Profs and Pints Online presents: “The Origins of Antifa,” with Mark Bray, lecturer in history at Rutgers University, political organizer, and author of Antifa and Translating Anarchy.

According to President Trump, antifa is the shadowy "terrorist organization" behind the violence at Black Lives Matter protests. Prominent Democrats and Republicans and other politicians and pundits across the political spectrum have decried alleged antifa attacks on “free speech” in Berkeley, Portland, Charlottesville, and elsewhere.

But what exactly is antifa? Who are these masked radicals and what do they want?

Come gain a much more thorough understanding of the antifa movement from Mark Bray, a historian of human rights, terrorism, and politics in Modern Europe, a frequent essayist and commentator for the national media, and the author of the bestselling book Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, which explored the history of anti-fascist movements since the 1920s.

Bray will unravel the complicated historical origins of antifa by traveling back to street battles between communists and Nazis in Weimar Germany, exploring efforts to push racism out of football in England, and delving into campaigns against the KKK in the United States.

Based on research that involved interviewing more than 60 anti-fascists from 17 different countries, Bray will explain what antifa is and is not. He’ll look at why those involved sometimes engage in violence and how they understand free speech, and he’ll examine the origins and implications of their politics and strategies.

Whether you are sympathetic to antifa or strenuously opposed to it, you’ll better understand the headlines of today—and perhaps tomorrow—by learning what it’s about.

Profs & Pints Online: The Origins of Antifa