Documents of Antifascism at Interference Archive from the collaborative exhibition “no. NOT EVER.” ​ ​ January 18, 2018–April 15, 2018

Interference Archive Address: 314 7th St, Brooklyn NY 11215 USA

Contact: Interference Archive Email: [email protected] URL: http://interferencearchive.org ​ ​

Finding aid prepared by M. Hardesty, April 2018–January 2020. Text composed by J. Descartes, M. Hardesty, J. Hoyer, M. Schreiner, and B. Shuman.

Descriptive Summary Creator: Various ​ Title: Documents of Antifascism at Interference Archive ​ Date Span: 1937-2018 (bulk dates 1969-2017) ​ Abstract: no. NOT EVER. opened at Interference Archive (IA) in January 2018. It featured a ​ ​ ​ ​ traveling installation from the Seattle-based collaborative If You Don’t They Will (www.ifyoudonttheywill.com), which used stories from the 1980s and ‘90s rural working-class ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ activism to inspire organizing against white in the current moment. This installation was ​ contextualized with an exhibition of print culture from the IA collection. This exhibition included books, newspapers, newsletters, zines, posters, buttons, ephemera, and online sources. This finding aid lists items from the installation and exhibition—most of which have been sorted back into the general collection—as well as books used in the exhibition but not part of the IA permanent collection. It also lists online sources related to exhibition programming. Quantity: n/a ​

Restrictions Access Restrictions: This collection is located at Interference Archive, and may be used ​ ​ during open hours without appointment. Visit http://interferencearchive.org for current open ​ ​ hours.

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Use Restrictions: While the use of this material is unrestricted, Interference Archive does not ​ own reproduction rights to most of these materials. ______Access Points This finding aid lists materials from “no. NOT EVER.”, most of which have been sorted back into ​ ​ the general collection by item type, as well as books used in the exhibition but not part of the IA permanent collection. Each citation points you to the section of the archive where the item is located. Items like serials (e.g. magazines, journals, and newsletters), zines, and vinyl records are arranged alphabetically. Books, pamphlets, posters, buttons, and subject files (ephemera) are organized by subject. To find items in sections organized by subject, use the subject keywords below. If you need help finding an item, ask an IA staffer for help.

Since this exhibition concluded in 2018, Interference Archive has received and collected many more related materials; these subject topics also will help you locate these materials in the collection.

Subject Topics: Antifascism Antiracism If You Don’t They Will Anti-Racist Action Rock Against Against

Administrative Information Provenance: This collection represents various donations to Interference Archive. ​ Preferred Citation: Interference Archive, Antifascism Collection ​

2 Arrangement The collection is arranged in eight series by theme and type. Series I: Fascism in the U.S.?; Series II: Free Speech/No Platform; Series III: Cultural Organizing; Series IV: Research; Series V: Books; Series VI: Materials from If You Don’t They Will/“no. NOT EVER.”; Series VII: ​ ​ ​ ​ Additional materials, organized by type; Series VIII: Online resources.

Series I: Fascism in the U.S.? What does it mean to talk about fascism in the U.S.? The documents in this series show how activists on the Left from a wide political spectrum have answered this question since the 1960s. Some of their references point to European fascism of the 1930s and ’40s, but just as frequently they relate to a history of U.S. repression, white supremacy, and white nationalist terror that predates Hitler and Mussolini. Antifascists seek to limit the power of white nationalist groups, and many activists identify white supremacy itself as the root of fascism.

