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Examples
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Mr. Kulekhov, the journalist, calls its members troublemakers because many dub themselves "antifa" -- radical antifascists who have a history of clashing with racist skinheads at soccer matches.
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Haven't you noticed that it's the left and their "antifa" goon squads (along with Islamic allies) that are playing the role of the Nazis in this historical period?
On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with... 2008
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The tradition of "antifa," or anti-fascist mobilization and activism popular throughout Europe, particularly in politically polarized societies like Greece and Italy, draws on the support of self-proclaimed anarchist groups.
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The tradition of "antifa," or anti-fascist mobilization and activism popular throughout Europe, particularly in politically polarized societies like Greece and Italy, draws on the support of self-proclaimed anarchist groups.
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Stalin wasn't "antifa" and he openly practiced ethnic cleansing, so your association fails.
The Clog 2010
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They also call the Greek government and the European Union to take their responsibilities and give them rights of war refugees. cells of fire claimed, but only was "antifa", idiot! the cells never put mines anywhere and they also warn professional! diesen monat schwerpunkt griechenland im polit-cafe des ZIELONA GORA, berlin-fifihain, grünberger 73, ab 17/18 uhr essen und filme etwas später:
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They also call the Greek government and the European Union to take their responsibilities and give them rights of war refugees. cells of fire claimed, but only was "antifa", idiot! the cells never put mines anywhere and they also warn professional! diesen monat schwerpunkt griechenland im polit-cafe des ZIELONA GORA, berlin-fifihain, grünberger 73, ab 17/18 uhr essen und filme etwas später:
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They also call the Greek government and the European Union to take their responsibilities and give them rights of war refugees. cells of fire claimed, but only was "antifa", idiot! the cells never put mines anywhere and they also warn professional! diesen monat schwerpunkt griechenland im polit-cafe des ZIELONA GORA, berlin-fifihain, grünberger 73, ab 17/18 uhr essen und filme etwas später:
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On Sunday, July 27th, anti-fascists ( "antifa") came together from across Southern Ontario to confront and shut down an attempt by long time hate organizers to intimidate the participants of London's 2008 Pride Parade.
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On Sunday, July 27th, anti-fascists ( "antifa") came together from across Southern Ontario to confront and shut down an attempt by long time hate organizers to intimidate the participants of London's 2008 Pride Parade.
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The display of solidarity comes as right-wing activists from throughout the nation plan to hold an event Saturday at Tom McCall Waterfront Park to condemn self-described anti-fascist activists, or antifa, and push to have their political adversaries labeled as domestic terrorists.
Portland mayor gathers civic leaders in continued push against protest violence Shane Dixon Kavanaugh | The Oregonian/OregonLive 2019
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The former are often lumped under the term “alt-right,” the latter under “antifa” (a German shortening of the original organization’s unwieldy name, “Antifaschistische Aktion”).
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This smear campaign is one skirmish in the all-fronts war on a vaguely defined leftwing entity the administration calls “antifa”.
Maga is painting Saturday’s protests as violent treason. Prove them wrong | Judith Levine Judith Levine 2025
scarequotes commented on the word antifa
http://www.thestranger.com/blogs/slog/2015/12/04/23235160/antifascist-groups-are-organizing-a-protest-against-the-alleged-white-power-rally-in-ballard-and-capitol-hill
Antifa groups are using the hashtag #defendSeattle as part of their strategy.
December 7, 2015
MaryW commented on the word antifa
Laurie Marhoefer, How Should We Protest Neo-Nazi? Lessons from German History, The Conversation (Aug. 21, 2017)
January 4, 2018
practik commented on the word antifa
For a couple of years now American conservatives and libertarians have been having fun claiming that antifa is actually short for “anti–First Amendment.” Some examples:
https://www.actualanarchy.com/2017/02/03/antifa-anti-first-amendment/
https://medium.com/@therealbill/antifa-anti-first-amendment-anti-free-association-maybe-but-anti-freedom-anyway-aa0160467a80
http://www.cairco.org/blog/antifa-stands-anti-first-amendment
https://www.rightsidenews.com/videos/antifa-is-anti-first-amendment/
I would quote them, but they all just say some version of what I wrote above: “antifa stands for ‘anti–First Amendment.’” In all four cases, it seems clear that the authors know the word really stands for antifascist and assume their readers know it too.
In the next example, though, it’s unclear whether the author is unaware of the word’s real meaning or is simply omitting mention of it:
“In addition to the student activists at Berkeley — nicknamed by their opponents as ‘Anti-First Amendment,’ or ‘anti-fa’ for short — there have been members of the mainstream press that have taken controversial positions on the Coulter clash.”
https://ijr.com/the-coulter-wars-aclu-ny-times-take-completely-different-stances-on-the-berkeley-debacle/
I don’t know whether this fake etymology is catching on or not, but it wouldn’t surprise me if a lot of native English speakers found the actual etymology a little dubious.
For one thing, antifa is a very German kind of abbreviation, both in the way it’s formed (by simply dropping some of the sounds and syllables of a longer word, like WaMa for Waschmaschine) and in the structure of the resulting word (in which each syllable consists of just one vowel and one consonant, like Haribo and Adidas). We don’t normally shorten words like that in English, I don’t think.
For another, the final a in the original German word, Antifa, is pronounced exactly the same as the corresponding a in Antifaschismus, but the final a in the English word antifa is pronounced differently from the corresponding a in antifascism.
So to an American ear, a derivation from “anti–FA” might seem at least as plausible as a derivation from antifascist, if not more so.
February 18, 2019
tankhughes commented on the word antifa
anti-pho pun sign at No Kings protest: https://www.reddit.com/r/oakland/comments/1obwbyv/antipho_sign_at_no_kings/
October 21, 2025