‘The Antifascist Kick’: A Signifying Cultural Practice in the History of Transnational Antifascism?

Abstract

This article is based on an empirical study of ‘the antifascist kick’ as a formative cultural practice in the history of transnational antifascism. It scopes from the 1930s and the era of opposition to classic fascism, through to the twenty-first century where antifascism encounters political processes of globalization, fragmentation, neoliberalism, and neofascism. The article discusses the ‘antifascist kick’ in different historical contexts, from 1930s Sweden to Germany and the United States today. The article reveals that ‘the antifascist kick’ works in various cultural directions: as a political conception of those who are only worth contempt, as a symbolic representation of the antifascist struggle, and as a practical instruction for how to treat fascists in the streets.