Activists also draw attention to the cyclical nature of upsurges in white nationalist violence, which often accompany repressive backlash against radical movements, communities of color, Jewish communities, immigrants, women, and LGBTQIA+ communities. For example, the Black Panther Party’s 1969 call for a United Front Against Fascism came in the face of increased surveillance, infiltration, and police violence, as well as assassination and incarceration of its organizers; the UFAF called for a wide coalition to confront such repression.1 The Equal Rights Congress’s booklet We Won’t Go Back! comes as a direct response to the 1979 “Roll the Clock ​ ​ Back!” march from Selma to Montgomery by the KKK. for Racial and Economic Justice’s 2017 booklet Understanding Antisemitism: An Offering to our Movement addresses the rise of ​ ​ antisemitism in the wake of Trump’s election, while reminding us that “an effect of antisemitism has been to distract and divide powerful movements for justice and equity, preserving oppressive systems and benefitting ruling elites.”2

● 500 Years of This Shit Is Enough. Poster. n.d. Location: Small posters. ​ ● The Black Panther. “What Is the United Front Against Fascism?” July 12, 1969. Location: ​ Newspapers. ● The Black Panther, July 16, 1969. (Coverage of United Front against Fascism Conference.) ​ Location: Newspapers.

1 These connections were informed also by Christopher Vials’s Haunted by Hitler. ​ ​ 2 Ferguson, Kent, and Sharon, Understanding Antisemitism. ​ ​ ​

3 ● Quant, Ted and John Slaughter. We Won’t Go Back! The Rise of the and the ​ Southern Struggle for Equality. Mobile, AL: Equal Rights Congress, 1980. Location: Half-size ​ pamphlets. ● Sojourner Truth Organization. Fascism in the US? Current Debates on Fascism. [1982]. Location: ​ ​ Large pamphlets. ● TUFF: Those United to Fight Fascism. Columbus, OH, no. 25, 1981. Location: Serials. ​ ● United Front Against Fascism. “We Must Develop a United Front Against Fascism.” Leaflet. 1969. Location: Subject files. ● We Charge . We Charge Genocide: Police Violence Against Chicago's Youth of Color. ​ ​ Chicago, 2014. Location: Large pamphlets. ● Buttons ○ . n.d. Location: Buttons. ​ ○ Ban the Klan. n.d. Location: Buttons. ​ ○ Blue by Day White by Night: Stop Killer Cops! n.d. Location: Buttons. ​ ○ Feminist Against Anti-Semitism. n.d. Location: Buttons. ​ ○ I Gave in Defense of Democracy in Spain. [1937.] Location: Buttons. ​ ○ John Brown Anti-Klan Committee. Death to the Klan: Fight White Supremacy! ​ n.d. Location: Buttons. ○ National Organization of Women. Never Again. n.d. Location: Buttons. ​ ​ ○ [No Neo Nazis.] n.d.. Location: Buttons. ​ ​ ○ United We Stand: Anti-Klan. n.d. Location: Buttons. ​

Series II: Free Speech / No Platform The concept of No Platforming is encapsulated in Anti-Racist Action’s first point of unity, “We go where they go. Whenever fascists are organizing or active in public, we're there. We don't believe in ignoring them or staying away from them. Never let the Nazis have the street!”3 This basic principle specifically refers to denying fascists the opportunity to present their views or engage in publicly protected speech or debate. This may involve , which we see as a tool for no platforming in the material in this series: the efforts of German antifascists to stop Nazi marches in Dresden, , and Bad Nenndorf, and the work of Antifa Sacramento and By Any Means Necessary to shut down a neo-Nazi rally at the Sacramento capitol building in 2016.

No platforming is most successful when a coalition of groups works together to shut down fascists. Organizers in Dresden reflect in their 2010 flier that alliances between groups are not yet strong enough to completely end the annual local Nazi march, and they call for more

3 Anti-Racist Action. n.d. “ARA Points of Unity.” ​ ​ https://480ara.blackblogs.org/ara-points-of-unity/

4 cross-spectrum collaboration to shut down coordination. In the manual When Hate Groups ​ Come to Town, the Center for Democratic Renewal states that building antifascist coalitions across ​ lines of race, class, and faith will be most successful in drawing attention to the presence and harm of fascists, and in developing comprehensive strategies to halt their organizing.

