12 Rules For What

Mark Bray is a political organizer and historian of human rights, terrorism, and political radicalism in Modern Europe. He's also the author of the excellent 'Antifa' from 2017, and he came into the studio to talk about it and antifascism with us. Also in this episode, we have a discussion about strategic antifascism, the London Anti-Fascist Assembly (LAFA) and our recent article in Freedom News

The National Front was the most prominent group on the UK far right in the 1970s. We discuss their history and politics through the 70s and chart their transformations, from their rejection of street politics to their later marches, and from their initial uneasy coalition of far-right forces to their ultimate implosion. How did anti-fascist action lead to their collapse? What lessons are to be learned from their successes now? For further reading, we recommend David Renton's book Never Again: Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League 1976-1982

National Action was one of the most extreme groups on the far right before they were banned in 2016. One of their members recently came to prominence for have plotted to kill his MP and a police officer investigating him for grooming young boys for sex in an act of 'White Jihad' . Their combination of obscene stunts, unabashed racism and their full embrace of national socialism quickly led to both notoriety and their eventual dissipation. National Action members are still active today, and the threat of a lone wolf act of terrorism are ever acute, especially in the wake of the Christchurch terror attacks. We are joined by journalist James Poulter to discuss the history of the group, their extremist politics and how they fit into the international national socialist scene. https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/3bjpbj/english-neo-nazis-were-humiliated-in-liverpool-this-weekend-943 https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/9b8ja7/is-banning-neo-nazi-groups-actually-going-to-be-effective https://www.vice.com/en_uk/arti

A discussion on fascism and the occult with certified breadtuber Angie Speaks. We talk about the nazis and the occult, fascist paganism and a possible left subversion of fascist occultism. Reference particularly made in this epsiode to Eric Kurlander's Hiter's Monsters which is highly recommended. https://www.theringer.com/2018/12/12/18137221/far-right-occult-symbols https://hopenothate.com/2018/03/23/hindu-mysticism-alt-right/

Alex gives an analysis of the twisted politics used to justify the cowardly New Zealand mosque attack Donate to our patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/12rulesforwhat You can hear the rest of the show here: http://www.dissidentisland.org/show/dissident-island-radio-15-march-2019-episode-230/

Neo-fascism describes a set of political attempts by the far right to reform themselves in a way that is palatable to post-War European electorates. What is the use of the term for us? In this episode we discuss neo fascism, and distinguish between different fascisms - which can manifest as both movements and states. https://b-ok.cc/book/3307528/51fb42

Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is the ‘great white whale’ of the anti-fascist movement: impossible to pin down and always abe to reinvent himself. He’s been at the forefront of the EDL, has teamed up with Quilliam, founded the British version of Pegida, joined far-right outlet Rebel Media, and has now struck out as a kind of extremist citizen journalist. In this show we talk about the propaganda of Tommy Robinson, the affective bond he has created with his audience and the impact his recent banning from social media and fundraising platforms will have on him. We also interview two activists from London Antifascists on Tommy Robinson. https://www.redpepper.org.uk/tommy-robinson-is-using-brexit-chaos-to-advance-his-racist-agenda-we-cant-let-him-win/ https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/pamwnm/alt-right-figures-pretending-to-be-journalists-are-playing-a-dangerous-game https://www.radicalrightanalysis.com/2018/09/22/tommy-robinson-and-the-transformation-of-the-british-far-right/

Fascism has a deep relationship with masculinity. Arguably, fascism arose as an attempt to shore up traditional masculinity against the ‘slimy mire of bourgeois life’. From the creation of a ‘fascist new man’ in Italy to the misogyny of the contemporary trad movements and pick up artists, these more widespread cultural movements make fertile ground for the fascist movements which follow them. We speak with Amy from the Feminist Anti-Fascist Assembly to discuss their response to fascist masculinity and the centrality of feminism to anti-fascist work. Plan C - Feminist Antifascism https://www.weareplanc.org/blog/feminist-antifascism-october-victory-whats-next/ A clear and impassioned statement on the importance of placing feminism at the heart of anti-fascist work Klaus Theweleit - Male Fantasies https://monoskop.org/images/5/54/Theweleit_Klaus_Male_Fantasies_Vol_1_Women_Floods_Bodies_History.pdf An exhilarating experimental book dealing with the rise of the Freikorps movement in German after WWI Hypergamy

The Far Right is building. But it doesn't always come as a street movement marching in black. Often it’s smarter than that, often more insidious, often more inclined to infect culture than impose itself on the political, and often just plain weird. In this podcast we investigate the surreal, disconnected world of the far right, with a view to fighting it. Fighting it requires not only effective organising, but effective thinking as well. We host interviews with comrades, discussions of the main themes of far right theory and practice, and in-depth analyses of particular movements and people within it. If you want to go a bit deeper, we recommend some reading for you: Josephine Armistead - The Silicon Ideology https://archive.org/details/the-silicon-ideology Armistead gives a summary of some attempts to analyse Fascism in the 20th Century Umberto Eco - Eternal Fascism http://interglacial.com/pub/text/Umberto_Eco_-_Eternal_Fascism.html Eco attempts to summarise some tendencies in common between reactionary