On February 17, 2018, the white-nationalist Traditionalist Workers’ Party (TWP) held a rally on the campus of the University of Tennessee. The rally was led by Matthew Heimbach, a central organizer of the Unite the Right rally held in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017 in opposition to the planned removal of a public statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee. The TWP’s February 2018 rally on the University of Tennessee (UT) campus drew about 45 white nationalists, about 250 protesters, and about 200 law enforcement officers. UT allowed the TWP to hold its rally on the university campus despite the fact that no UT students or faculty had invited the TWP to campus; furthermore, the TWP’s rally neither addressed students nor included students in the invitation-only guest list for its campus rally. In light of these events, the Platypus Affiliated Society hosted a conversation on March 21st, 2018, about the Left’s relation to racism and fascism on campus and in society at large. Speakers included Jordan Rogers, President of the UT chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA); Dr. Raja Swamy, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at UT; and Chris Irwin of the Appalachian Anti-Racist Action Tea Party. The event was moderated by Spencer Leonard of Platypus. Speakers included Jordan Rogers, President of the UT chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA); Dr. Raja Swamy, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at UT; and Chris Irwin of the Appalachian Anti-Racist Action Tea Party. The event was moderated by Spencer Leonard of Platypus.
Anti-Platypus propaganda painted on "The Rock" on the UT campus while the event was ongoing.
Held November 15, 2017 at the University of California Santa Cruz.
Speakers:
Mike Rotkin, former editor of Socialist Review
Larry Cafiero, Democratic Socialists of America
Keith McHenry, Food Not Bombs
Bruce Thompson, Professor of History at UCSC
Description:
Since the Nazi seizure of power eighty years ago anti-fascism has been integral to left-wing politics. The struggle against fascists and Nazis is morally self-evident, so that political anti-fascism seems to be similarly self-evident. Yet in past periods of history, the politics of anti-fascism was completely different, as was the understanding of what it contributed to leftist politics more generally. Still certain continuity can be discerned in anti-fascism’s retention of anti-capitalist claims. Where does this come from? What was anti-fascism and how has it changed? How do the category and concept of anti-fascism help us to understand both historical and contemporary political realities? What does anti-fascism mean today in the absence of fascism as a mass movement?
On October 17, 2017, the Platypus Affiliated Society Hosted a panel discussion at Berkeley City College on anti-fascism in the age of Trump. The discussion was moderated by Audrey Crescenti.
Description:
Since the Nazi seizure of power eighty years ago anti-fascism has been a component of left-wing politics. In response to the Trump presidency, the politics of anti-fascism, reminiscent of the Popular Front of the 30’s or the Black Bloc politics of the 90s, have -- once again -- been resurrected by the Left. How is anti-fascism the same or different today? Why anti-fascism now?
Participants:
- Luma Nichol (Freedom Socialist Party, United Front Against Fascism)
- Ramsey Kanaan (PM Press)
- Victoria Fierce (East Bay for Everyone, DSA)
- Eugene E Ruyle (ICSS, DSA, CPUSA, Niebyl Proctor Marxist Library)
Held October 2nd, 2018 at the University of Chicago.
Panelists:
Elijah Wolter, member of UChciago Student Action (formerly known as the IIRON Student Network)
Jesse Pace, member of the Black Rose Anarchist Federation
Ted Sirota, co-initiator of Refuse Fascism and founder of Degenerative Artists Against Fascism
Description:
Since the Nazi seizure of power eighty years ago anti-fascism has been a component of left-wing politics. In response to the Trump presidency, the politics of anti-fascism, reminiscent of the Popular Front of the 1930s or the Black Bloc politics of the 1990s, have -- once again -- been resurrected by the Left. How is anti-fascism the same or different today? Why anti-fascism now?
Held at the University of Houston on September 15, 2017. Moderated by Danny Jacobs. An edited transcript of the event was published in The Platypus Review issue #100.
Panelists:
Gloria Rubac, Workers World Party
Gus Breslauer, Redneck Revolt
Mark Kazanski, Socialist Alternative
Bernard Sampson, Communist Party USA
Description:
Since the Nazi seizure of power eighty years ago anti-fascism has been a component of left-wing politics. In response to the Trump presidency, the politics of anti-fascism, reminiscent of the Popular Front of the 1930s or the Black Bloc politics of the 1990s, have -- once again -- been resurrected by the Left. How is anti-fascism the same or different today? Why anti-fascism now?
A panel
