The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund: 2022-2023 Annual Report

The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund was established in June of 2015, when members of the Antifa International collective saw the need for a standing fund to be used to provide emergency support to antifascists when, as a result of their anti-fascist work, they were in trouble and needed immediate assistance.

Eight years on and the Defence Fund has provided emergency support to antifascists the world over, whenever they’ve faced dire circumstances resulting from their work thwarting bigotry and fascism. It remains the only international anti-fascist solidarity project we’re aware of that’s dedicated exclusively to supporting antifa in emergencies. To-date we have provided over $200,000USD in emergency aid to more than 700 antifascists in 25 different countries.

Since last June, we’ve intervened eighteen times to provide game-changing levels of support and material aid to two dozen antifascists in eleven different countries (Canada, Germany, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, and the US). This amounted to $42,310.23USD worth of support we’ve provided since June 2022.

83% of the funds disbursed since June 2022 went towards legal defence, court costs, fines, and prisoner support; 16% of contributions covered emergency relocation costs for antifascists who had been threatened at their homes by fascists. Repairing property damage accounted for the remaining funds disbursed over the last twelve months (1%).

This was money well-spent; our interventions helped save antifascists from life-altering circumstances they were facing, solely because of their public opposition to fascism. Over the last twelve months, we’ve helped antifascists in dire situations stay healthy, get to safety, and stay free. You can read about the people we’ve helped on our blog with two exceptions – an antifascist whose circumstance require us to not publicly reveal any details of their case, for security reasons; and one whose upcoming trial might be harmed by revealing any details.

The Defence Fund is operated by the Decisions Crew – a body of antifascists from around the world who have made contributions of at least $20USD to the Defence Fund. Decisions about how the Defence Fund operates are made via consensus wherever possible and by majority vote in circumstances where consensus is not forthcoming. In our first year, there were all of 45 Decisions Crew members. As of today, more than 1500 antifascists from 25 different countries have been invited to join the Decisions Crew.

As more and more places drop COVID restrictions altogether, we are seeing increasing numbers of clashes between far-right extremists and people opposed to their bigotry and violence. We fully expect this “return to normal” to result in a huge spike in requests for emergency support over the coming months – indeed, during the past two months alone the Defence Fund handled five different request for help from eleven anti-fascists and sent out $22,500USD worth of emergency aid in response. In order to be prepared to offer as much support as possible, there is currently an urgent need to build our reserve fund back up, so it’s put to use as effectively as possible when called upon.

We are extremely proud of the work we’ve done with The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund and we firmly believe it has proven itself as one of the most effective ways to support antifascism. We strongly encourage anyone opposed to bigotry and fascism to make a contribution to the Defence Fund today and become actively involved in our project of international antifascist solidarity!

One People’s Court

You’ve probably noticed by now that biggest proponents of “the master race” idea don’t tend to be outstanding examples of that same idea themselves. To be blunt, white supremacists do not tend to be obvious exemplars of the alleged mental, moral, or physical supremacy of the “white race.” This tendency towards the Dunning Kruger Effect also appears to extend to the realm of civil law, given that a white supremacist managed to hire a lawyer to sue The Torch Antifa Network over some imagined slight of some kind. The problem is he’s yet to, you know, sue The Torch Antifa Network and instead is attempting to sue venerable anti-racist charity One People’s Project on the basis of OPP having once registered a website for The Torch Antifa Network. We’ll let OPP head Daryle Lamont Jenkins tell the story:

So there you have it. The brilliant plan to sue The Torch Antifa Network out of existence stumbles out of the blocks by not managing to sue the correct group.

If you’d like to help One People’s Project turn their legal defense against this nonsense into a legal offense, you can make a donation to them here.

If you’d like to help the Defence Fund makes sure that anti-fascists are able to defend themselves against malicious and vexatious legal actions taken against them, you can make a donation to the Defence Fund here.

Messing With Texas

August 2022: Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club defending a drag event in Roanoke, TX.

The Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club gained fame/notoriety this past summer for having the gall to show up to defend drag & LGBTQ+ events in Texas from armed bigots who were turning up regularly to threaten event attendees. Note the word “armed” in that last sentence. Not being suicidal and also understanding that bigots on the far-right have been responsible for the lion’s share of terrorist violence in the US for years now, the EFJBGC came armed, too. Turns out the principle of “mutually-assured destruction” worked and the fascists kept their guns holstered and a respectful distance from the events they came to attack, as well as from the well-armed defenders of said events.

Which is not to say that the far-right left it at that. Fox and other far-right media channels went into full-on pearl-clutching mode about “armed antifa” and suddenly some of the most pro-gun news outlets out there were called for gun control! Needless to say, daring to show up well-equipped to defend drag/LGBTQ+ events had put the EFJBGC on the map and on the radar of the far-right.

So it comes as little surprise that last month, when our friends were doing their thing in defence of a drag show at a Texas brewery, the police put as much heat as possible on them, ignoring the far-right chuds that had shown up to try to shut the event down. Three of our friends took bullshit arrests that day and now need help defending themselves in the courts. The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund we honored to be in a position to help defend those defenders.