● Antifaschistische Aktion. Dresden Calling. Leaflet. Dresden, Germany, 2009. ​ ​ Location: Subject files. ● It’s Going Down!: Anarchist News & Practice Across So-Called , no. 1, ​ ​ ​ 2015. Location: Serials. ​ ​ ● Williams, Randall, and Lyn Wells, eds. When Hate Groups Come to Town: A ​ Handbook of Model Community Responses. Atlanta: Center for Democratic ​ Renewal, 1986. Location: Large pamphlets. ● Antifaschistische Aktion. Kampf dem Faschoaufmarsch. Poster. Berlin, Germany, ​ ​ [1990s?]. Location: Posters. ● Gemeinsam und Entschlossen den Naziaufmarsch blockieren! Leaflet. Bad Nenndorf, ​ Germany, 2012. Location: Subject files. ● Antifa Sacramento. Support the Antifascists: Who Shut Down the Nazi Rally in ​ Sacramento. Leaflet. Sacramento, CA, [2016]. Location: Subject files. ​ ● Turning the Tide 29, no. 1, 2017, Anti-Racist Action-Los Angeles/People Against ​ Racist Terror. Location: Newspapers.

Series III: Cultural Organizing As If You Don’t They Will reminds us, “All social movements use cultural organizing, including ​ ​ white nationalism.”4 Culture and cultural spaces create community, build connections between people, and advance shared ideas. White power bands attempt to infiltrate subcultural scenes, such as punk and hardcore, in order to gain a more mainstream audience for their political message. Such infiltration was documented in Soundtracks to the White Revolution: White Supremacist ​ Assaults on Youth Subculture, part of this series. Antifascists must be prepared to thoughtfully confront ​ white nationalism in our cultural spaces, while also using cultural tools to build community, create space for conversation, and bring energy and to political organizing.

This part of the collection includes materials from , an international campaign founded in England in 1976. During a concert in Birmingham, England, musician Eric Clapton made racist and anti-immigrant remarks. He also repeatedly shouted a slogan of the National Front, a UK fascist party. Musicians responded with an open letter in New Musical Express, calling for a ​ ​

4 If You Don’t They Will. “no. NOT EVER.” pocketguide. ​ ​

5 movement of “Rock Against Racism” in response to Clapton's words as well as rising white nationalism in Britain. The letter met with a huge outpouring of support. An initial concert featuring Carol Grimes, Limousine, and Matumbi occurred in December 1976, concurrent with the launch of the Rock Against Racism fanzine Temporary Hoarding. In 1978 there were several major Rock Against ​ ​ Racism concerts and festivals, featuring bands like The Clash, X-Ray Spex, the Tom Robinson Band, Stiff Little Fingers, Aswad, and Elvis Costello.

The movement spread internationally and, during the 1980s and 1990s, U.S.-based Anti-Racist Action built a culture of antiracism through punk shows, t-shirts, stickers, patches, and zines.

● ARA News, Columbia Institute for Contemporary Journalism, Dec. 1998. Location: Serials. ​ ​ ​ ● ARA Research Bulletin, no. 1, Chicago Anti-Racist Action, 2001. Location: Serials. ​ ● Burghart, Devin. Soundtracks to the White Revolution: White Supremacist Assaults on Youth ​ Music Subculture. Chicago: The Center for New Community in cooperation with the ​ Northwest Coalition for Human Dignity, 1999. Location: Half-size pamphlets. ● Fighting Words: The Street Zine of Anti-Racist Action. Anti-Racist Action, n.d. Location: ​ Oversize zines. ● Rock Against Racism. Button, [1979.] Location: Buttons. ​ ● Rock against Racism. Strip of stickers, [1980s]. Location: Subject files. ​ ● Rock Against Racism. Temporary Hoarding, no. 9, London, 1979. 2 copies. Location: Oversize ​ ​ zines. ● Various Artists. Rock Against Racism–RAR’s Greatest Hits. RARecords - RAR 1LP, 1980, vinyl LP. Location: Vinyl Records.

