Anti-Racist Action (ARA), also known as the Anti-Racist Action Network, is a decentralized network of militant
far-left
Far-left politics, also known as the radical left or the extreme left, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single definition. Some scholars consider ...
political cells in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. The ARA network originated in the late 1980s to engage in
direct action
Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to oth ...
(including
political violence
Political violence is violence which is perpetrated in order to achieve political goals. It can include violence which is used by a state against other states (war), violence which is used by a state against civilians and non-state actors (forced ...
) and
doxxing
Doxing or doxxing is the act of publicly providing personally identifiable information about an individual or organization, usually via the internet. Historically, the term has been used interchangeably to refer to both the aggregation of this in ...
against rival political organizations on the hard right to dissuade them from further involvement in political activities. Anti-Racist Action described such groups as
racist
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
or
fascist
Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
, or both. Most ARA members have been
anarchists
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessari ...
, but some have been
Trotskyists
Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a re ...
and
Maoists
Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Chi ...
.
The network originated among the
hardcore punk
Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...
skinhead
A skinhead is a member of a subculture which originated among working class youths in London, England, in the 1960s and soon spread to other parts of the United Kingdom, with a second working class skinhead movement emerging worldwide in th ...
scene in
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
among a group known as the Minneapolis Baldies which had been founded in 1987.
The network grew and spread throughout North America. The
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...
, particularly
Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
,
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
and
Columbus
Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to:
* Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer
* Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio
Columbus may also refer to:
Places ...
, were the main hotspot for activity, but notable chapters existed in
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
,
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
and elsewhere. In the early 1990s, the Anti-Racist Action Network began to organize an annual conference, attended by representatives of the various official chapters, along with prospective members. These events often feature guest speakers and hardcore punk bands. In the late 1990s, the network was affiliated with a short-lived international grouping which called itself the Militant Anti-Fascist Network and consisted of mostly Europe-based groups such as the UK-based
Anti-Fascist Action
Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) was a militant anti-fascist organisation, founded in the UK in 1985 by a wide range of anti-racist and anti-fascist organisations.
It was active in fighting far-right organisations, particularly the National Front an ...
and various German
Antifa factions among others.
Politically, the network has always stated that anti-racism and anti-fascism are its main goals, adopting a non-sectarian approach to party affiliation for chapter members, and there is no pre-requisite to adhere to any particular party line outside of the five "Points of Unity."
History
Origins in Minneapolis hardcore punk scene
Anti-Racist Action originated from the
hardcore punk
Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...
subculture in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
at
Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
,
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
, among suburban mostly
White American
White Americans are Americans who identify as and are perceived to be white people. This group constitutes the majority of the people in the United States. As of the 2020 Census, 61.6%, or 204,277,273 people, were white alone. This represented ...
teenagers during the late 1980s. The wider punk subculture itself had flirted with extreme political symbolism, as a form of "shock value" from its early days, including
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
,
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
and
nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
symbols, though many did not take this seriously. Eventually some bands such as
Crass
Crass were an English art collective and punk rock band formed in Epping, Essex in 1977, who promoted anarchism as a political ideology, a way of life, and a resistance movement. Crass popularised the anarcho-punk movement of the punk s ...
in the United Kingdom began to more seriously integrate an
anarcho-communist
Anarcho-communism, also known as anarchist communism, (or, colloquially, ''ancom'' or ''ancomm'') is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private property but retains resp ...
political ideology into their music and associated
anarcho-punk
Anarcho-punk (also known as anarchist punk or peace punk) is ideological subgenre of punk rock that promotes anarchism. Some use the term broadly to refer to any punk music with anarchist lyrical content, which may figure in crust punk, hardcor ...
subculture. This spread to the United States and had a strong influence on the
Minneapolis hardcore scene. Some of the people involved in this scene created a
skinhead
A skinhead is a member of a subculture which originated among working class youths in London, England, in the 1960s and soon spread to other parts of the United Kingdom, with a second working class skinhead movement emerging worldwide in th ...
street gang, inspired by
Nick Knight's book ''Skinhead,'' known as the Minneapolis Baldies
The Baldies, who formed in 1986 and regarded themselves as leftist,
anti-racist skinheads, were frequently engaged in political violence with rival far-right skinheads in Uptown.
