Anti-Fascism in the 21st Century

On October 28, 1922, armed fascists converged on Rome and paved the way for the establishment of a dictatorship led by Benito Mussolini, which would dominate Italy for the next 20 years. The March on Rome marked the birth of an Italian fascist regime and laid the foundation for the spread of fascist ideology around the world. From the beginning, Italian fascism generated resistance. As fascist ideology developed into a global phenomenon, so did anti-fascism. The initial phase of the conflict between fascist and anti-fascist forces climaxed in World War II with the defeat of Italian fascism, German Nazism, and Japanese militarism. Although defeated militarily in 1945, global fascism continued to find expression during the decades that followed.

German Antifa and the Paradox of Ghostly Militanz
Ali Jones, Center for Trust, Peace, and Social Relations, Coventry

Continental European Antifa: Why the 90s Matter (More than you might think)
Nils Schuhmacher, Universitat Hamburg

Anti-Fascism in Illiberal Democracy: An Eastern European Perspective
Grzegorz Piotrowski, University of Gdansk and Piotr Kocyba (TU Chemnitz)

Chair/Commentator: Stanislao Pugliese, Hofstra University

In-Sourcing Violence: Anti-Fascism, Anarchism, and Community Self Defense
Stanislav Vysotsky, University of the Fraser Valley

New Times, New Challenges: On Mobilizing and Organizing
Against Fascism in the 21st Century
Nigel Copsey, Teeside University and Ontario Tech University

The John Brown Anti-Klan Committee and Lessons from the 1980s
Hilary Moore, Showing up for Racial Justice

Chair/Commentator: Mark Bray, Rutgers University

How Serious is the Authoritarian Threat in the U.S., and
What Can We Do About It?
*Adolph Reed Jr., Professor Emeritus of Political Science
University of Pennsylvania

Strategies for Global Anti-Fascist Solidarity:
Three Lessons for the 21st Century
Kasper Brasken, Abo Akademi University

The Invisible “Antifa-Ost”: The (Re) Discovery of an
East German Anti-Fascist Movement
Christin Jänicke, WZB Berlin Social Science Center

Anti-Fascism: A Global Perspective
Matthew Adarichev, Hofstra University

Global and Comparative Anti-Fascist Tactics: The Case of Australia
Vashti Fox, University of Western Australia

Chair/Commentator: Nathan Stange, Community Activist

Anti-Fascism in the Classroom: Lessons from the Spanish Civil War
and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
Nancy Wallach and Dennis Meaney, Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives

Media Literacy as a Form of Anti-Fascist Activism
Jeremy Sarachan, St. John Fisher University

Anti-Fascist Response to Far-Right Educational Absolutism
Michael Vavrus, Evergreen State College

Defending Democracy Means Promoting Active Citizenship
Alan Singer, Hofstra University

Chair/Commentator: Rob Linné, Adelphi University

Free Capitol Hill: The Rhetorical Anti-Fascism of the
Capital Hill Autonomous Zone
Matthew Parnell, Pennsylvania State University

What Rhetoric Can Stop a Fascist?
Paul Lendway, Yale University

Tactical Violence: Militant Anti-Fascist Movement Repertoires and Meaning
Heather-Ann Layth, Mississippi State University

Chair/Commentator: Jack Bratich, Rutgers University

The Relevance of Ernst Bloch: Understanding and Overcoming
Fascism’s Mass Appeal
Kurt Stand, Democratic Socialist of America and Portside

Neoliberalism and the Counter Resistance in the U.S.: Reflections on the Public/Private Distinction
Deborah L. Spencer, Emory & Henry College

Chair/Commentator: Barry Cohen, Portside and New Jersey Institute of Technology (ret.)

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Resistenze in Cirenaica and the Decolonization of Italian History
David Ward, Wellesley College

Anti-Fascist Solidarities, Anti-Colonialism, and Contested Usable Pasts
David Featherstone, University of Glasgow

Chair/Commentator: Ani Halasz, Long Island Jobs With Justice

Very Popular Fronts: Music and Anti-Fascism in the 1930s
James R. Tracy, City College of San Francisco

The Anti-Fascist Politics and Practices of NYC Latinx Punks
Mariel Acosta-Matos, The Graduate Center (CUNY)

“One Stone, One Name, One Person”: Lessons from the
Stolpersteine Project in Italy
Paula M. Salvio, University of New Hampshire

Chair/Commentator: Donna Gaines, journalist, and author of Why the Ramones Matter

*Awarded the Joseph G. Astman Distinguished Conference Scholar, Hofstra University. The award was established in 1985 in recognition of the outstanding role of the late founder of the Hofstra Cultural Center. Dr. Astman was a humanist, a cultural comparatist, and an international scholar.

Adolph Reed Jr. is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the editor and author of several books on the relationship between class and racism. His writing and opinion pieces have appeared on academic and popular journals and magazines including The Progressive, The Village Voice, The New Republic, The Nation, Dissent, and nonsite.org, of which he is an editorial board member. Professor Reed served on the board of Public Citizen Inc., was a member of the Interim National Council of the Labor Party, and is currently on the boards of Food and Water Action and the Debs-Jones-Douglass Institute (DJDI), serving as a regular on its Class Matters podcast — https://classmatterspodcast.org.

Eric Gobetti is an independent historian based in Turin, Italy. He studies the relationship between nationalism, identity, and politics of memory with a focus on Fascist Italy and Yugoslavia. He received PhDs from the University of Turin in 2004 and the University of San Marino in 2008. Mr. Gobetti is the author of several monographs. His recently published work, E allora le Foibe?, addresses the connection between history, politics, and anti-fascism in the 21st century.

Mary Anne Trasciatti teaches and writes about women in the labor movement, public memory and commemoration, social protest, and public space. She is completing a biography of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, focused on the radical labor organizer's free speech work. For the past decade, as President of Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition, Professor Trasciatti has been leading the project to build a memorial for the 146 workers, mostly Italian and Jewish immigrant women and girls, who died in the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in New York City. Scheduled for dedication in March 2023, the Triangle Fire Memorial will be New York City’s first labor memorial and one of only a small number of memorials in the city dedicated to women.

Fraser Ottanelli has authored and co-authored six books along with several articles and essays on labor and radical history in Italy and the United States, the relationship between migration and state formation, and oral history and memory. He is a professor of history at the University of South Florida, where he teaches History of the U.S. Left; U.S. Immigration and Ethnic History; and Imperialism, Revolution and Democracy.