Series IV: Research White supremacists often couch their hate and violence in language that is palatable to the press and mainstream white audiences, claiming their group wants to “preserve history” or “protect Christian values.” Antifascist grassroots organizations and progressive non-profits have learned to identify white nationalists for what they are and disseminate information on how to spot them.

Anti-Racist Action’s leaflet “How to Identify a Neo-Nazi Bonehead” and the poster “Know Your Symbols” are taxonomies of neo-Nazi and white supremacist imagery that might turn up in neighborhoods, campuses, and event spaces. The Anti-Racist Action leaflet focuses in particular on neo-Nazis infiltrating punk scenes where they can recruit by appropriating straight-edge or aesthetic. Newsletters like ARA Research Bulletin and Turning the Tide document white nationalist ​ ​ ​ ​ groups and antifascist organizing.

6 Nonprofits and national organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Institute for Southern Studies monitor and report on , the Ku Klux Klan, and other white nationalist groups. Reports like Southern Exposure’s special 1980 issue “Mark of the Beast” examines ​ ​ the roots of the new Klan movement expanding in the South in the late 1970s and 1980s and looks at how the Klan infiltrated labor groups and political parties. The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Klanwatch Project 1996 report, False Patriots, explores militarized anti-government right-wing ​ ​ nationalists that were emboldened and mobilized after the Ruby Ridge and Waco, TX raids. The report examines how individuals and organizations are radicalized and become terrorists. These national non-profits have the resources to collect data and inform the public, but as one activist in a video clip from the “no. NOT EVER.” installation says, “they need eyes and ears” to observe and ​ ​ expose locally organized white nationalists.

● ARA Research Bulletin, no. 2 and no. 3, 2001-02, Chicago Anti-Racist Action. Location: ​ Serials. ● False Patriots: The Threat of Anti-Government Extremists. Klanwatch Project of the ​ Southern Poverty Law Center, 1996. Location: Large pamphlets. ● Hate by State: An Accounting of Active Hate Groups in the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountain ​ ​ States. Northwest Coalition for Human Dignity, [2000]. Location: Large Pamphlets. ​ ● How to ID a Neo-Nazi Bonehead. Flyer. Anti-Racist Action, n.d. Location: Subject files. ​ ● know your hate symbols. Poster. n.d. Location: Small posters. ​ ● “Mark of the Beast.” Special issue, Southern Exposure VIII, no. 2, 1980, Institute for ​ ​ Southern Studies. Location: Serials. ● Turning the Tide 16, no. 2, 2003, Anti-Racist Action-Los Angeles/People Against Racist ​ Terror. Location: Newspapers.

Series V: Books This series comprises books that were on display and available for browsing during the exhibition. These titles are great resources for getting an introduction to antifascism, and for contextualizing the primary sources in this collection.

Books located in IA library ● Alexander, Charles C. The Ku Klux Klan in the Southwest. 1965. Tulsa: University of ​ ​ Oklahoma Press, 1995. ● Baigell, Matthew and Julia Williams, eds. Artists Against War and Fascism: Papers of the ​ First American Artists’ Congress. 1936. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1986. ​ ● Berlet, Chip, ed. Eyes Right! Challenging the Right Wing Backlash. Political Research ​ ​ Associates. Boston: South End Press, 1995.

7 ● Bray, Mark. Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook. Brooklyn: Melville House, 2017. ​ ​ ● Langer, Bernd. Art as Resistance: Placats, Paintings, Actions, Texts from the Initiative Kunst ​ und Kampf (Art and Struggle). Göttingen: Kunst und Kampf, 1998. ​ ● Hamerquist, Don, J. Sakai, Mark Salotte, and Chicago Anti-Racist Action. Confronting ​ Fascism: Discussion Documents for a Militant Movement. Montréal: Kersplebedeb Pub, 2017. ​ ● Sonnie, Amy and James Tracy. Hillbilly Nationalists, Urban Race Rebels, and Black ​ Power: Community Organizing in Radical Times. Brooklyn: Melville House, 2011. ​

