Class 9: Movements

Counter-mobilisation

Opening notes

Presentation groups

Date Presenters Method
5 June: Rasmus B., Andre D., Josefine E., Ioanna L., Santiago C. surveys
12 June: Omar B., Lela E., Niclas W. network analysis
19 June: NO CLASS MEETING
26 June: Colombe I., Konstantin S., Jakob W., Veronika L. ethnography
26 June: Maksim K., Felix S., Jon L.D., Damir S., Korbinian M. case study
Date Presenters Method
3 July: Alexander V., Luis G., Oscar O., Mia C. descriptive inference
10 July: Lina S., Stephen W., Philomena B., Aarón Z. ethnography
17 July: Corinna Z., Eva M., and Rostislav N. TBD
24 July: Sebastian K., Thomas R., Emilia Z., Florian P. TBD
24 July: Lorenz F., Daniel B., Medina H. quant. text analysis
Presentations line-up
Date Presenters Method
15 May: Idil M., Zeynep P., Liesl W., Selin K., Chiara W. logistic regression
22 May: Gabriel W., Lina M., Florian S., Julian B. discourse analysis
29 May: NO CLASS MEETING

Counter-mobilisation in general

  • countermovements, opposing movements characteristics
    • far-right and opposing movement examples

Countermovement/Opposing movement characteristics

polarisation

dependency

Manicheism

imitation

Countermovement/Opposing movement characteristics

dependency

Manicheism

imitation

polarisation

  • most CM activities will be directed against the target movement and vice versa, aimed at “neutralizing, confronting or discrediting its corresponding countermovement” (Zald and Useem 1987, 148)
  • e.g., anti-immigration vs. migrant rights movements: rhetoric from both focused on the ‘threats’ posed by the other side

Countermovement/Opposing movement characteristics

polarisation

dependency

Manicheism

imitation

Countermovement/Opposing movement characteristics

polarisation

Manicheism

imitation

dependency

  • mobilisation, and success on one side needing to be triggered by success and mobilisation on the other side, each movement thriving paradoxically on the good health of its opponent
  • e.g., climate change denial/resistance vs. climate protection movements: demonstrations, policy influence by one has typically spurred on responsive activity

Countermovement/Opposing movement characteristics

polarisation

dependency

Manicheism

imitation

Countermovement/Opposing movement characteristics

polarisation

dependency

imitation

Manicheism

  • us-them dynamic between opposed movements
  • e.g., fundamentalist Christian vs. LGBTQ rights movements: the former frame LGBTQ rights movement and its supporters as complete ‘other’, a moral and cultural threat to “traditional family values”; LGBTQ rights movements in turn frame fundamentalists as opponents of basic human rights and dignity
    • In a racist society it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.’ (Angela Davis)

Countermovement/Opposing movement characteristics

polarisation

dependency

Manicheism

imitation

Countermovement/Opposing movement characteristics

polarisation

dependency

Manicheism

imitation

  • tendency to adopt elements of the other side’s programme, tactics, etc.
  • e.g., ‘autonomist’ nationalists vs. left-wing/anarchist movements: C. Worch tries to import ‘black bloc’ tactic into German extreme right in 2000s; CasaPound Italia uses ‘squatting’ tactic in activism in Rome

Countermovement/Opposing movement characteristics

polarisation

dependency

Manicheism

imitation

Countermovement/Opposing movement characteristics

polarisation - most CM activities will be directed against the target movement and vice versa, aimed at “neutralizing, confronting or discrediting its corresponding countermovement” (Zald and Useem 1987, 148)

dependency - mobilisation, and success on one side needing to be triggered by success and mobilisation on the other side, each movement thriving paradoxically on the good health of its opponent

Manicheism - us-them dynamic between opposed movements

imitation - tendency to adopt elements of the other side’s programme, tactics, etc.

  • Mayer (1995) examines these features in the case of Front National vs. SCALP, Ras l’Front, SOS, Le Manifeste contre le FN

Antifa … in the United States

  • Antifa origins
  • Contemporary case of antifa in Germany
  • Copsey and Merrill (2020) on antifa activity in the U.S.
  • debates about how (state) actors should deal with antifa

Antifa origins and modern incarnations

  • Emerged in Germany in 1930s among many initiatives to oppose SA and NSDAP (e.g., Sewell 2020)

Antifa origins and modern incarnations

Antifa origins and modern incarnations

  • Today:
    • organised antifascist activism is widespread (Bray 2017; Copsey 2017)
    • Opposed to ‘fascist’ forces with varying tightness/looseness of defining that
    • Commonly, loose organisations (anarchist tendencies)
    • Repertoire of actions: counter-protest, low-level violence, property damage, doxxing

Contemporary antifa in Germany case

ARD series (in German): https://www.ardaudiothek.de/sendung/die-fascho-jaegerin-der-fall-lina-e-und-seine-folgen/94838298/

