Trends in Anti-Fascist and Anarchist Recruitment and Mobilization

Authors

  • Dr. Ariel Koch Department for Middle Eastern Studies at Bar Ilan University

Keywords:

Anti-Fascism, Anarchism, Left-Wing Extremism, Political Violence, Terrorism

Abstract

For many, the discourse on anarchists' violence belongs to the past, to an era that shocked the world but ended a long time ago. However, this assumption is not accurate in the twentieth-first century. It ignores the reality that allows extremists to rise from the dust, gain popularity and use available tools to promote themselves and their ideas, and thus, to pose a new potential threat. While most of the research on radicalization and political violent extremism focuses on jihadism or the contemporary right-wing extremism, it is important not to ignore the reaction that right-wing extremists created and provoked in the past, which is still relevant in our days: left-wing extremism, which is embodied today in violent anarchists and anti-fascists. This article sheds light on the contemporary left-wing extremism and violent mobilization in Europe and North America, its reflections on the Internet and in music, and its violent activity at home against "fascist" representatives (such as right-wing extremist groups and individuals), and even abroad, against other "fascist" representatives, such as the Islamic State organization. The purpose of the article is to examine this under-researched phenomenon while focusing on popular and recent modes of mobilization and recruitment of this "new revolutionary left", which reflect a threat that is developing in Europe, North America and the Middle East – but not from the jihadi or right-wing aspects, but from anti-fascist and anarchists' militancy aspect.

Author Biography

Dr. Ariel Koch, Department for Middle Eastern Studies at Bar Ilan University

Member, The Middle East Networks Analysis Desk, Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Tel Aviv University .

Author Contact: Ariel Koch, Email: arielkoch6@gmail.com; Twitter: @arielkoch1. University address: Ramat Gan, 5290002, Israel. 

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2018-03-21

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