The Baldies were associated with bands such as Blind Approach, while their rivals from the East Side, the White Knights, were associated with Mass Corruption. According to Kieran Knutson, they organized a demonstration with the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...
Black Law Student Association, including
Keith Ellison who later became the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
's
Attorney General of Minnesota
The attorney general of Minnesota is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of the U.S. State of Minnesota. Thirty individuals have held the office of Attorney General since statehood. The incumbent is Keith Ellison, a DFLer.
Election ...
.
Chicago skinheads formed their own Anti-Racist Action (ARA) by May 1989. Chicago ARA activists fought with the neo-Nazi skinheads of
Chicago Area SkinHeads (CASH).
A group called Skinheads of Chicago (SHOC) consisted mostly of black skinheads and adhered to left-wing and
black power politics; some of them featured on ''
The Oprah Winfrey Show
''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime broadcast syndication, syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicag ...
'' in 1989, opposing CASH who were guests.
People in the hardcore punk scene became more widely aware of ARA across America due to a nationwide magazine called ''
Maximum Rock and Roll'' (MRR), edited by the counter-culture infuencer
Tim Yohannan Tim Yohannan (August 15, 1945 – April 3, 1998), also known as Tim Yo, was the founder of ''Maximum Rocknroll'', a radio show and fanzine documenting punk subculture. He also helped in establishing a number of DIY collectives, such as 924 Gilman St ...
who worked at
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, which started to promote them from 1987 onwards.
At a meeting in Minneapolis on January 14, 1989, with 80 or more anti-racist skinheads from
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
,
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
,
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...
and
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
, they founded a network called "the Syndicate".
Other chapters in attendance included the Brew City Skins from
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
, the North Side Crew also in Chicago, as well as groups in
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
(people associated with
SHARP
Sharp or SHARP may refer to:
Acronyms
* SHARP (helmet ratings) (Safety Helmet Assessment and Rating Programme), a British motorcycle helmet safety rating scheme
* Self Help Addiction Recovery Program, a charitable organisation founded in 19 ...
),
Indianapolis
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
,
Lawrence
Lawrence may refer to:
Education Colleges and universities
* Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States
* Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States
Preparator ...
and elsewhere.
1990s spread beyond the Midwest
From the late 1980s into the 1990s, the network began to grow. One of their main rallying points was in relation to the trials of
Tom Metzger
Thomas Linton Metzger (April 9, 1938 – November 4, 2020) was an American White supremacy, white supremacist, Neo-Nazism, neo-Nazi White power skinhead, skinhead leader and Ku Klux Klan, Klansman. He founded White Aryan Resistance (WAR), a neo-n ...
, a neo-Nazi activist associated then with a group calling itself the
White Aryan Resistance
White Aryan Resistance (WAR) is a White supremacy, white supremacist and Neo-Nazism, neo-Nazi organization in the United States which was founded and formerly led by former Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon Tom Metzger. It is based in Warsaw, Indiana, ...
(WAR). Metzger, though originally a "suit-and-tie" far-right talkshow show host, had begun to play a significant role in the creation of a
neo-Nazi skinhead
White power skinheads, also known as racist skinheads and neo-Nazi skinheads, are members of a neo-Nazi, white supremacist and antisemitic offshoot of the skinhead subculture. Many of them are affiliated with white nationalist organizations and ...
subculture in the United States, inspired in part by
Ian Stuart Donaldson
Ian Stuart Donaldson (11 August 1957 – 24 September 1993), also known as Ian Stuart, was an English neo-Nazi musician. He was best known as the front-man of Skrewdriver, a Punk band which, from 1982 onwards, he rebranded as a Rock Against ...
of
Skrewdriver
Skrewdriver were an English punk rock band formed by Ian Stuart Donaldson in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, in 1976. Originally a punk band, Skrewdriver changed into a white supremacist rock band after reuniting in the 1980s. Their original l ...