Additional books not included in IA library ● Rachel, Daniel. Walls Come Tumbling Down: The of Rock Against Racism, 2 ​ Tone and Red Wedge, 1976 to 1992. New York: Picador, 2016. ​ ● Staudenmaier, Michael. Truth and Revolution: A History of the Sojourner Truth Organization, ​ 1969- 1986. Oakland: AK Press, 2012. ​ ● Vials, Christopher. Haunted by Hitler: Liberals, the Left, and the Fight against Fascism in the ​ . Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2014. ​

Series VI: Materials from If You Don’t They Will/ “no. NOT ​ EVER.” ​ This series contains materials created by the Seattle collaborative If You Don’t They Will for the “no. NOT EVER.” installation, and wall placards from IA’s accompanying exhibition. It is ​ ​ located in two folders in the section “Interference Archives Exhibitions.”

Contents ● Folder 1 ○ If You Don’t They Will. no. NOT EVER. laminated resource cards, 2018. ​ ​ ● Folder 2 ○ If You Don’t They Will. “no. NOT EVER.” pocketguide. Design by Karen M. ​ ​ ​ ​ Chappell. [2018.] ○ Interactive map and post-its from timeline ○ Visitor comments ○ Wall placards ○ Finding aid of additional materials (from exhibition) ○ Copy of this finding aid

Series VII: Additional materials, organized by type

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Location: Full-size pamphlets ● Antifaschistische Zeitung. Berlin, 2009. ​ ● Brownshirts of the Seventies. Terrorism Information Project, National Caucus of Labor ​ Committees, [1970s.] ● Gilbert, David, and J. Sakai. Looking at the White Working Class Historically. Chicago: ​ ​ Cooperation Distribution Service, [1992]. ● Nesbitt, Prexy. Smoking Camels in 'Indian Country' and Other Things: Racism in the 1990s. ​ ​ Chicago: Mozambique Solidarity Office, 1991. ● On the Battlefield: Cairo, Illinois. The Concerned Community Coalition of Bloomington- ​ Normal and Community for Social Action, [1970].

● Racism, Intelligence and the Working Class, A Progressive Labor Party Pamphlet. 4th edition, 1995. ​ ​ ​ ● Sakai, J. The Mythology of the White Proletariat: A Short Course in Understanding Babylon. ​ Chicago: Morningstar Press, 1983.

Location: Half-size pamphlets ● Allen, Theodore William. Class Struggle and the Origin of Racial Slavery. Hoboken: H.E.P, ​ ​ 1975. ● Anti-Racist Action (ARA Net). [1999]. ​ ● Anti-Racist Action Primer. 1999. ​ ● Clark, J. Three-Way Fight: Revolutionary Anti-Fascism and Armed Self-Defense. April 2016. ​ ​ ● Ex-Liverpool AFA Member. Anti-Fascist Action – an Anarchist Perspective. London: Kate ​ ​ Sharpley Library, 2007. ● Key, Anna, ed. Beating Fascism: Anarchist Anti-Fascism in Theory and Practice. London: ​ ​ Kate Sharpley Library, 2006. ● McGowan, Rory. Claim No Easy Victories: A History and Analysis of Anti-Racist Action. ​ anarchist history nerd brigade, [2003] ● Rosenblum, April. the past didn't go anywhere: making resistance to anti-semitism part of all our ​ movements. 2007. ​ ● Schappes, Morris U. Anti-Semitism and Reaction, 1795-1800. [New York]: ​ ​ Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, 1948.

