Thread by @miisaakan

🧵ANTIFA and it's origins in Minneapolis

ANTIFA, as it exists in the US and Canada today, has its origins in Minneapolis, MN. The movement began as a backlash against White Power skinheads:

"ARA [Anti-Racist Action] was major precursor to and helped define “antifa,” contemporary US and Canadian anti-fascism, a term increasingly used by some ARA activists during the 1990s and early years of the new millennium."

"Anti-Racist Action lived up to its most famous motto, “we go where they go,” by taking direct action in the streets against Klansmen, neo-nazis, anti-abortion extremists, and other far-right organizing, as well as against racist and brutal police."

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Here is the first ever poster created by Anti-Racist Action, back in 1987, and another from 1989:

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🔴The ARA was always self-funded, through Mutual Aid:

"ARA’s base in youth culture also very concretely influenced its organizing"

"ARA chapters almost never sought funding from foundations or government programs, for example, and preferred to finance themselves locally through donations, merchandise sales, and fundraising events, such as concerts."

🔴The ARA spread through the music scene in the 90s:

"...the ARA Network grew significantly when it accompanied several national music tours in 1997 and 1998."

🔴Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine, was a big fan of theirs

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🔴Here is Kyle Wagner, self-professed member of ANTIFA, who is making the rounds on Conservative X this week.

The tattoo on his neck is the same Three Arrows as the ARA symbol from the 1990s:

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🔴This excerpt from an article in the New Yorker discusses the origins of the name Anti-Racist Action:

Explaining ARA's decision to tweak the British Name, Crenshaw told me, "To us, the word 'facist' sounded too academic. But everybody knew what a racist was."

🔴The article also goes on to mention how Anti-Racist Action, in Portland, OR, morphed itself into Rose City Antifa, "the first official antifascist organization in the US":

"For Crenshaw, the evolution of ARA into Rose City Antifa..."

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🔴This book also mentions how Rose City Antifa had it's origins in the ARA:

"The first group in the United States to effect a synthesis of ARA and European antifa strategies was Rose City Antifa, which emerged in the 2000s to oppose the skinhead group Volksfront in Portland, Oregon."