(many British skinheads like him also joined groups such as the
British Movement). This growing network of neo-Nazi skinheads in the United States were in conflict with the far-left leaning skinheads associated with Anti-Racist Action for control of the scene. Some of Metzger's skinhead followers in
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
belonging to East Side White Pride killed an Ethiopian student,
Mulugeta Seraw
Mulugeta Seraw ( am, ሙሉጌታ ስራው; October 21, 1960 – November 13, 1988) was an Ethiopian student who traveled to the United States to attend college. He was 28 when he was murdered by three white supremacists in November 1988 in Po ...
, in 1988, and were subsequently charged, while Metzger himself was sued and ordered to pay extensive financial damages to Seraw's family.
Mic Crenshaw
Mic Crenshaw (born 1970) is an American recording artist, political activist, and educator living in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. Mic Crenshaw creates music and musical platforms that connect artists across political and geographic boun ...
and some other Minneapolis ARA members relocated to Portland and founded the Portland ARA chapter there in response. Public attention given to this case caused a growth in networks affiliated with ARA, other new sections sprung up around the issue, including in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, where it was also known as People Against Racist Terror.
Some members of Anti-Racist Action in Minneapolis had been affiliated with an anarchist group called the Revolutionary Anarchist Bowling League.
Marty Williams of Chicago ARA stated that, by 1992, the network had expanded beyond its original subcultural base in the skinhead scene to include also students, workers, anarchist punks and older left-wing activists. Anti-Racist Action built up connections to
black power groups in places like Chicago, and integrated aspects of
third-wave feminism
Third-wave feminism is an iteration of the feminist movement that began in the early 1990s, prominent in the decades prior to the fourth wave. Grounded in the civil-rights advances of the second wave, Gen X and early Gen Y generations third-wav ...
and, as part of this, defended
abortion clinics against fundamentalist attacks.
According to Bray, ARA was "predominantly anarchist and antiauthoritarian, as reflected in the influential role of the
Love and Rage Revolutionary Anarchist Federation,
an unorthodox anarchist group with
Trotskyist
Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...
and
New Left
The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, g ...
influences (some of whose members had previously been in the Revolutionary Anarchist Bowling League), with whom they worked closely.
Anti-Racist Action chapters in the Midwest began to organize an annual conference under the banner of the Midwest Anti-Fascist Network, starting on October 15, 1994; the first took place in
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
.
These annual conferences had guest speakers at each event. The first featured Signe Waller, the widow of Michael Waller, a
Communist Workers' Party member killed during the
Greensboro massacre
The Greensboro massacre was a deadly confrontation which occurred on November 3, 1979, in Greensboro, North Carolina, US, when members of the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party (ANP) shot and killed five participants in a "Death to the Kla ...
in 1979.
The following year
Chip Berlet
John Foster "Chip" Berlet (; born November 22, 1949) is an American investigative journalist, research analyst, photojournalist, scholar, and activist specializing in the study of extreme right-wing movements in the United States. He also stu ...
was the guest speaker, along with Rita "Bo" Brown of the
George Jackson Brigade
The George Jackson Brigade was a revolutionary group founded in the mid-1970s, based in Seattle, Washington, and named after George Jackson, a dissident prisoner and Black Panther member shot and killed during an alleged escape attempt at San ...
as well as Waller.
[ Jeffrey Kaplan, an academic at the ]University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh
The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh (UW Oshkosh or UW Osh) is a public university in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. It is part of the University of Wisconsin System and offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs to nearly 14,000 students ea ...
stated in his book, ''The Cultic Milieu: Oppositional Subcultures in an Age of Globalization'' (2002): "On 25 September 1995, the second annual "Midwest Anti-Fascist Network" held a three-day conference in Columbus, Ohio. Speakers included Chip Berlet along with the following: Rita Bo Brown, former member of the nominally terrorist George Jackson Brigade
The George Jackson Brigade was a revolutionary group founded in the mid-1970s, based in Seattle, Washington, and named after George Jackson, a dissident prisoner and Black Panther member shot and killed during an alleged escape attempt at San ...