Location: Newspapers ● The Black Panther V, no. 20, November 14, 1970. (Focus on Cairo, Illinois.) ​ ○ There are many more issues of The Black Panther in the newspaper section. ​ ​ ● Turning the Tide. Anti-Racist Action-LA/People Against Racist Terror. Many issues. ​

9 Location: Serials ● Antifasisticni Informator, Ljubljana, Slovenia, April 2009. 2 copies. ​ ● Anti-Racist Action Bulletin, Minneapolis ARA, no. 9, 1998. ​ ● ARA News. Anti-Racist Action, Columbus, OH, January and December 1998. ​ ● Graphic Equalizer: newsletter produced for North American Rock Against Racism by Detroit RAR, no. ​ 1, March 1, 1980. ● Fighting Talk, Anti-Fascist Action, No. 12, 1995. ​ ● Progressive Labor 8, No. 6, January 1973. ​ ● TUFF: Those United to Fight Fascism, Columbus, OH, multiple issues, 1980s. ​

Location: Posters ● Many Antifascist Action/Antifaschistische Aktion German posters. (See subject list for folder ​ ​ ​ ​ location.)

Location: Small posters ● Fascists Beware: Crush the AWB. n.d. (“AWB” refers to the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, ​ or Afrikaner Resistance Movement, a South African neo-Nazi political and paramilitary organization.) ● End White Supremacy. [2017.] ​ ● If You're Not Outraged You're Not Paying Attention: Rest In Power Heather Heyer. New York, Radix ​ Media, 2017.

Location: Subject files ● United Front Against Fascism and the National Committees to Combat Fascism (Black Panther Party), various flyers and documents, late 1960s. ● Youth Against War and Fascism, flyer, 1970.

Location: Vinyl records ● Various Artists. They Shall Not Pass. Abstract Sounds – AABT400, 1985, vinyl LP.

Series VIII: Online resources

References from “no. NOT EVER.” resource cards: ​ ​ ● Hinojosa, Maria, and Julio Ricardo Varela. “Anti-Semitism Is the Core of White Nationalism.” In The Thick. Podcast audio, Sept. 19, 2017. ​ ​ http://inthethickshow.org/79-anti-semitism-is-the-core-of-white-nationalism. ​

10 ● Imarisha, Walidah. “Why Aren’t There More Black People in Oregon? A Hidden History.” YouTube video, 1:45:32, posted by Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, May 6, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWC-8hvP7aY. ​ ​ ​ ​ ● Nakagawa, Scot, and Tarso Luís Ramos. “What Time Is It?: Why We Can’t Ignore the Momentum of the Right.” Political Research Associates, July 14, 2016. ​ ​ https://www.politicalresearch.org/2016/07/14/what-time-is-it-why-we-cant-ignore-th ​ ​ ​ e- momentum-of-the-right/. ​ ​ ● Ward, Eric. “As White Supremacy Falls Down, White Nationalism Stands Up.” Pop ​ Collab, Oct. 31, 2017. ​ http://popcollab.org/white-supremacy-falls-white-nationalism-stands/. ​ ● Ward, Eric K. “Skin in the Game: How Antisemitism Animates White Nationalism.” Political Research Associates, June 29, 2017. ​ https://www.politicalresearch.org/2017/06/29/skin-in-the- ​ ​ ​ game-how-antisemitism-animates-white-nationalism/. ​

References for exhibition programming: ● Digital Activism Panel ○ No Platform for Fascism, MACC: https://noplatform.macc.nyc/ ​ ​ ○ Cutealism: https://cutealism.com/ ​ ​ ○ Cypurr Collective: https://cypurr.nyc/ ​ ​ ○ Emily Crose/NEMESIS: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/9knqv5/this-ex-nsa-hacker-is-building-an-ai-t o-find-hate-symbols-on-twitter ● Self-Defense and De-Escalation Workshops ○ Pop Gym: www.popgym.org ​ ● Antifa Discussion Series ○ http://interferencearchive.org/antifa-discussion-series-community-resistance-to-wh ite-nationalism/ ● Film Screening ○ Global Uprisings, ANTIFA, 2017. http://www.globaluprisings.org/antifa/ ​ ​ ​

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