I really hope that you’ll give this a listen. I’ve considered myself an antifaschist for awhile now, but I’m starting to think that our approach is off. I was never able to put it into words until now. https://youtu.be/LCiAfD2EDvY
The interviewer is longtime leftist, organizer, and folk singer David Rovics. He can absolutely be trusted.
The tldr is that physically fighting fash, while useful in the short term to protect our communities, leads to escalation and further radicalization over the long term and makes things more dangerous for everyone involved. We need to be primarily focused on community outreach (largely done), building dual power, and deradicalizing the far right. In the end they are pissed off at the system for many of the same reasons that we are; they’re being misled and focusing on the wrong enemy. It’s a result of the divide and conquer tactic that the ruling class seems all too happy to employ.
It is entirely possible that one day there will be no more fash, no more proud boys or white nationalists- but it won’t be because they were beaten into submission. That’s never worked. It will be because enough people gave a thought about and then did something about the material and ideological circumstances that created them. Problems must be solved at the source.