(GJB). Jackson
Jackson may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name
Places
Australia
* Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region
* Jackson North, Qu ...
was killed in August 1970 when his brother attempted to free him from Soledad Prison
Correctional Training Facility (CTF), commonly referenced as Soledad State Prison, is a state prison located on U.S. Route 101, north of Soledad, California, adjacent to Salinas Valley State Prison.
Facilities
The institution is divided into ...
by bursting in to a Marin County, CA, courtroom handing guns to three convicts and taking five hostages. In the shootout that ensued five people were killed including the judge. Signe Waller, former member of Jerry Tung's Worker's Viewpoint Organization (WPO), which evolved into the Communist Workers Party (CWP), a small, violence-prone Marxist-Leninist section. In 1979, armed members of the CWP were killed in a shootout with Ku Klux Klansmen in Greensboro, NC. Her husband, Michael Waller, was one of five people killed. Also in attendance were representatives of Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white su ...
's ''Klanswatch'' project, Lenny Zeskind's ''Center for Democratic Renewal'' and RASH
A rash is a change of the human skin which affects its color, appearance, or texture.
A rash may be localized in one part of the body, or affect all the skin. Rashes may cause the skin to change color, itch, become warm, bumpy, chapped, dry, cr ...
, an anti-racist skinhead organization."
The network expanded into
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, particularly
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
. In 1992, the
Heritage Front, at the time the largest neo-Nazi group in Canada, marched on Toronto's courthouse; organising against this catalysed the formation of a local ARA chapter. The Heritage Front supported the German-born
Holocaust denier
Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements:
* ...
and apologist for the
Third Reich
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
,
Ernst Zündel
Ernst Christof Friedrich Zündel (; 24 April 1939 – 5 August 2017) was a German neo-Nazi publisher and pamphleteer of Holocaust denial literature. , who was the subject of a significant political controversy with the
Canadian Human Rights Commission
The Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) was established in 1977 by the government of Canada. It is empowered under the ''Canadian Human Rights Act'' to investigate and to try to settle complaints of discrimination in employment and in the pr ...
and the organized Canadian Jewish community. According to a 1997 article in ''The Ottawa Times'', Anti-Racist Action's Toronto branch built up a close working relationship with
B'nai B'rith Canada, a major Jewish advocacy group.
In 1996, B'nai B'rith Canada attempted to secure state funding for Anti-Racist Action through Sam Title, who stated at the time that B'nai B'rith had "worked with them before."
Karen Mock
Karen Rochelle Mock, is a human rights consultant, well known as a dynamic lecturer, workshop coordinator and facilitator. She was Executive Director and CEO of the ''Canadian Race Relations Foundation'' from 2001 to 2005 and prior to that was Na ...
, the National Director of B'nai B'rith was pictured at an ARA conference in 1997. After Mock attended the meeting the relationship was subject to the feature in ''The Ottawa News'' in 1997, which courted controversy for B'nai B'rith due to ARA's links to violence and "extremism".
One of the more notable events involving ARA in Toronto was the trashing of the home of a Heritage Front member on 11 June 1993.
According to ''The Ottawa Times'', "as reported by the ''Canadian Intelligence Service'', the ARA has also been linked by the
Canadian Security Intelligence Service
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS, ; french: Service canadien du renseignement de sécurité, ''SCRS'') is Canada's primary national intelligence agency. It is responsible for collecting, analysing, reporting and disseminating int ...
(CSIS) with the 1995 arson attack on
Ernst Zündel
Ernst Christof Friedrich Zündel (; 24 April 1939 – 5 August 2017) was a German neo-Nazi publisher and pamphleteer of Holocaust denial literature. 's home" (Zündel, of German-birth, was in any case deported from Toronto, Canada that year).
ARA Minneapolis and ARA Toronto attended a conference in London in October 1997 which brought together twenty-two delegates from the emerging international (mostly European) militant anti-fascist movements. There was a significant disagreement between two of the major groups: the ''Autonome Antifa (M)'', a German
Antifa delegation based in
Göttingen
Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...
