Explained: Antifa, designated as terror organisation by Trump, and its ‘links’ to Charlie Kirk’s killing

Sick, dangerous, radical left disaster…

With these words, US President Donald Trump designated Antifa a ‘major terrorist organisation’, days after his close aide and right-wing activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated at a college event in Utah. He also warned that those funding the far-left anti-fascism movement would be investigated “in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices.”

It’s not clear what mechanism the US president would use to make the designation, as the movement lacks centralised structure or defined leadership.

But what exactly is Antifa? Is it linked to Charlie Kirk’s assassination? We have the answers.

What is Antifa?

Short for ‘anti-fascists’, Antifa is a loosely affiliated network of radical activists who oppose racism, far-right ideologies, and what they define as fascism. According to Mark Bray, author of Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, the origins of this grouping dates back to the 1920s or 1930s in Europe when activists rose up against European fascists.

He notes that Antifa movement came to the US in the 1980s with a group called Anti-Racist Action. Its members confronted neo-Nazi skinheads at punk gigs in the American Midwest and elsewhere. By the early 2000s, the Antifa movement was mostly dormant, but rose up again following Donald Trump’s presidency and what they believe is the rise of the alt-right.

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Today, Antifa is largely a secretive movement having no official leaders and it’s almost impossible to tell how many members subscribe to this. In 2020, Trump’s previous FBI director, Christopher Wray, testified that Antifa is an ideology, not an organisation, lacking any hierarchical structure that would usually allow it to be designated as a terror group by the federal government.

Supporters and members of Antifa, often seen dressed in all black, seek to stop what they see as fascist, racist and far-right groups. They also note that violent tactics are sometimes justified as self-defence. One of the most common symbols used by Antifa combines the red flag of the 1917 Russian Revolution and the black flag of 19th century anarchists.

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What is the history of Antifa and its movement in the US?

According to the Merriam Webster’s dictionary, the word antifa was first used in 1946 and was borrowed from a German phrase signalling an opposition to Nazism. However, as Bray mentions in his book, the origins of it could be seen as far back as 1920s and 1930s in Europe.

As the years rolled by, the movement spread to the United States. One of the first groups to use the name was Rose City Antifa, which says it was founded in 2007 in Portland, Oregon. It has a large following on social media, where it shares news articles and sometimes seeks to reveal the identities and personal information of, figures on the right.

Antifa has grown since then and has become more prominent following Donald Trump becoming the president and what they term as the rise of the far-right. It gained national and international prominence in 2017 after violent clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia when alleged members of Antifa went up against white supremacists.

In the same year, Antifa members attacked alt-right demonstrators at the University of California, Berkeley using bricks, pipes, hammers, and homemade incendiary devices.

Two years later, in 2019, William Van Spronsen, a self-proclaimed Antifa, attempted to bomb the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Tacoma, Washington, using a propane tank but was killed by police.

Antifa is also linked to the 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement that erupted following the death of a Black man named George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. Some of the BLM protests descended into the violence with many political leaders, including Trump, as well as media outlets naming Antifa as the instigator of the violence during those protests.

There were also claims made that it was the Antifa and not members of the far-right that stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. These allegations were spread by mainstream right-wing media personalities who falsely claimed that there were reports of busloads of Antifa infiltrating the ranks of the pro-Trump crowd and that it was Antifa that was the first to break the police barrier.

How does Antifa operate? Is it dangerous?

Antifa look to disrupt alt-right events and far-right speakers; they shout and chant, forming human chains to block off right-wing demonstrations. They remain unapologetic about their tactics, which even include monitoring the far-right on social media and releasing their information online — a practice known as ‘ doxxing’.

Some Antifa members also resort to violence with Bray writing in his book that “The argument is that militant anti-fascism is inherently self-defence because of the historically documented violence that fascists pose, especially to marginalised people.”

In fact, according to a BBC report, some Antifa members has made historical arguments to justify their violence. For instance, they ask, what if opponents of the German Nazi Party had been more forceful in their opposition in the 1930s, could World War II and the Holocaust have been averted?

It’s hard to pinpoint the violence perpetrated by Antifa owing to their structure and the secrecy around its members.

However, data provides a clear picture on the threat they pose. From 1994 to 2020, right-wing extremists accounted for approximately 57 per cent of all terrorist incidents whereas left-wing extremists were linked to about 25 per cent of these incidents. Also, left-wing terrorism has resulted in 22 deaths in the same period, whereas right-wing extremism caused a significantly higher number of fatalities — 335 in total.

However, as Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a professor of history at New York University who studies fascism, told the New York Times that she was worried that Antifa’s methods could feed into the what she said were false equivalencies that seek to lump violence on the left with attacks by the right.

What is Trump’s stance on Antifa?

In the past, namely in 2020, Trump has sought to designate Antifa as a terrorist organisation. However, at the time, his advisors told him it would be difficult to do so considering its lack of structure and also trigger serious First Amendment challenges.

But now, days after Kirk’s assassination which Trump and many officials have blamed the far-left for, he has designated Antifa as a terrorist organisation. On his social media platform, the American leader wrote, “I am pleased to inform our many USA patriots that I am designating Antifa, a sick, dangerous, radical left disaster, as a major terrorist organisation,” adding, “I will also be strongly recommending that those funding Antifa be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

But is Antifa linked to Kirk’s killing?

In the aftermath of Kirk’s assassination and the arrest of Tyler Robinson in the matter, investigators have been trying to ascertain the motive. Authorities found shell casings from the weapon linked to the crime inscribed with anti-fascist slogans, including “Hey fascist! Catch!” and “Bella Ciao,” a Second World War Italian resistance song later adopted by anti-fascist activists.

But while investigators haven’t concluded that Robinson was a member of Antifa, the Governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, noted that the bullet casings were a connection to Antifa. US President Trump also suggested that Robinson was “radicalised over the internet” and that his political radicalisation was “on the left.”

“He’s a left. A lot of problems with the left, and they get protected, and they shouldn’t be protected,” he further noted.

Later, he also added, “Antifa is terrible. There are other groups. We have some pretty radical groups, and they got away with murder,” he added without citing any evidence or elaborating.

With inputs from agencies