Documents of Antifascism at Interference Archive from the Collaborative Exhibition “No
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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 nationalism 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. 1 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: Antifa Antifascism Antiracism White Supremacy White Nationalism Antisemitism If You Don’t They Will Anti-Racist Action Rock Against Racism United Front Against Fascism 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. Jews 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 Ku Klux Klan 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 Genocide. We Charge Genocide: Police Violence Against Chicago's Youth of Color. Chicago, 2014. Location: Large pamphlets. ● Buttons ○ Antifaschistische Aktion. 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 direct action, 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, Berlin, 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 fascist 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 North America, 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,