Thread by @culanth

Up next we have the highly anticipated #Distribute2020 panel "For an Anthropology of Fascism"
· "Por una antropología del fascismo"

@SocietyVisAnth @culanth

.@scott_a_ross here to live-tweet the 1st showing of this panel. It will feature anthropologists, activists, and artists discussing studies, research, and practices concerning the contemporary emergence of political expressions related to fascism and anti-fascism. #Distribute2020

Starting now! "For an Anthropology of Fascism" / "Por una antropología del fascismo" #Distribute2020 distribute.utoronto.ca/stream/

Maddalena Gretel Cammelli of Università di Bologna begins by contextualizing the rise of "fascists of the third millennium," Casa Pound, in Italy and asks "what fascism means to those who choose to identify" that way #Distribute2020

Cammelli highlights research into what motivated members of fascist group. Now followed by Belgian speakers in dialogue about extremist groups and taking action. #Distribute2020

In this theatrical reading, they discuss rules of engagement, tactics for infiltration, and differing perspectives on intimate moments #Distribute2020

Brian Frieberg and Irene Pasquetto now discussing the role of misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation (distinguished by intent to harm and falsity) in the US context. #Distribute2020

Frieberg notes that disinformation occurs on all sides of the political spectrum, but are especially in circulation on the right wing through the use of sockpuppet accts, collages of "evidence" to fuel conspiracies, viral sloganeering, and exploiting inequality. #Distribute2020

Dwayne Dixon now speaking about armed community defense in the antifascist community and how people have begun to prepare themselves against state and nonstate forms of fascism, drawing from experience with Redneck Revolt. #Distribute2020

Redneck Revolt had begun with open-carry protests in defense of migrant rights in Phoenix, were also present in anti-racist demonstrations in Charlottesville. Armed community resisters were part of coalition who kept white supremacists away. #Distribute2020

Liberal communities who tended to trust the state with the use of force have begun to contend with the fact that this leaves marginalized communities vulnerable. Dixon cites newly formed community defense groups who have embraced a diversity of tactics inc. arms. #Distribute2020

Work by these activists have also begun reaching out to gun's rights people on the right who are not fascists but may be susceptible to recruitment. Leftists have built relations to preempt right wing recruitment. #Distribute2020

We are back to Cammelli, who highlights the features of an anthropology of fascism, one cognizant of history, attentive to active mythologies, and the practice of violence. #Distribute2020

Where there is fascism, there are always antifascists. But antifascism takes many forms, many tactics. Cammelli references the different streams of antifascist action that co-exist. #Distribute2020

Now a speaker from ECN Antifa, a digital antifascist group that has tracked fascist groups in Italy for over a decade with over 6000 articles in its archive, is tracing the history of fascism in Italy and the work of antifascism. #Distribute2020

ECN Antifa's website ecn.org/antifa/ is a searchable archive of acts of fascist violence in recent years, categorizing threats and mapping them across the country. #Distribute2020

The next speaker is discussing feminist anti-oppression actions in Verona, with footage from numerous protests and demonstrations #Distribute2020

Non Una di Meno has organized radical feminist actions in defense of abortion rights, queer and trans people. #Distribute2020

Next video is about activists who are renaming street signs, reclaiming public space against fascist and imperial histories as one form of antifascist resistance. #Distribute2020

Speaker links this odomastic direct action with activist teaching through tours that teach the history of different people and events in history. #Distribute2020

Next speaker discusses antifascist protests against Lega Norde, which also gave rise to activist dialogues between universities and the broader public around collective action and learning. #Distribute2020

Resisting is a deliberate political action, and anthropology students organized a cultural event of resistance - RiFestival - as a way to taking collective action. #Distribute2020

Claudio Sopranzetti now speaking about tools and resources in the face of fascism in Italy, thinking about fascism's historical and present form, as well as how to resist it. #Distribute2020

Video is wrapping up now and discussion will shift into the zoom virtual hallway #Distribute2020. Thanks for joining, and don't forget to punch your local nazi!

If you missed this panel, it will replay two more times on Friday, 8 and 16 hours from now! (Loop 2 @ 21:00 Auckland, 14:00 Lahore, 9:00 Dakar, 5:00 Havana; Loop 3 @ 22:00 Lahore, 17:00 Dakar, 13:00 Havana) #Distribute2020

In the zoom chat, @AndreaMuehleba1 introducing and moderating conversation with Dwayne Dixon. Thinking through Sopranzetti's concluding questions: what does it mean to communicate with and try to disengage fascists? #Distribute2020

Dixon notes that the John Brown Gun Club, Redneck Revolt, and other groups are pushing against the narrative that gun ownership is only the domain of a right wing politics, disrupting the cultural space of the gun show. #Distribute2020

Armed community defense groups gained more attention and membership (across numerous demographics) in the aftermath of Trump's election. For activists to enter a place like a gun show is a way to build relations in new spaces, links this to ethnographic methods #Distribute2020

(The next panel, Listening and Community Engagement in the American Religious Sounds Project · Escucha y participación comunitaria en el Proyecto Sonidos Religiosos Americanos, will begin in a minute. This thread will continue to follow the Anthropology of Fascism discussion)

Dixon discusses the whiteness and maleness of rightwing organizing (e.g. around Charlottesville) in efforts to maintain space for white supremacy. Activist work to rename or reclaim public spaces in the name of antifascism works against this. #Distribute2020

Question: we've discussed the gun as fetish, as owned object, as culture, but what about the gun as material artifact, designed for a specific purpose, especially in a context of gun violence in the US? #Distribute2020

Dixon points to thinking about the gun's trajectory as embodied technology traveling to Afghanistan and Iraq and circulating back home in the US. Cultural baggage of guns is not neutral #Distribute2020

North Carolina, Louisiana, many other places have histories of armed slave revolts, armed anti-Confederate zones. Dixon also speaks against ideologies that grant arms to only the state - connecting recent vigilante killings in GA and police shooting in IN today #Distribute2020

Question, following Sopranzetti's focus on the particular history of fascism in Italy. What role do political categories (e.g. left-right, radical-liberal) play in how we think about activism, anti-racism, etc.? #Distribute2020

Dixon draws from experience as an organizer and notes that opinions against direct action or increasing wariness of the state fall along particular political and demographic groups. Solidarity is growing on the side of antifascism. #Distribute2020

Question now about how COVID-19 has played into or against fascist politics. Dixon notes armed "re-open" protests, how proto-fascist populism takes a position against the state, and how these protests are funded. #Distribute2020