, and
Anti-Fascist Action
Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) was a militant anti-fascist organisation, founded in the UK in 1985 by a wide range of anti-racist and anti-fascist organisations.
It was active in fighting far-right organisations, particularly the National Front an ...
from Britain (who had partly inspired the creation of ARA in the first place).
The British-delegation were mostly working-class and argued for a class basis for anti-fascist struggle as well as for physical force against those it defined as fascists, while AA (M), who were more based in the middle-class intelligentsia, argued that the movement should be based primarily on a "feminist and anti-imperialist" analysis and downgrade "
squadism Squadism (or sometimes "Squaddism") was the practice of physical, anti-fascist direct action. The term, often used pejoratively by liberal anti-fascists eschewing violence, originated in the Anti-Nazi League, an anti-fascist campaigning organisat ...
".
At the end of the conference, nine groups followed Anti-Fascist Action into the Militant Anti-Fascist Network, including the North American Anti-Racist Action branches, as well as the German groups ''Antifaschistische Aktion Hannover'' and ''Aktivisten-Gruppe ROTKÄPPCHEN'', as well as a group from
Zaragoza
Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...
.
The international itself collapsed in 1999 as Anti-Fascist Action in Britain became essentially defunct.
As part of their wider
anti-police sentiment activity, including involvement with
Cop Watch, members of ARA were involved in supporting
Mumia Abu-Jamal
Mumia Abu-Jamal (born Wesley Cook; April 24, 1954) is an American political activist and journalist who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1982 for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. While on death r ...
(born Wesley Cook), who was convicted for the 1981 murder of
PPD officer
Daniel Faulkner
''Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Mumia Abu-Jamal'' was a 1982 murder trial in which Mumia Abu-Jamal was tried for the first-degree murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner. A jury convicted Abu-Jamal on all counts and sentenced him to death.
Ap ...
.
In September 1999 in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, ARA activists organized a seven-car caravan with a loudspeaker in each, voicing slogans in favour of Mumia Abu-Jamal and handing out leaflets to the general public.
Early 2000s: dawning of the internet era
Two members of ARA from
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
,
Daniel Shersty and
Lin Newborn, were killed by fascists in 1998. During the 1990s, Anti-Racist Action was engaged in conflict with white supremacist revival groups, as captured in the 2000 documentary film ''Invisible Revolution: A Youth Subculture of Hate''.
With the rise of the
internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
, the new millennium saw a switch to a more information-based "warfare" between ARA and their enemies active within the far-right groups.
The white nationalist far-right most circulated around ''
Stormfront'', while one of the more prominent website projects associated with ARA at the time was the ''
One People's Project
One Peoples Project (OPP) is an organisation founded in 2000 to monitor and publish information about alleged racist and far-right groups and individuals, mostly in the United States. The group has about fifteen volunteers in addition to its mo ...
'', which maintained contacts with the
Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white su ...
, working together on projects such as ''
Erasing Hate
''Erasing Hate'' is a 2011 American TV documentary chronicling the efforts of reformed white power skinhead Bryon Widner to remove his numerous racist facial tattoos. Written, produced, and directed by Bill Brummel, it first aired on June 6, 201 ...
''.
Founded in 2000 by
Daryle Lamont Jenkins
Daryle Lamont Jenkins (born July 22, 1968) is an American political activist, best known for founding One People's Project, an organization based in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Jenkins serves as its executive director.
Early life
Jenkins was bor ...
and Joshua David Belser (under the
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
"Josh Hoyt"), the ''One People's Project'' was a pioneer in the "
doxxing
Doxing or doxxing is the act of publicly providing personally identifiable information about an individual or organization, usually via the internet. Historically, the term has been used interchangeably to refer to both the aggregation of this in ...
" of alleged far-right group activists; as part of their campaign against these individuals, they posted personal information of them on the website, including their full names, dates and place of birth, home address, their place of work, the names of their close family members/partners and any other contact information such as phone numbers. This was subsequently spread among other websites, forums and blogs associated with whichever ARA branch was local to the alleged far-rightist profiled.
