US President Donald Trump has officially classified the Antifa movement as a domestic terrorist organization. According to the White House, on Monday Trump signed a corresponding decree stating that "Antifa is a militarist, anarchist enterprise that calls for the overthrow of the US government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law — using illegal means, including violence and terrorism, to accomplish these goals."

Trump's order prompts the US government to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle all illegal operations conducted by Antifa or any person claiming to act on behalf of Antifa. It also calls for investigating, disrupting and dismantling the funding sources behind such operations.

Trump had already announced this move shortly after the murder of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk on September 10. At the funeral service for Kirk in a packed stadium in the state of Arizona, Trump repeated his allegation that the "radical left" was responsible for Kirk's death.

No structured organization

The word Antifa refers to the German term "Antifaschistische Aktion," which translates to "anti-fascist action." It originated in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s, when left-wing activists and groups opposed the rise of National Socialism during the politically turbulent times of the German Weimar Republic. It was proclaimed in 1932 by the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), however, not as an organization, but as a collective movement against the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP).

The Antifa movement's logo shows two flags, one tilted to the left and one to the right. The red flag is said to represent socialism and communism, while the black flag is meant to symbolize anarchism.

Antifa groups also emerged in different countries, such as in Italy against the fascist rule of Benito Mussolini and in Spain in response to the Franco dictatorship.

However, it is not a centrally organized association, but rather a loose coalition of groups and individuals who are committed to fighting fascism, racism, antisemitism, ethnic nationalism, right-wing historical revisionism, and other forms of right-wing ideology.

Non-violent or militant?

As broad as the term "anti-fascism" is, so too is the spectrum of groups within the Antifa-movement.

Generally, numerous organizations that identify with Antifa oppose right-wing extremism and authoritarianism through nonviolent means, and are associated with the left to far-left political spectrum that is active worldwide, particularly in Europe and North America.

They investigate and publish information about far-right networks, organize rallies and demonstrations, or remove right-wing propaganda. 

The concept of anti-fascism has also evolved over the decades. Nowadays, there is also a "bourgeois-liberal anti-fascism" that advocates for the preservation of democracy and the rule of law, which it sees as threatened by right-wing extremism.

At the same time, however, there are also militant factions that tolerate or actively use violence to achieve their goals. These groups often refer to themselves as autonomous, militant, or independent Antifa cells, deliberately distancing themselves from what they call bourgeois or state-aligned anti-fascism.

Within the movement, there is ongoing debate about whether — and to what extent — the use of violence is considered a legitimate tactic in the fight against the far right. This internal discourse has repeatedly drawn public criticism.

Antifa in the United States

Local Antifa groups in the US have been opposing the activities of American neo-Nazis, racist skinheads and the Ku Klux Klan since the early 1980s.

Today, some of the most well-known groups in the US include Rose City Antifa, founded in Portland, Oregon, in 2007, or Refuse Fascism, a group formed after Donald Trump's first election as president in 2016. Refuse Fascism members have since organized repeated protests against fascism and authoritarianism.

On multiple occasions — including during his first term — Trump mentioned plans to designate the movement as a "terrorist organization."

But legal experts and agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security have said such a move would be difficult to implement under US-law.

Legal concerns remain high

Back in 2017, then-FBI Director Christopher Wray stated that it was not possible to classify Antifa as a terrorist organization as the movement had no formal structure or hierarchy. Instead, the agency was monitoring Antifa as a "potentially violent movement" and was also investigating individual perpetrators with "a kind of Antifa ideology." Overall, however, the movement was far too heterogeneous to be characterized as a clear organization, he said.

A 2020 study by the US Congressional Research Service came to a similar conclusion. It found that the "US Antifa movement has no leaders and no organizational structure at the national level, it appears to be decentralized, consisting of independent, radical, like-minded groups and individuals."

Given the lack of organizational structures in this loose movement, it is unclear exactly how the US government intends to implement the announced investigations.

In addition, the First Amendment to the US Constitution protects freedom of speech and assembly, as well as freedom of political belief. This includes radical, anti-establishment, or even anti-state opinions. A terrorist classification could therefore be seen as an attempt to criminalize political expressions of opinion.

This article was originally written in German.