  • 28-year-old antifa activist, Lina E., and three accomplices jailed for either membership of or support for a criminal organisation.
    • politicised/radicalised by revelations about NSU in 2011
  • attacks on (assumed) right-wing extremists in Thüringen and Sachsen between 2018 and 2020
  • judge: (i) acknowledged deficiency of criminal punishment of neo-Nazis

Contemporary antifa in Germany case

ARD series (in German): https://www.ardaudiothek.de/sendung/die-fascho-jaegerin-der-fall-lina-e-und-seine-folgen/94838298/

  • 28-year-old antifa activist, Lina E., and three accomplices jailed for either membership of or support for a criminal organisation.
    • politicised/radicalised by revelations about NSU in 2011
  • attacks on (assumed) right-wing extremists in Thüringen and Sachsen between 2018 and 2020
  • judge: (i) acknowledged deficiency of criminal punishment of neo-Nazis, (ii) described right-wing extremism as a greater threat to Germany

Contemporary antifa in Germany case

ARD series (in German): https://www.ardaudiothek.de/sendung/die-fascho-jaegerin-der-fall-lina-e-und-seine-folgen/94838298/

  • 28-year-old antifa activist, Lina E., and three accomplices jailed for either membership of or support for a criminal organisation.
    • politicised/radicalised by revelations about NSU in 2011
  • attacks on (assumed) right-wing extremists in Thüringen and Sachsen between 2018 and 2020
  • judge: (i) acknowledged deficiency of criminal punishment of neo-Nazis, (ii) described right-wing extremism as a greater threat to Germany, (iii) but asserted ‘even Nazis have inalienable rights’

Contemporary antifa in Germany case

ARD series (in German): https://www.ardaudiothek.de/sendung/die-fascho-jaegerin-der-fall-lina-e-und-seine-folgen/94838298/

  • 28-year-old antifa activist, Lina E., and three accomplices jailed for either membership of or support for a criminal organisation.
    • politicised/radicalised by revelations about NSU in 2011
  • attacks on (assumed) right-wing extremists in Thüringen and Sachsen between 2018 and 2020
  • judge: (i) acknowledged deficiency of criminal punishment of neo-Nazis, (ii) described right-wing extremism as a greater threat to Germany, (iii) but asserted ‘even Nazis have inalienable rights’, and (iv) criticized the defense lawyers for describing the trial as “political justice.”

Contemporary antifa in Germany case

recent article: Jones, A. & Schuhmacher, N. (2023). ‘Ghostly Militanz: the Loss of Discursive Infrastructures and German Antifascist Radical Counterpublics.’ PArtecipazione e COnflitto 17(3): https://pureportal.coventry.ac.uk/en/publications/ghostly-militanz-the-loss-of-discursive-infrastructures-and-germa

Copsey and Merrill (2020) - Antifa in the U.S.

  • Context:
    • The U.S. federal government does not hold the necessary executive authority to designate a domestic group a “terrorist organisation” (it can only declare foreign groups “terrorist”)
    • Since 2011 in the U.S., 110 deaths through far-right violence, 0 (possibly 1, a Patriot Prayer activist) through Antifa violence

In putting their “bodies on the line,” militant anti-fascists aspire to defeat fascist organizing, to de-stabilize it, and ultimately de-mobilize it. At its root, anti-fascist militancy is the promise to effect intimidation, humiliation and de-moralization upon fascists. This involves a physical commitment to “no platforming” (p. 124)

Copsey and Merrill (2020) - research design

  • How do militant anti-fascists in the US understand violence and exercise restraint in their use of it?
  • case: Rose City Antifa (RCA) in Portland
  • data:
    • qualitative, semi-structured interviews (October 2019 and February 2020) with activists
    • sample of 3971 tweets (incl. 2484 retweets) shared by RCA’s Twitter between 13 March 2018 and 28 August 2019
      • 648 tweets from sample featured variants of “violence,” “attack,” “assault,” “fight,” and “terror” … more “militant” tweets
  • method: critical discourse analysis

Copsey and Merrill (2020) - findings/points raised

  • two overarching goals of antifa violence: (1) protect people (esp. those likely targeted by FR), (2) show force and strength to deter FR
  • violent disruption of “fascist” assembly is an axiom of antifa praxis
  • how far does the label ‘fascist’ extend?
    • legitimacy of anti-fascist action is thus drawn from the illegitimacy of its opponent
  • antifa’s “pre-emptive self-defence”
    • premised on (a) deadliness of fascist movements of any size and (b) rapid growth potential of fascist movements
  • internal tactical and rhetorical strategies that limit antifa violence’ — BUT, consistent danger of slipping into glorification of violence

Antifa as ‘extremist/terrorist organisation’?

Pyrooz and Densley (2018, 233): “the history of antifa reads like a history of violence”

vs.

Bray (2017, 169): “In truth, violence represents a small though vital sliver of anti-fascist activity.”

