Antifascistisk Aktion

Antifascistisk Aktion or Antifaschistische Aktion, variously abbreviated as AFA (Swedish) or Antifa (German) is a militant extra-parliamentary network in Sweden, Denmark, Germany and other countries, whose goal is to "smash fascism in all its forms". [ [http://www.antifa.se/index.php?sida=3 antifa.se - Antifascistisk Aktion Sverige ] ]

It is a heterogenous group made up mostly of Communists and Anarchists who wish to replace capitalism with a stateless and classless society. Its members oppose sexism, racism and homophobia. AFA's ideology is based on the theory of triple oppression. The first German movement to call itself "Antifaschistische Aktion" came into existence in 1923, as part of the Rotfrontkämpferbund. The movement gained followers after being proclamed by the German Communist Party (KPD) in their newspaper "Rote Fahne" in 1932, in response to a fight between national-socialist and Communist members of Parliament. After a forceful dissolution by the Nazis in 1933, the movement was revived during the 1980s. The Swedish branch, "Antifascistisk Aktion", was founded in 1993 when there was an increasingly racist climate in Sweden and a rise in confrontations between anti-fascists and fascists. [sv icon [http://www.antifa.se/index.php?sida=4#1990-1995 AFA Historik, 1990-1995] ] In Denmark AFA was founded in Copenhagen in 1992 after Henrik Christensen, a member of International Socialists, was attacked by a bomb and killed, possibly by right-wing activists. [da icon [http://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifascistisk_Aktion Antifascistisk Aktion, Wikipedia] ] AFA has taken responsibility for burning down Tråvads spinneri in western Sweden, which was owned by the right-wing extremist Curt Linusson, and was used as the headquarters of the neo-Nazi organization Nationalsocialistisk Front.sv icon cite news
title = Antifascister erkänner mordbrand
url = http://svt.se/svt/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?a=512038
publisher = Sveriges Television
date = 2005-12-28
accessdate = 2006-12-06] sv icon cite news
title = Afa tros ha satt eld på nazistgård
url = http://www.tv4.se/nyheter/434097.html
publisher = TV4 (Sweden)
date = 2005-12-28
accessdate = 2006-12-06] sv icon cite news
title = Afa tar på sig mordbrand på nazistgård
url = http://www.dn.se/?a=508239
publisher = Dagens Nyheter
date = 2005-12-28
accessdate = 2006-12-06] sv icon cite news
title = Högerextremister intar Vara
url = http://www.dn.se/?a=348425
publisher = Dagens Nyheter
date = 2005-11-27
accessdate = 2006-12-06] AFA members were involved in protests during the EU summit in Gothenburg 2001.Fact|date=February 2007 Some critics say AFA does not respect freedom of speech, because some AFA members have attacked fascists and other nationalists, [sv icon cite news
first = Daniel
last = Poohl
title = Ta avstånd från våldet mot SD
url = http://www.expo.se/index_1.php?pg=http%3A//www.expo.se/www/1_1735.html
publisher = EXPO
date = 2006-10-18
accessdate = 2006-12-08] [sv icon cite news
title = Vänsterextrema infiltrerade IOGT-NTO
url = http://www.svd.se/dynamiskt/inrikes/did_10487676.asp
publisher = Svenska Dagbladet
date = 2006-09-07
accessdate = 2006-12-08] as well as the house of a migration judge. [ [http://www.thelocal.se/8043 Migration judge threatened by extremists] ]

Its activities have included handing out flyers, organizing demonstrations and physical confrontations with political opponents. They believe that a certain amount of violence is inevitable in the struggle against fascism and capitalism. In line with their ideology, and as a consequence of being constantly monitored by the police, AFA has no central authority, and is organized in a platformist manner. This means it has a flat organization composed of many independent groupings, also without a board, chairman or leader. The point of having the organization is to exchange information, collect information and to coordinate activities between local groups. As of 2006, there were 17 AFA groups listed on the Swedish AFA's website.sv icon [http://www.antifa.se/index.php?sida=8 AFA Lokalgrupper] ] AFA has a support group and a "dokugrupp", which surveys alleged fascists and fascist activities. [sv icon [http://doku.antifa.se/ AFA Dokumentation] ] AFA works with other anti-racist networks all over Europe. [sv icon [http://www.antifa.se/index.php?sida=3#platform AFA Presentation, Plattform] ]

References

ee also

*Anti-fascism
*Anti-Fascist Action
*Anti-Fascist Action (disambiguation)
*Militant anti-fascism

External links

* [http://www.antifa.se/ AntiFascistisk Aktion – Sweden] (Swedish)
* [http://www.antifa.dk/ AntiFascistisk Aktion – Denmark] (Danish)
* [http://www.antifa.de/ AntiFaschistische Aktion – Germany] (German)