Anti-Racist Action's
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
branch, including Jerry or Gerry Bello (also a prominent figure within ARA's
Cop Watch), were among several groups (including the Black Bloc, a coalition of anarchist organizations, including the Boston-based
Barricada Collective) who were involved in a street fight with far-right activists which led to the arrest of 25 people in
York County, Pennsylvania
York County ( Pennsylvania Dutch: Yarrick Kaundi) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 456,438. Its county seat is York. The county was created on August 19, 1749, from part of Lancaster ...
on January 12, 2002.
The groups were protesting a speech by
Matthew F. Hale's
World Church of the Creator
Creativity, historically known as The (World) Church of the Creator, is an atheistic ( "nontheistic") white supremacist religious movement which espouses white separatism, antitheism, antisemitism, scientific racism, homophobia, and religious a ...
at a local library; several other white nationalist groups were also in the area, such as the
National Alliance and the
Aryan Nations
Aryan Nations is a North American antisemitic, neo-Nazi, white supremacist organization that was originally based in Kootenai County, Idaho, about miles (4.4 km) north of the city of Hayden Lake. Richard Girnt Butler founded the group i ...
.
According to ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', on May 11, 2002 around 250 members of the National Alliance, a leading neo-Nazi group, arranged a protest at the
Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C.
The Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C. is the diplomatic mission of the State of Israel to the United States. It is located at 3514 International Drive, Washington, DC, in the North Cleveland Park neighborhood.
History
The Ambassador is Mi ...
under
Billy Roper, distributing anti-Israel flyers with pictures of the
9/11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated Suicide attack, suicide List of terrorist incidents, terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, ...
and
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...
with the words "Let's Stop Being Human Shields for Israel" and demanding to cut off
US aid to Israel
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
.
Their protest was attacked by around 150 opponents including ARA members, as well as some members of the Northeastern Federation of Anarcho-Communists and Labor/Community Committee in Solidarity with the People of Palestine.
Later in the year, on August 24, 2002, the National Alliance returned to Washington D.C. for their "Rock Against Israel" protest; this time however, their opponents, under the banner of the East Coast Anti-Fascist Network (including ARA branches from Baltimore, Philadelphila, New Jersey, Toronto, Columbus and Auora) were better organized in attacking their opponents. However, 28 ARA members were arrested and then when they returned to Baltimore, were subsequently called up on charges of rioting, aggravated assault, possession of a deadly weapon and others. They became known as the "Baltimore Anti-Racist 28" and were eventually released without charge. With the decline of the Creativity movement (due to the arrest of Hale) and the National Alliance (since the death of
William Luther Pierce
William Luther Pierce III (September 11, 1933 – July 23, 2002) was an American neo-Nazi, white supremacist, and far-right political activist. For more than 30 years, he was one of the highest-profile individuals of the white nationalist movem ...
), other groups on the white nationalist scene attempted to fill the vacuum that this had left, this included the
National Socialist Movement National Socialist Movement may refer to:
* Nazi Party, a political movement in Germany
* National Socialist Movement (UK, 1962), a British neo-Nazi group
* National Socialist Movement (United Kingdom), a British neo-Nazi group active during the lat ...
(NSM), who organized a rally to "protest black crime" on October 15, 2005 in
Toledo,
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
. Here they were met by members of Anti-Racist Action and the
International Socialist Organization
The International Socialist Organization (ISO) was a Trotskyist group active primarily on college campuses in the United States that was founded in 1976 and dissolved in 2019. The organization held Leninist positions on imperialism and the role ...
, upon which the
2005 Toledo riot ensued.
Late 2000s and the birth of Antifa
The first group in the United States to use the term "
Antifa" in its title was the Anti-Racist Action Portland branch, known as
Rose City Antifa
Rose City Antifa (RCA) is an antifascist group founded in 2007 in Portland, Oregon. A leftist group, it is the oldest known active antifa group in the United States. While anti-fascist activism in the United States dates back to the 1980s, Rose ...
