As political commentators struggle to nail down the exact nature of Antifa’s masked legions, they’ve overlooked one thing: Antifa has been critically influenced by hardcore punk for nearly four decades. Inspired by this, anti-racist skinheads in Minneapolis formed Anti-Racist Action, which soon gained traction in punk scenes across the US. “Punk itself wasn’t a direct influence on my joining a guerrilla group, of course, but punk did help to cement my radical politics. In America, there is Appalachian Terror Unit, a young band with heavy Antifa leanings from the Trump heartland of West Virginia. And that’s what [the media] are doing to anti-fascist action.”Regardless, Barnett says the antifascist movement isn’t taking anything for granted.

Source: The Guardian September 09, 2017 06:00 UTC