Should state security (in Germany, elsewhere) monitor/designate antifa as extremist/terrorist?

what even is antifa? a ‘gang’ (Pyrooz and Densley 2018); a ‘group’ (LaFree 2018) (see also GTF database: https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/); a networked collective identity; a ‘tradition’ (Copsey 2017)

Further examples of counter-mobilisation against far-right movements

  • the Sticker War! (Bray 2017)
  • other, less visible examples of counter-mobilisation

The Sticker War

A Serbian antifa named Stefan waged a similar campaign on his own in 2012: When he came upon wheat-pasted posters from the fascist Serbian Action in his neighborhood of Belgrade, he immediately tore them down … and noticed them back up again an hour later. He retaliated by plastering antifa stickers all over the Serbian Action posters … only to find Serbian Action stickers in favor of “Traditional courtship in marriage” and other conservative slogans plastered on top of his stickers in response. Every day for six months Stefan battled with an anonymous fascist for control of his neighborhood. About four months into the conflict Stefan saw a guy putting up a sticker down the street as he got off the bus. The two locked eyes but Stefan wasn’t sure if this was his nemesis. In any event, Stefan persisted, and eventually the Serbian Action propaganda ceased to appear. He simply outlasted them.

p121: The street art campaigns, whether posters or graffiti, ultimately serve to designate space as antifascist (Creasap 2016; Gerbaudo 2013; Waldner and Dobratz 2013). An antifascist tag or sticker in a dive bar signifies the space as welcoming to activists and hostile to fascists. Antifa posters or stickers on lamp posts or walls in a community show that at minimum there is an active militant antifascist group operating in the area.

Vysotsky, S. (2020). American Antifa: The tactics, culture, and practice of militant antifascism. Routledge.

Less visible counter-mobilisation examples

  • Leeds United fans make fan magazine (Marching Altogether) to supplant far-right magazine (Bulldog) (Conlon 2017)
  • regular antifa disruption causes Richard Spencer (US alt-right activist) to call speaking tour (Lennard 2018)
  • SumOfUs pressured Paypal to forbid Bündnis Pro Chemnitz from receiving funds via its service (Kienzl 2019)
  • Graffiti removal/alteration in Cottbus (Jetzt.de 2019)
  • Zentrum für politische Schönheit (ZPS)
    • makes honey trap tool for far-right demonstrators to search if they were at Chemnitz; doxxing exercise (von Jutrczenka 2018)
    • got contract to distribute flyers for AfD; returned them to party two days before 2021 election (Nasr 2021)

Any questions, concerns, feedback for this class?

Anonymous feedback here: https://forms.gle/pisUmtmWdE13zMD58

Alternatively, send me an email: m.zeller@lmu.de

References

Bray, Mark. 2017. Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook. New York: Melville House Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004.
Conlon, Rob. 2017. “Leeds United, Racism, and the Fanzine Which Forced Change at Elland Road.” Planet Football, September.
Copsey, Nigel. 2017. Anti-Fascism in Britain. Abingdon: Routledge.
Copsey, Nigel, and Samuel Merrill. 2020. “Violence and Restraint Within Antifa: A View from the United States.” Perspectives on Terrorism 14 (6): 122–38.
Jetzt.de. 2019“,,Hate Fascism“: Unbekannte Antworten Auf Rechtes Symbol in Cottbus.” Jetzt.de, December.
Kienzl, Philipp. 2019. “Wie Es Aktivist*innen Gelang, Paypal-Zahlungen an Rechtsextreme Zu Stoppen.” Ze.tt, November, 1–3.
LaFree, Gary. 2018. “Is Antifa a Terrorist Group?” Society 55 (3): 248–52. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-018-0246-x.
Lennard, Natasha. 2018. “Is Antifa Counterproductive? White Nationalist Richard Spencer Would Beg to Differ.” The Intercept, March.
Mayer, Nonna. 1995. “The Dynamics of the Anti-Front National Countermovement.” French Politics and Society 13 (4): 12–32.
Nasr, Joseph. 2021. “Pranksters Target German Far-Right Party with Election Campaign Stunt.” Reuters, September.
Pyrooz, David C., and James A. Densley. 2018. “On Public Protest, Violence, and Street Gangs.” Society 55 (3): 229–36. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-018-0242-1.
Sewell, Sara Ann. 2020. “Antifascism in the Neighborhood: Daily Life, Political Culture, and Gender Politics in the German Communist Antifascist Movement, 1930–1933.” Fascism 9 (1-2): 167–94. https://doi.org/10.1163/22116257-20201175.
von Jutrczenka, Bernd. 2018. “Künstlergruppe Schaltet Umstrittene Website Ab.” Zeit Online, December.
Zald, Mayer N, and Bert Useem. 1987. “Movement and Countermovement Interaction: Mobilization, Tactics, and State Involvement.” In Social Movements in an Organizational Society, 247–71. New Brunswick: Transaction Books.