, which was refounded in 2007, according to
Alexander Reid Ross
Alexander Reid Ross is an American author and adjunct geography lecturer at Portland State University with fellowships at the Centre for the Analysis of the Radical Right (CARR) in the UK and at Political Research Associates. He is author of ''Aga ...
, author of ''Against the Fascist Creep'', from
Portland State University
Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decades ...
.
This was inspired by the German anarcho-communist
autonomists
The Autonomists (french: Autonomistes; it, Autonomisti) was a Christian-democratic Italian political party active in the Aosta Valley.
It was founded in 1997 by the union of the regional Italian People's Party with For Aosta Valley, and some ...
, who engaged in
black bloc tactics that year in a mass protest at the
33rd G8 summit (many of the autonomists are associated with
Germany's Antifa).
Portland Anti-Racist Action blamed neo-Nazis for the 2010 shooting of Luke Querner.
While
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
was President of the United States, groups on the hard right began to grow and consequently, groups emerged to engage in violence with them. Some of these were officially outside the Anti-Racist Action network, such as NYC Antifa (founded in 2010), but others, such as
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
's Hoosier Anti-Racist Movement (HARM), were officially chapters of ARA.
HARM were involved in a significant incident in
Tinley Park
Tinley Park (formerly Bremen) is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, with a small portion in Will County. The village is a suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 55,971. It is one of the fastest growing suburbs ...
,
Cook County, Illinois
Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40% of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. As of 20 ...
on May 19, 2012, when a group of 18 HARM members and other anti-racists physically attacked members of the Illinois European Heritage Association (which was associated with white supremacists) in a restaurant.
Five of the anti-racists involved were arrested and subsequently charged for their part in the attack with felony mob action, aggravated battery and criminal property damage charges and were sentenced from between 3 ½ to 6 years, although all were released by the end of 2014.
2013 onwards: Torch Network-era
The Torch Network continued the legacy of the ARA Network. In a post on the ARA website in 2013, the Torch Network announced its formation.
[ Retrieved on 20 March 2018.] They stated that this was not a disbanding or a schism, but an attempt to deal with the new realities of the
digital age
The Information Age (also known as the Computer Age, Digital Age, Silicon Age, or New Media Age) is a historical period that began in the mid-20th century. It is characterized by a rapid shift from traditional industries, as established during t ...
and changing tactics. The Torch Network held the 1st Annual Torch Network Conference in 2014 at Chitown Futbol, Chicago.
This was attended by South Side Chicago Anti-Racist Action (the hosts), Philly Antifa, Central Texas Anti-Racist Action, Milwaukee Antifa, Hoosier Anti-Racist Movement (HARM) and Los Angeles People Against Racist Terror.
The event was sponsored by the Chicago May First Anarchist Alliance and Black Rose/Rosa Negra Anarchist Federation. There were two speakers at the event: Matthew Nemiroff Lyons and Michael Staudenmaier.
[ Retrieved on 20 March 2018.]
See also
*
Cop Watch
*
Red and Anarchist Skinheads
Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP) are anti-racist skinheads who oppose white power skinheads, neo-fascists and other political racists, particularly if they identify themselves as skinheads. SHARPs aim to reclaim the original multicultur ...
*
Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice
Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP) are anti-racist skinheads who oppose white power skinheads, neo-fascists and other political racists, particularly if they identify themselves as skinheads. SHARPs aim to reclaim the original multicultura ...
*
Sojourner Truth Organization
Sojourner Truth Organization was a new communist group formed in the winter of 1969, prominent in the Midwest through 1985. Oriented towards organization in the workplace, and named after African American activist Sojourner Truth, the organizati ...
Notes
References
Footnotes
Bibliography
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External links
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(no longer updated)
{{Skinhead
Organizations established in 1989
Anti-racist organizations in the United States
Anti-fascism in the United States
Left-wing militant groups in the United States
Political violence in the United States
Anarchism in the United States
Trotskyism in the United States
Anti-fascism in Canada
Political violence in Canada
Anarchism in Canada
Communism in Canada
History of Minneapolis
Hardcore punk