The anti-fascist resistance has emerged and increased quite quickly. 0:26:11.387,0:26:14.841 If it can make firmer links with the movement for immigrants rights 0:26:14.841,0:26:17.403 and Black Lives Matter, and other larger somewhat radical 0:26:17.403,0:26:20.890 or fairly radical social movements in our society, it'll be a much stronger movement. 0:26:20.890,0:26:25.193 The far right are getting stronger and they're gaining more confidence. 0:26:25.193,0:26:28.152 So it can start to feel as if like, y'know, we're in a losing battle. 0:26:28.152,0:26:30.859 But actually, I think that things are still up for grabs. 0:26:30.859,0:26:32.554 I think we have to get our shit together. 0:26:32.554,0:26:35.234 I think we have to organize collectively, and I think 0:26:35.234,0:26:37.876 we have to stay revolutionary-minded. 0:26:37.876,0:26:40.467 On one hand, we wanna make sure that anti-fascism 0:26:40.467,0:26:43.357 is not devoid of revolutionary politics, like it needs to have 0:26:43.357,0:26:45.897 this in-depth analysis, but also that we don't throw 0:26:45.897,0:26:47.418 the baby out with the bathwater. 0:26:47.418,0:26:49.735 This is gonna be how a lot of people get involved 0:26:49.735,0:26:51.442 with the wider revolutionary movement 0:26:51.442,0:26:52.929 and we should be very open to that. 0:26:52.929,0:26:57.266 If you're interested in challenging reaction and far-right ideology 0:26:57.266,0:27:00.719 and interested in defending yourself, then get in touch with 0:27:00.719,0:27:02.147 your local anti-fascist group. 0:27:02.147,0:27:03.911 Don't be scared to approach them. 0:27:03.911,0:27:06.954 The tactics and strategy are really open. 0:27:06.954,0:27:08.529 There's a place for everybody. 0:27:08.529,0:27:11.916 Particularly if you're a woman or a minority or disabled, 0:27:11.916,0:27:15.929 you'll be told by more liberal elements of the left that 0:27:15.929,0:27:17.930 y'know... anti-fascism might not be for you. 0:27:17.930,0:27:20.781 And that antifa are just predominantly white men 0:27:20.781,0:27:24.387 and they have a white men savior complex, or whatever. 0:27:24.387,0:27:27.120 But actually, a lot of that is bullshit. 0:27:27.120,0:27:29.552 I think it's really important as well to encourage 0:27:29.552,0:27:32.550 more women and minorities to be involved in anti-fascism 0:27:32.550,0:27:35.162 because it's an incredibly empowering feeling to feel that 0:27:35.162,0:27:39.272 you can go out on the streets and physically stop 0:27:39.272,0:27:41.136 fascists from being able to organize. 0:27:41.136,0:27:44.161 It's important to build up anti-fascist self-defense now. 0:27:44.161,0:27:47.013 And that includes not just people being ready to roll out 0:27:47.013,0:27:49.538 to a demonstration to fight some nazis, 0:27:49.538,0:27:53.594 it means mapping out in the local area who the fascists are, 0:27:53.594,0:27:56.639 where these groups are situated, where their power is, 0:27:56.639,0:27:59.603 who the leaders are... and really kind of obliterating those networks. 0:27:59.603,0:28:03.351 When looking to the future, the one thing anti-fascists should be doing 0:28:03.351,0:28:07.859 is identifying those fascist organizers that could be launching 0:28:07.859,0:28:13.061 this future movement and brutally pushing them out of the movement 0:28:13.061,0:28:17.268 and setting back any fascist movement 5, 10 years by doing so. 0:28:17.268,0:28:19.442 We have to be able to split these movements. 0:28:19.442,0:28:21.520 Y'know we have to crack them at the base 0:28:21.520,0:28:25.010 and expose their contradictions, and that's a huge task for us right now. 0:28:25.010,0:28:27.636 Don't take shortcuts in your understanding 0:28:27.636,0:28:30.090 and don't take shortcuts in the strategies that you employ. 0:28:30.090,0:28:34.391 Be reasonable, think about things, be diligent, be disciplined, 0:28:34.391,0:28:39.106 carry out revolutionary politics within the working class. 0:28:41.096,0:28:43.295 As we continue to slip further into the dangerous, 0:28:43.295,0:28:46.497 uncharted territory of 21st-century political reaction, 0:28:46.497,0:28:49.667 the need for innovative strategies and bold, effective action 0:28:49.667,0:28:51.659 will become ever more important. 0:28:51.659,0:28:53.910 So at this point, we’d like to remind you that Trouble is 0:28:53.910,0:28:56.810 intended to be watched in groups, and to be used as a resource 0:28:56.810,0:28:59.117 to promote discussion and collective organizing. 0:28:59.117,0:29:02.174 If there’s no antifa or anti-racist organizing initiatives, 0:29:02.174,0:29:04.086 consider screening this film with some comrades 0:29:04.086,0:29:07.102 and considering what sort of initiative would work best for your area. 0:29:07.102,0:29:09.528 Interested in running regular screenings at your campus, 0:29:09.528,0:29:12.695 infoshop, community center, or even just at your home with friends? 0:29:12.695,0:29:13.873 Become a Trouble-Maker! 0:29:13.873,0:29:17.286 For 10 bucks a month, we’ll hook you up with an advanced copy of the show 0:29:17.286,0:29:20.268 and a screening kit featuring additional resources and some questions 0:29:20.268,0:29:22.161 you can use to get a discussion going. 0:29:22.161,0:29:24.682 If you can’t afford to support us financially, no worries! 0:29:24.682,0:29:27.343 You can stream and/or download all our content for free 0:29:27.343,0:29:30.445 off our website: sub.media/trouble. 0:29:30.445,0:29:33.947 If you’ve got any suggestions for show topics or just wanna get in touch, 0:29:33.947,0:29:36.821 drop us a line at trouble@submedia.tv. 0:29:36.821,0:29:39.701 We’d like to thank everyone who helped make this episode possible, 0:29:39.701,0:29:42.846 and wanna send a shout out to the first official Troublemaker chapters, 0:29:42.846,0:29:47.883 in Montreal, Hamilton, Calgary, Prague, Atlanta, Morrisville, Madison, 0:29:47.883,0:29:52.598 The Hague, Rhyneland, Medford, Quilcene, Asheville, Durham, 0:29:52.598,0:29:56.939 Whitehorse, Brooklyn, Philly, Minneapolis, Sandpoint and Hendersonville. 0:29:56.939,0:29:59.509 Now... get out there and make some trouble.