Anti-Fascist Network

By Berkshire Antifascists

The DFLA are coming to London on October 13th. Wanna know you can help out and be a proper-good-Antifa? Well now that Antifa has become an SEO friendly term, you can’t move for thinkpieces and blog posts. We thought we’d join in with our very own listicle. We’re like, totally top content-creator millenials too, you know.

1. Don’t make new myths to bust old myths.

There is definitely a need for explanation when it comes to Antifa. It can look terrifying, at best confusing, when you see a gaggle of mask wearing rogues marching down your street or on the telly.

But don’t feed the fire.

There’s no secret handshake. We haven’t taken a vote on gun control. We’re not all men. We don’t have a ‘hard as nails only’ ethos’. We don’t have secret UV tattoos. We’re absolutely anything but a homogenous group, so no one person or group can speak for the entire movement.

In fact, those of us doing this for the long haul will explain that you need all kinds of people with all kinds of skills involved. From organising and designing merch to flyering for events, running a creche through to prisoner support. It’d be great for your CV, you know if you could actually pop it on there.

2. Don’t keep our super-secret mission statement under-wraps.

After decades of morally repugnant police infiltration and thousands invested into journalism, our actual aim is still a bit of a mystery apparently. We’re here to change all that.

*drumroll* The well kept secret about who the Antifa are is this:

Any person or person(s) who oppose fascism and fascists.

3. Sit with us.

We’re not the plastics. You don’t need to be a super-duper intellectual Leftist or a proper geez hooligan to be in an antifascist group. We’re all individuals who work together to achieve a very basic goal.

There’s no strict structure, regiment, carrying card. Sure, many of us wear masks on Saturdays, but it’s a practical response to a provably repressive state, not a uniform. On that note but a bit of a tangent, if you don’t want to or need to hide your identity, good for you! But don’t attack or judge people who need to protect themselves against surveillance and far Right reprisal. People have children, jobs, housing and much more at stake, so reserve their right to anonymity.

4. Don’t stop at a share.

Sharing an open-ended “We need to start fighting fascism” article might alleviate the niggling guilt of not being active, but it should be just the start of getting involved. People have been fighting fascism for yonks (yes, we were doing it before it was cool). By all means, everyone should be pointing out why we need to exist and work, but let’s concretely point out that joining in isn’t as hard as you think and that this isn’t a new gig.

It’s amazing if you can turn up to demos. Honestly: you rule. But the work doesn’t end there. What platforms, what resources do you have that you can use to spread the word and help? What skills can you give? None of us have much money, none of us have much time, but we all need to pitch in. We’ve even made a handy guide on how to start your own group.

5. Pissing contests are messy. Avoid them.

You don’t need to be the roughingest toughingest cowboy on the scene, you don’t need to expose yourself on baitbook, you don’t need to mock or judge other peoples’ tactics and ideas, you don’t need to write thinkpieces on how you think everyone is failing because they don’t listen to you. Don’t turn up Ministry’s – Antifa and go off on a social media LARPing quest to prove you’re the true chosen Antifa.

Actually, when you are really active, you’ll be far too knackered to be bothering with that nonsense anyway.

You know what – just be nice. Listen to groups, especially marginalised ones, think about different ways you can engage with your community. Yes, some of us are dippy-hippies.

6. Bonus point.

Don’t pronounce it An-*tee*-fer. Just grinds this admins gears. But also you are autonomous and we can’t tell you what to do. (But pls don’t).